Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future ’s Post

University of Washington forecasts #Antarctic sea ice levels months in advance The research, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), shows that the all-time record low Antarctic Sea Ice in 2023 can be explained by warm Southern Ocean conditions and patterns in the winds that circled Antarctica months earlier, enabling forecasts for sea ice coverage around the #SouthPole to be generated six or more months in advance. “Since 2015, total Antarctic sea ice area has dramatically declined,” said lead author Zac E. (Zac Espinosa), a UW doctoral student in atmospheric and climate science. “State-of-the-art forecasting methods for sea ice generally struggle to produce reliable forecasts at such long leads. We show that winter Antarctic sea ice has significant predictability at six- to nine-month lead times.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ezw-4z-c #Meteorology #Climate #ClimateChange #Science #Weather #Data #Forecasts #Environment #Technology #MetTechWorldExpo #MetTechExpoNA #ukimediaevents

📢 Exciting Antarctic Research Update! 📢 🌐 We are proud to announce the publication of a groundbreaking study in Nature Communications Earth and Environment, led by Alanna Alevropoulos-Borrill alongside Nick Golledge, both from the Antarctic Research Centre - Te Puna Pātiotio at Victoria University of Wellington, Stephen L. Cornford, Dan Lowry, and Mario Krapp from GNS Science. The paper, titled "Sustained ocean cooling insufficient to reverse sea level rise from Antarctica," presents an essential exploration into the impacts of ocean cooling on the Amundsen Sea Embayment's glaciers in West Antarctica. 🌊 With the ongoing discussions about geoengineering solutions to climate change, such as submarine curtains and artificial walls, this research arrives at a critical moment. The study's ensemble of ice sheet model simulations delves into the question of how much ocean cooling would be necessary to stabilize or even regrow the glaciers in this key region, known for its significant contribution to global sea level rise. We congratulate Alanna and her team for their contributions to our understanding of climate impacts in Antarctica. Their work is a vital part of the ongoing dialogue on how best to address one of the most pressing issues of our time: acute global sea level rise. 🔗 Please find the paper in Nature Portfolio here: https://lnkd.in/d4zJ8Hw5 Listen to an interview on RNZ with Alanna Alevropoulos-Borrill about the fast moving threat of sea level rise: https://lnkd.in/dAubZU72 The original article on the topic and from Alanna: The Conversation Australia + NZ article: https://lnkd.in/d_qwKYsw   #AntarcticResearch #ClimateChange #Geoengineering #SeaLevelRise #NaturePublication

NEW STUDY: For the first time, scientists combined geological samples from the seafloor with sophisticated modelling to reveal the origins of today's Antarctic ice sheet. Today's ice is melting faster than previously assumed—but more in West Antarctica than East Antarctica. The root for this disparity could lie in how the ice sheet formed 34 million years ago. ACEAS co-author Dr Katharina Hochmuth says the ice sheet did not cover the whole continent as scientists previously assumed. It was instead confined to East Antarctica for at least seven million years before advancing towards the West Antarctic coasts. The investigations highlight how different the two regions of the Antarctic ice sheet are, and how they react to external changes—including climate change. “Even a slight warming is enough to cause the ice in West Antarctica to melt again—and that's exactly where we are right now." STORY: https://lnkd.in/gDYMBKdN PAPER: https://lnkd.in/gS8CnVKU University of Tasmania British Antarctic Survey MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences, University of Bremen Heidelberg University Northumbria University Imperial College London Université de Fribourg - Universität Freiburg Universidad de Granada University of Leicester Texas A&M University Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR)

💧 A new study led by researchers from the University of Cambridge has revealed that Antarctic ice shelves contain significantly more meltwater than previously estimated, with potential implications for global sea level rise. 🌡 The implications of these findings are significant for ice shelf stability and sea level rise predictions. 🌊 The research underscores the importance of improving climate models to account for the role of slush in Antarctic ice dynamics. #climatechange #globalwarming https://lnkd.in/eu3YVzdw

Warming of Antarctic deep-sea waters contribute to sea level rise in North Atlantic, study finds - University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science: Analysis of mooring observations and hydrographic data suggest the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation deep water limb in the North Atlantic has weakened. Two decades of continual observations provide a greater understanding of the Earth’s climate regulating system. https://lnkd.in/eiVSFtpd

The fourth Antarctic campaign of the “Beyond EPICA - Oldest Ice” project, funded by the European Commission, has achieved a historic milestone for climate science. An international team of scientists successfully drilled a 2,800-meter-long ice core, reaching the bedrock beneath the Antarctic ice sheet. These ice samples are expected to unveil, for the first time, critical details about Earth's climate and atmospheric history, extending beyond 800,000 years ago and showing a continuous record of the history of our climate as far back as 1.2 million years, and probably beyond. The extracted ice preserves an unprecedented record of Earth’s climate history, continuous information on atmospheric temperatures and pristine samples of old air with greenhouse gases spanning over 1.2-million-year-old ice and probably beyond. “We have marked a historic moment for climate and environmental science” comments Carlo Barbante, professor at Ca' Foscari University of Venice, senior associate member of the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (Cnr-Isp) and coordinator of Beyond EPICA. “This is the longest continuous record of our past climate from an ice core, and it can reveal the interlink between the carbon cycle and temperature of our planet. This achievement was made possible through the extraordinary collaboration of various European research institutions and the dedicated work of scientists and logistical personnel in the field over the last ten years.” The European teams in the field have accomplished an impressive achievement: a total of more than 200 days of successful drilling and ice core processing operations across four field seasons in the harsh environment of the central Antarctic plateau at an altitude of 3,200 meters above sea level and with an average summer temperature of -35°C. The ice core from Beyond EPICA will offer unprecedented insights into the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, a remarkable period between 900,000 and 1.2 million years ago when glacial cycles slowed down from 41,000-year to 100,000-year intervals. The reasons behind this shift remain one of climate science's enduring mysteries, which this project aims to unravel. As soon as these ice cores are in Europe, the project will focus on analyzing the ice samples to uncover the Earth's climate and atmospheric history over the past 1.2 million years and probably beyond. Dating of the underlying rocks will be undertaken to unravel when this region of Antarctica was ice-free for the last time. Université libre de Bruxelles (BE): University of Bern (CH): Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (DE): University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitet) (DK): CNRS (FR): Institut polaire français Paul-Émile Victor (FR): ENEA (IT): CNR ISP (IT). Università Ca' Foscari Venezia To learn more about Beyond EPICA Oldest Ice project: https://lnkd.in/dZa44nEE picture credits PNRA/IPEV. Looking at the core under red light.

