The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years

Changes in Southern Ocean physics are dynamically linked to westerly winds, ocean currents, and the distribution of Antarctic sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, it is critical to comprehend the response of Southern Ocean physics to the distribution of Antarctic sea ice on a basin scale...

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Main Authors: Gagan Mandal, Jia-Yuh Yu, Shih-Yu Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-03-01
Series:Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/87/1/9
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author Gagan Mandal
Jia-Yuh Yu
Shih-Yu Lee
author_facet Gagan Mandal
Jia-Yuh Yu
Shih-Yu Lee
author_sort Gagan Mandal
collection DOAJ
description Changes in Southern Ocean physics are dynamically linked to westerly winds, ocean currents, and the distribution of Antarctic sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, it is critical to comprehend the response of Southern Ocean physics to the distribution of Antarctic sea ice on a basin scale. This modeling study employs a fully coupled Earth system model to investigate the effect of Antarctic Sea ice distribution on Southern Ocean dynamics during the past 20,000 years. The findings show that the formation and melting of sea ice have an effect on the distribution of surface buoyancy flux over the Southern Ocean. The simulated sea ice edge (grid points in the ice model have a sea ice concentration above 5%) in the Southern Ocean almost demarcates the borderline between the lower and upper meridional overturning cells. The seemingly permanent Antarctic sea ice edge (grid points in the ice model with a sea ice concentration greater than 80%) coincides with the shift of buoyancy flux from positive (buoyancy gain) to negative (buoyancy loss). Furthermore, the negative surface buoyancy flux zone has shifted polewards for the past 20,000 years, with the exception of approximately 14.1 thousand years. Our findings show that Antarctic sea ice feedback affects the surface buoyancy flux, affecting the overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean.
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spelling doaj-art-3e78459dc7cd416aac5d74efb681f36d2025-08-20T03:43:14ZengMDPI AGProceedings2504-39002023-03-01871910.3390/IECG2022-14145The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 YearsGagan Mandal0Jia-Yuh Yu1Shih-Yu Lee2Irreversible Climate Change Research Center, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, National Central University, Taoyuan 32001, TaiwanResearch Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, TaiwanChanges in Southern Ocean physics are dynamically linked to westerly winds, ocean currents, and the distribution of Antarctic sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result, it is critical to comprehend the response of Southern Ocean physics to the distribution of Antarctic sea ice on a basin scale. This modeling study employs a fully coupled Earth system model to investigate the effect of Antarctic Sea ice distribution on Southern Ocean dynamics during the past 20,000 years. The findings show that the formation and melting of sea ice have an effect on the distribution of surface buoyancy flux over the Southern Ocean. The simulated sea ice edge (grid points in the ice model have a sea ice concentration above 5%) in the Southern Ocean almost demarcates the borderline between the lower and upper meridional overturning cells. The seemingly permanent Antarctic sea ice edge (grid points in the ice model with a sea ice concentration greater than 80%) coincides with the shift of buoyancy flux from positive (buoyancy gain) to negative (buoyancy loss). Furthermore, the negative surface buoyancy flux zone has shifted polewards for the past 20,000 years, with the exception of approximately 14.1 thousand years. Our findings show that Antarctic sea ice feedback affects the surface buoyancy flux, affecting the overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/87/1/9Southern Ocean20,000 years before presentbuoyancy fluxAntarctic sea ice
spellingShingle Gagan Mandal
Jia-Yuh Yu
Shih-Yu Lee
The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years
Proceedings
Southern Ocean
20,000 years before present
buoyancy flux
Antarctic sea ice
title The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years
title_full The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years
title_fullStr The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years
title_full_unstemmed The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years
title_short The Influence of Antarctic Sea Ice Distribution on the Southern Ocean Overturning Circulation for the Past 20,000 Years
title_sort influence of antarctic sea ice distribution on the southern ocean overturning circulation for the past 20 000 years
topic Southern Ocean
20,000 years before present
buoyancy flux
Antarctic sea ice
url https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/87/1/9
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