Southern Ocean deep convection as a driver of Antarctic warming events

Joel Benjamin Pedro; T. Martin; Eric J. Steig; Markus Jochum; W. Park; Sune Olander Rasmussen

doi:10.1002/2016gl067861

Southern Ocean deep convection as a driver of Antarctic warming events

Joel Benjamin Pedro, T. Martin, Eric J. Steig, Markus Jochum, W. Park, Sune Olander Rasmussen

Physics of Ice, Climate and Earth

25 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Simulations with a free-running coupled climate model show that heat release associated with Southern Ocean deep convection variability can drive centennial-scale Antarctic temperature variations of up to 2.0°C. The mechanism involves three steps: Preconditioning: Heat accumulates at depth in the Southern Ocean; Convection onset: Wind and/or sea ice changes tip the buoyantly unstable system into the convective state; and Antarctic warming: Fast sea ice-albedo feedbacks (on annual-decadal time scales) and slow Southern Ocean frontal and sea surface temperature adjustments to convective heat release (on multidecadal-century time scales) drive an increase in atmospheric heat and moisture transport toward Antarctica. We discuss the potential of this mechanism to help drive and amplify climate variability as observed in Antarctic ice core records.

Original language	English
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	43
Issue number	5
Pages (from-to)	2192-2199
ISSN	0094-8276
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/2016gl067861
Publication status	Published - 16 Mar 2016

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title = "Southern Ocean deep convection as a driver of Antarctic warming events",

abstract = "Simulations with a free-running coupled climate model show that heat release associated with Southern Ocean deep convection variability can drive centennial-scale Antarctic temperature variations of up to 2.0°C. The mechanism involves three steps: Preconditioning: Heat accumulates at depth in the Southern Ocean; Convection onset: Wind and/or sea ice changes tip the buoyantly unstable system into the convective state; and Antarctic warming: Fast sea ice-albedo feedbacks (on annual-decadal time scales) and slow Southern Ocean frontal and sea surface temperature adjustments to convective heat release (on multidecadal-century time scales) drive an increase in atmospheric heat and moisture transport toward Antarctica. We discuss the potential of this mechanism to help drive and amplify climate variability as observed in Antarctic ice core records.",

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AU - Pedro, Joel Benjamin

AU - Martin, T.

AU - Steig, Eric J.

AU - Jochum, Markus

AU - Park, W.

AU - Rasmussen, Sune Olander

PY - 2016/3/16

Y1 - 2016/3/16

N2 - Simulations with a free-running coupled climate model show that heat release associated with Southern Ocean deep convection variability can drive centennial-scale Antarctic temperature variations of up to 2.0°C. The mechanism involves three steps: Preconditioning: Heat accumulates at depth in the Southern Ocean; Convection onset: Wind and/or sea ice changes tip the buoyantly unstable system into the convective state; and Antarctic warming: Fast sea ice-albedo feedbacks (on annual-decadal time scales) and slow Southern Ocean frontal and sea surface temperature adjustments to convective heat release (on multidecadal-century time scales) drive an increase in atmospheric heat and moisture transport toward Antarctica. We discuss the potential of this mechanism to help drive and amplify climate variability as observed in Antarctic ice core records.

AB - Simulations with a free-running coupled climate model show that heat release associated with Southern Ocean deep convection variability can drive centennial-scale Antarctic temperature variations of up to 2.0°C. The mechanism involves three steps: Preconditioning: Heat accumulates at depth in the Southern Ocean; Convection onset: Wind and/or sea ice changes tip the buoyantly unstable system into the convective state; and Antarctic warming: Fast sea ice-albedo feedbacks (on annual-decadal time scales) and slow Southern Ocean frontal and sea surface temperature adjustments to convective heat release (on multidecadal-century time scales) drive an increase in atmospheric heat and moisture transport toward Antarctica. We discuss the potential of this mechanism to help drive and amplify climate variability as observed in Antarctic ice core records.

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M3 - Journal article

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SP - 2192

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JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

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Southern Ocean deep convection as a driver of Antarctic warming events

Abstract

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