Antarctic storms surge as unprecedented sea ice loss reshapes climate
The turbulent waters of the Southern Ocean and increasing wind gusts around Antarctica are consequences of the rapid loss of ice, scientists indicate. "Nature" states: this is a change not seen in the last century.
More and more storms in the Southern Ocean are caused by the rapid pace of Antarctic glacier melting, according to scientists from the British National Oceanography Centre. The researchers included their observations in a new article published in the scientific journal Nature.
This is the first change of its kind in 100 years
The research by British experts focused on the record low levels of sea ice in Antarctica during the winter of 2023 and its impact on storm conditions. In this winter season, the sea ice cover in the Weddell, Bellingshausen, and Ross seas decreased by as much as 80 percent compared to the norm. This decline seems to have a domino effect on the larger climate system of the continent.
During the cold winter months, sea ice acts as a barrier, limiting the flow of heat from the warmer ocean to the cooler atmosphere. The absence of this shield allows heat to enter the atmosphere. Scientists observed that the loss of ice in 2023 doubled the heat flow from the ocean to the atmosphere in certain regions.
The heat released into the atmosphere can cause storms to form by warming the air and accelerating its circulation, leading to cloud formation and intensifying weather phenomena. It is estimated that the reduced ice cover in 2023 increased the frequency of storms by about seven days a month compared to the period 1990–2015.
- For nearly 40 years, the amount of ice in the sea around Antarctica showed small but significant increases, culminating in a record high in 2014. But this was followed by a large loss of sea ice in 2016 and, in 2023, the losses were unprecedented, and a near-record low persisted in 2024— assert Laura L. Landrum and Alice K. DuVivier, climatologists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, in an accompanying "Nature" - News & Views article. - This decline, along with oceanic changes, suggest that the Southern Ocean could be going through a shift unlike anything seen in the past century.
Extreme winters could be part of a systemic change
In Antarctica, storms are a common phenomenon in coastal zones, where they form due to weather patterns over the Southern Ocean. It is here that cold continental air masses collide with warmer ocean masses, increasing the chance of storm occurrences. Antarctic storms are known for hurricane-like winds, extreme cold, and intense snowfalls, especially in the winter months when the continent is plunged into darkness, creating, so to speak, polar vortices.
Scientists predict that if the current phenomena persist, they may become even more pronounced in the future. They believe that the extreme winters of 2023 and 2024 may be part of a systemic change related to the transformation of the Southern Ocean system.
