Stammerjohn et al. 2008

Stammerjohn, S.E., D.G. Martinson, R.C. Smith, X. Yuan, and D. Rind, 2008: Trends in Antarctic annual sea ice retreat and advance and their relation to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode variability. J. Geophys. Res., 108, C03S90, doi:10.1029/2007JC004269.

Previous studies have shown strong contrasting trends in annual sea ice duration and in monthly sea ice concentration in two regions of the Southern Ocean: decreases in the western Antarctic Peninsula/southern Bellingshausen Sea (wAP/sBS) region and increases in the western Ross Sea (wRS) region. To better understand the evolution of these regional sea ice trends, we utilize the full temporal (quasi-daily) resolution of satellite-derived sea ice data to track spatially the annual ice edge advance and retreat from 1979 to 2004. These newly analyzed data reveal that sea ice is retreating 31±10 days earlier and advancing 54±9 days later in the wAP/sBS region (i.e., total change over 1979-2004), whereas in the wRS region, sea ice is retreating 29±6 days later and advancing 31±6 days earlier. Changes in the wAP/sBS and wRS regions, particularly as observed during sea ice advance, occurred in association with decadal changes in the mean state of the Southern Annular Mode (SAM; negative in the 1980s and positive in the 1990s) and the high-latitude response to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In general, the high-latitude ice-atmosphere response to ENSO was strongest when - SAM was coincident with El Niño and when +SAM was coincident with La Niña, particularly in the wAP/sBS region. In total, there were 7 of 11 -SAMs between 1980 and 1990 and the 7 of 10 +SAMs between 1991 and 2000 that were associated with consistent decadal sea ice changes in the wAP/sBS and wRS regions, respectively. Elsewhere, ENSO/SAM-related sea ice changes were not as consistent over time (e.g., western Weddell, Amundsen, and eastern Ross Sea region), or variability in general was high (e.g., central/eastern Weddell and along East Antarctica).

• Download PDF (Document is 5.3 MB)
• PDF documents require a special viewer such as the free Adobe Reader.

Citation Styles

Show: ACP, AGU, AMS, ApJ, JQSRT, Science style

Stammerjohn, S.E., Martinson, D.G., Smith, R.C., Yuan, X., and Rind, D.: Trends in Antarctic annual sea ice retreat and advance and their relation to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode variability, J. Geophys. Res., 108, C03S90, doi:10.1029/2007JC004269, 2008.

Stammerjohn, S.E., D.G. Martinson, R.C. Smith, X. Yuan, and D. Rind (2008), Trends in Antarctic annual sea ice retreat and advance and their relation to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode variability, J. Geophys. Res., 108, C03S90, doi:10.1029/2007JC004269.

Stammerjohn, S.E., D.G. Martinson, R.C. Smith, X. Yuan, and D. Rind, 2008: Trends in Antarctic annual sea ice retreat and advance and their relation to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode variability. J. Geophys. Res., 108, C03S90, doi:10.1029/2007JC004269.

Stammerjohn, S.E., Martinson, D.G., Smith, R.C., Yuan, X., & Rind, D. 2008, J. Geophys. Res., 108, C03S90, doi:10.1029/2007JC004269.

Stammerjohn SE, Martinson DG, Smith RC, Yuan X, Rind D. Trends in Antarctic annual sea ice retreat and advance and their relation to El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode variability, J Geophys Res 2008;108:C03S90. doi:10.1029/2007JC004269.

S.E. Stammerjohn, D.G. Martinson, R.C. Smith, X. Yuan, D. Rind, J. Geophys. Res. 108, C03S90, doi:10.1029/2007JC004269 (2008).