Slowdown of Antarctic Bottom Water export driven by climatic wind and sea-ice changes
Slowdown of Antarctic Bottom Water export driven by climatic wind and sea-ice changes
Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is pivotal for oceanic heat and carbon sequestrations on multidecadal to millennial timescales. The Weddell Sea contributes nearly a half of global AABW through Weddell Sea Deep Water and denser underlying Weddell Sea Bottom Water that form on the continental shelves via sea-ice production. Here we report an observed 30% reduction of Weddell Sea Bottom Water volume since 1992, with the largest decrease in the densest classes. This is probably driven by a multidecadal reduction in dense-water production over southern continental shelf associated with a >40% decline in the sea-ice formation rate. The ice production decrease is driven by northerly wind trend, related to a phase transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation since the early 1990s, superposed by Amundsen Sea Low intrinsic variability. These results reveal key influences on exported AABW to the Atlantic abyss and their sensitivity to large-scale, multidecadal climate variability.
701–709
Zhou, Shenjie
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Meijers, Andrew J.S.
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Meredith, Michael P.
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Abrahamsen, E. Povl
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Holland, Paul R.
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Silvano, Alessandro
54a4322b-c52d-4179-a414-dc108c416ec9
Sallée, Jean-Baptiste
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Østerhus, Svein
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Zhou, Shenjie
321d4fb2-f26c-4066-be60-9f45fec87d4b
Meijers, Andrew J.S.
747ecd45-cdbe-47be-b952-4b724096f9d5
Meredith, Michael P.
25fd5f1c-f3ed-40a2-af59-5a7074a25fcd
Abrahamsen, E. Povl
8b2e1ed4-be8b-4831-b701-6a72eeb50ce2
Holland, Paul R.
1288654c-2b5b-4d4c-b360-7eebe59c7539
Silvano, Alessandro
54a4322b-c52d-4179-a414-dc108c416ec9
Sallée, Jean-Baptiste
286cb991-56c7-4468-92a7-860a23aeed7a
Østerhus, Svein
c0671b24-c046-41fc-8d2b-dd9b48479547
Zhou, Shenjie, Meijers, Andrew J.S., Meredith, Michael P., Abrahamsen, E. Povl, Holland, Paul R., Silvano, Alessandro, Sallée, Jean-Baptiste and Østerhus, Svein
(2023)
Slowdown of Antarctic Bottom Water export driven by climatic wind and sea-ice changes.
Nature Climate Change, 13, .
(doi:10.1038/s41558-023-01695-4).
Abstract
Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is pivotal for oceanic heat and carbon sequestrations on multidecadal to millennial timescales. The Weddell Sea contributes nearly a half of global AABW through Weddell Sea Deep Water and denser underlying Weddell Sea Bottom Water that form on the continental shelves via sea-ice production. Here we report an observed 30% reduction of Weddell Sea Bottom Water volume since 1992, with the largest decrease in the densest classes. This is probably driven by a multidecadal reduction in dense-water production over southern continental shelf associated with a >40% decline in the sea-ice formation rate. The ice production decrease is driven by northerly wind trend, related to a phase transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation since the early 1990s, superposed by Amundsen Sea Low intrinsic variability. These results reveal key influences on exported AABW to the Atlantic abyss and their sensitivity to large-scale, multidecadal climate variability.
Text
s41558-023-01695-4
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e-pub ahead of print date: 12 June 2023
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Local EPrints ID: 511535
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/511535
ISSN: 1758-678X
PURE UUID: 4c0c6282-ffd8-464f-92a3-bb63f0ebf2ff
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Date deposited: 19 May 2026 16:45
Last modified: 23 May 2026 02:16
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Contributors
Author:
Shenjie Zhou
Author:
Andrew J.S. Meijers
Author:
Michael P. Meredith
Author:
E. Povl Abrahamsen
Author:
Paul R. Holland
Author:
Jean-Baptiste Sallée
Author:
Svein Østerhus
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