Poleward shift of Circumpolar Deep Water threatens the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Poleward shift of Circumpolar Deep Water threatens the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Future sea-level rise projections carry large uncertainties, mainly driven by the unknown response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to climate change. During the past four decades, the contribution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to sea-level rise has increased. However, unlike for West Antarctica, the causes of East Antarctic ice-mass loss are largely unexplored. Here, using oceanographic observations off East Antarctica (80–160° E) we show that mid-depth Circumpolar Deep Water has warmed by 0.8–2.0 °C along the continental slope between 1930–1990 and 2010–2018. Our results indicate that this warming may be implicated in East Antarctic ice-mass loss and coastal water-mass reorganization. Further, it is associated with an interdecadal, summer-focused poleward shift of the westerlies over the Southern Ocean. Since this shift is predicted to persist into the twenty-first century, the oceanic heat supply to East Antarctica may continue to intensify, threatening the ice sheet’s future stability.
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Herraiz-Borreguero, Laura
faa962ba-19f8-4cf3-83be-ee4972fdbe9f
Naveira Garabato, Alberto
97c0e923-f076-4b38-b89b-938e11cea7a6
August 2022
Herraiz-Borreguero, Laura
faa962ba-19f8-4cf3-83be-ee4972fdbe9f
Naveira Garabato, Alberto
97c0e923-f076-4b38-b89b-938e11cea7a6
Herraiz-Borreguero, Laura and Naveira Garabato, Alberto
(2022)
Poleward shift of Circumpolar Deep Water threatens the East Antarctic Ice Sheet.
Nature Climate Change, 12 (8), .
(doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01424-3).
Abstract
Future sea-level rise projections carry large uncertainties, mainly driven by the unknown response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to climate change. During the past four decades, the contribution of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to sea-level rise has increased. However, unlike for West Antarctica, the causes of East Antarctic ice-mass loss are largely unexplored. Here, using oceanographic observations off East Antarctica (80–160° E) we show that mid-depth Circumpolar Deep Water has warmed by 0.8–2.0 °C along the continental slope between 1930–1990 and 2010–2018. Our results indicate that this warming may be implicated in East Antarctic ice-mass loss and coastal water-mass reorganization. Further, it is associated with an interdecadal, summer-focused poleward shift of the westerlies over the Southern Ocean. Since this shift is predicted to persist into the twenty-first century, the oceanic heat supply to East Antarctica may continue to intensify, threatening the ice sheet’s future stability.
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Accepted/In Press date: 21 June 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 2 August 2022
Published date: August 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
L.H.-B. received grant support from the European Research Council Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, through grant no. 661015 and the Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research. A.C.N.G. received grant support from the Royal Society and the Wolfson Foundation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, Crown.
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 468567
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468567
ISSN: 1758-678X
PURE UUID: 6247a12e-1d6c-4ce5-8c23-251941ed89a6
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Date deposited: 18 Aug 2022 16:38
Last modified: 15 Oct 2024 04:01
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Author:
Laura Herraiz-Borreguero
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