East Antarctic Warming Forced by Ice Loss During the Last Interglacial

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Feb 3

PMID 38310088

Authors

David K Hutchinson

Laurie Menviel

Katrin J Meissner

Andrew McC Hogg

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

During the Last Interglacial (LIG; 129-116 thousand years before present), the Antarctic ice sheet (AIS) was 1 to 7 m sea level equivalent smaller than at pre-industrial. Here, we assess the climatic impact of partial AIS melting at the LIG by forcing a coupled climate model with a smaller AIS and the equivalent meltwater input around the Antarctic coast. We find that changes in surface elevation induce surface warming over East Antarctica of 2 to 4 °C, and sea surface temperature (SST) increases in the Weddell and Ross Seas by up to 2 °C. Meltwater forcing causes a high latitude SST decrease and a subsurface (100-500 m) ocean temperature increase by up to 2 °C in the Ross Sea. Our results suggest that the combination of a smaller AIS and enhanced meltwater input leads to a larger sub-surface warming than meltwater alone and induces further Antarctic warming than each perturbation separately.

Citing Articles

East Antarctic warming forced by ice loss during the Last Interglacial.

Hutchinson D, Menviel L, Meissner K, Hogg A Nat Commun. 2024; 15(1):1026.

PMID: 38310088 PMC: 10838265. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-45501-x.

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