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Rapid sea-level rise along the Antarctic margins in response to increased glacial discharge

Rapid sea-level rise along the Antarctic margins in response to increased glacial discharge
Rapid sea-level rise along the Antarctic margins in response to increased glacial discharge
The Antarctic shelf seas are a climatically and ecologically important region, and are at present receiving increasing amounts of freshwater from the melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its fringing ice shelves1, 2, primarily around the Antarctic Peninsula and the Amundsen Sea. In response, the surface ocean salinity in this region has declined in past decades3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here, we assess the effects of the freshwater input on regional sea level using satellite measurements of sea surface height (for months with no sea-ice cover) and a global ocean circulation model. We find that from 1992 to 2011, sea-level rise along the Antarctic coast is at least 2 ± 0.8 mm yr-1 greater than the regional mean for the Southern Ocean south of 50° S. On the basis of the model simulations, we conclude that this sea-level rise is almost entirely related to steric adjustment, rather than changes in local ocean mass, with a halosteric rise in the upper ocean and thermosteric contributions at depth. We estimate that an excess freshwater input of 430 ± 230 Gt yr-1 is required to explain the observed sea-level rise. We conclude that accelerating discharge from the Antarctic Ice Sheet has had a pronounced and widespread impact on the adjacent subpolar seas over the past two decades.
1752-0894
732-735
Rye, Craig D.
89af4cb2-0944-4fd7-84d9-24fc01d2f96a
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
97c0e923-f076-4b38-b89b-938e11cea7a6
Holland, Paul R.
1288654c-2b5b-4d4c-b360-7eebe59c7539
Meredith, Michael P.
25fd5f1c-f3ed-40a2-af59-5a7074a25fcd
Nurser, A.J. George
2493ef9a-21e9-4d8b-9c32-08677e7e145a
Hughes, Chris W.
243911f3-a2c7-46de-bf78-7d53b19baca0
Coward, Andrew C.
53b78140-2e65-476a-b287-e8384a65224b
Webb, David J.
6fc412d4-f113-4e55-9e3a-dad18223a445
Rye, Craig D.
89af4cb2-0944-4fd7-84d9-24fc01d2f96a
Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.
97c0e923-f076-4b38-b89b-938e11cea7a6
Holland, Paul R.
1288654c-2b5b-4d4c-b360-7eebe59c7539
Meredith, Michael P.
25fd5f1c-f3ed-40a2-af59-5a7074a25fcd
Nurser, A.J. George
2493ef9a-21e9-4d8b-9c32-08677e7e145a
Hughes, Chris W.
243911f3-a2c7-46de-bf78-7d53b19baca0
Coward, Andrew C.
53b78140-2e65-476a-b287-e8384a65224b
Webb, David J.
6fc412d4-f113-4e55-9e3a-dad18223a445

Rye, Craig D., Naveira Garabato, Alberto C., Holland, Paul R., Meredith, Michael P., Nurser, A.J. George, Hughes, Chris W., Coward, Andrew C. and Webb, David J. (2014) Rapid sea-level rise along the Antarctic margins in response to increased glacial discharge. Nature Geoscience, 7 (10), 732-735. (doi:10.1038/ngeo2230).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The Antarctic shelf seas are a climatically and ecologically important region, and are at present receiving increasing amounts of freshwater from the melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its fringing ice shelves1, 2, primarily around the Antarctic Peninsula and the Amundsen Sea. In response, the surface ocean salinity in this region has declined in past decades3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here, we assess the effects of the freshwater input on regional sea level using satellite measurements of sea surface height (for months with no sea-ice cover) and a global ocean circulation model. We find that from 1992 to 2011, sea-level rise along the Antarctic coast is at least 2 ± 0.8 mm yr-1 greater than the regional mean for the Southern Ocean south of 50° S. On the basis of the model simulations, we conclude that this sea-level rise is almost entirely related to steric adjustment, rather than changes in local ocean mass, with a halosteric rise in the upper ocean and thermosteric contributions at depth. We estimate that an excess freshwater input of 430 ± 230 Gt yr-1 is required to explain the observed sea-level rise. We conclude that accelerating discharge from the Antarctic Ice Sheet has had a pronounced and widespread impact on the adjacent subpolar seas over the past two decades.

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Published date: October 2014
Organisations: Marine Systems Modelling, Physical Oceanography

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 369525
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/369525
ISSN: 1752-0894
PURE UUID: db308a30-b04c-4045-b4eb-3d7b46f4a3c1
ORCID for Alberto C. Naveira Garabato: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6071-605X

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Date deposited: 30 Sep 2014 08:39
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:24

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Contributors

Author: Craig D. Rye
Author: Paul R. Holland
Author: Michael P. Meredith
Author: A.J. George Nurser
Author: Chris W. Hughes
Author: Andrew C. Coward
Author: David J. Webb

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