IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-23131-x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Observed interannual changes beneath Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf linked to large-scale atmospheric circulation

Author

Listed:
  • Tore Hattermann

    (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
    Akvaplan-niva AS
    Norwegian Polar Institute)

  • Keith W. Nicholls

    (British Antarctic Survey BAS)

  • Hartmut H. Hellmer

    (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Peter E. D. Davis

    (British Antarctic Survey BAS)

  • Markus A. Janout

    (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Svein Østerhus

    (NORCE Norwegian Research Centre and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research)

  • Elisabeth Schlosser

    (University of Innsbruck
    Austrian Polar Research Institute)

  • Gerd Rohardt

    (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research)

  • Torsten Kanzow

    (Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
    Bremen University, Department of Physics and Electrical Engineering)

Abstract

Floating ice shelves are the Achilles’ heel of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They limit Antarctica’s contribution to global sea level rise, yet they can be rapidly melted from beneath by a warming ocean. At Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, a decline in sea ice formation may increase basal melt rates and accelerate marine ice sheet mass loss within this century. However, the understanding of this tipping-point behavior largely relies on numerical models. Our new multi-annual observations from five hot-water drilled boreholes through Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf show that since 2015 there has been an intensification of the density-driven ice shelf cavity-wide circulation in response to reinforced wind-driven sea ice formation in the Ronne polynya. Enhanced southerly winds over Ronne Ice Shelf coincide with westward displacements of the Amundsen Sea Low position, connecting the cavity circulation with changes in large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns as a new aspect of the atmosphere-ocean-ice shelf system.

Suggested Citation

  • Tore Hattermann & Keith W. Nicholls & Hartmut H. Hellmer & Peter E. D. Davis & Markus A. Janout & Svein Østerhus & Elisabeth Schlosser & Gerd Rohardt & Torsten Kanzow, 2021. "Observed interannual changes beneath Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf linked to large-scale atmospheric circulation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-23131-x
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-23131-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-23131-x
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-23131-x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. H. W. Yang & T.-W. Kim & Pierre Dutrieux & A. K. Wåhlin & Adrian Jenkins & H. K. Ha & C. S. Kim & K.-H. Cho & T. Park & S. H. Lee & Y.-K. Cho, 2022. "Seasonal variability of ocean circulation near the Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-23131-x. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.