Summertime linkage between Antarctic sea-ice extent and ice-shelf basal melting through Antarctic coastal water masses’ variability: a circumpolar Southern Ocean model study

Abstract

Recent observations indicate that two cryospheric components, namely the Antarctic sea ice and ice shelf over the Southern Ocean, have been changing over the decades. Here we analyze results from an ocean–sea ice–ice shelf model to examine variability in the Antarctic sea-ice extent and ice-shelf basal melting. The model reproduces seasonal and interannual variability in the Antarctic sea-ice extent and demonstrates that summertime ice-shelf basal melting is closely anti-correlated with the sea-ice extent anomaly. For example, the unprecedented minimum of the Antarctic sea-ice extent in the 2016 spring was accompanied by a substantial increase in the Antarctic ice-shelf melting in the model. Detailed analysis of Antarctic coastal water masses flowing into the ice-shelf cavities illustrates the physical linkage in the strong anti-correlation. This study suggests that the Antarctic summer sea-ice extent in the regions where the sea-ice edge approaches the Antarctic coastline can be a proxy for Antarctic coastal water masses and subsequent ice-shelf basal melting.

Keywords

• Antarctic ice-shelf basal melting
• Antarctic sea-ice extent
• ocean‒sea ice‒ice shelf modeling