One min Read: Study reveals acceleration in Pacific upper-ocean circulation over past 30 years, impacting global weather patterns A critical ocean layer for El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dynamics. A study published on October 31, 2024, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans shows that the equatorial Pacific's upper-ocean circulation has accelerated over the past 30 years due to stronger atmospheric winds. This has led to faster, shallower currents and may affect global climate patterns, especially El Niño and La Niña events. Led by Franz Philip Tuchen at the University of Miami, the research combines three decades of ocean and atmospheric data, revealing a 20% increase in westward currents and a significant acceleration of poleward currents. The equatorial thermocline has steepened, potentially reducing ENSO amplitude and favoring more frequent central Pacific El Niño events. These findings could improve climate models and enhance predictions for regions affected by ENSO, like the U.S. Source: https://lnkd.in/dBJh6PU9 #OceanCirculation #ElNino #LaNina #ClimateChange #EquatorialPacific #ENSO #ClimateScience #GeophysicalResearch #Oceanography #GlobalWarming #PacificCurrents #AtmosphericWinds #ClimateModels #EnvironmentalScience

Climate scientists urge Australian Parliament to prioritise Antarctic research. Last week, Dr. Amelie Meyer and Dr. Adele Morrison provided evidence to the Committee regarding the importance of Antarctica to Australia’s weather and climate, emphasising the need to maintain and continue research in this vital area. (Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gT54_v2q) This appearance followed a joint submission by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and the The ARC Centre of Excellence for 21st Century Weather to the “Inquiry into the importance of Antarctica to Australia’s national interests”. The submission aims to inform on the most recent developments in Antarctic research and offers five main recommendations for the committee to consider, including: - Maintain Australia’s role as a world class research leader in Antarctica - Better support research on Antarctic sea ice - Ensure Australia’s climate modelling capability is maintained through long-term government support Representing both Centres at the public hearing, Dr. Amelie Meyer, Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania, said: “Over the past eight years, we’ve seen a sudden and alarming decline in sea ice around Antarctica.” “The entire research community is really concerned with this unforeseen, sudden change, and it is working on understanding why, and what is coming ahead.” “Declining sea ice and other key parts of the Antarctic climate system are not important just for Antarctica. They shape Australia’s weather and climate and coastlines. From rainfall, droughts, to sea level rise, they can impact our food chain, our farmers, our health and our economy.” Given the significant implications for Australia's weather and climate, Dr. Meyer and Dr. Morrison highlighted the need to better observe and predict sea ice changes over the coming decades and called for increased support for Antarctic research and scientific model development. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gT54_v2q A recording of the hearing is available here: https://lnkd.in/g99zPvZP. Read the submission and the five key recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/gSF7g8-s The submission was written by Dr Danielle Udy, Professor Julie Arblaster, Professor Nerilie Abram, Professor Andrew Pitman, AO, FAA, Professor Christian Jakob, Dr Amelie Meyer, Alice Wilson and Angela Kaplish. #antarcticresearch #climatescience https://lnkd.in/gT54_v2q

For the first time, the recovery of unique geological samples combined with sophisticated modeling provides surprising insights into when and where today’s Antarctic ice sheet formed, as an international research team with RWTH participation found out. 👍 Around 34 million years ago, our planet underwent one of the most fundamental climate shifts that still influences global climate conditions today: the transition from a greenhouse world, with no or very little accumulation of continental ice, to an icehouse world, with large permanently glaciated areas. The root for this could lie in its formation, as the team led by the Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung has now discovered: sediment samples from drill cores combined with complex climate and ice-sheet modeling show that permanent glaciation of Antarctica began around 34 million years ago – but did not encompass the entire continent as previously assumed, but rather was confined to the eastern region of the continent (East Antarctica). It was not until at least 7 million years later that ice began to advance towards West Antarctic coasts. The new study, published in the prestigious journal Science, highlights the significantly different responses of East and West Antarctica to external forcing. The findings of the international research team are critical for understanding the extreme climate transition from the greenhouse climate to our current icehouse climate. Importantly, the study also provides new insight that allows climate models to simulate more accurately how permanently glaciated areas affect global climate dynamics, that is the interactions between ice, ocean and atmosphere. This is of crucial importance, as Dr. Johann Philipp Klages, leader of the team, says: “Especially in light of the fact that we could be facing such a fundamental climate change again in the near future.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/euMc-3gH 📸 : Johann Klages: The RV Polarstern in front of a huge iceberg in Pine Island Bay #rwth #aachen #rwthaachen #rwthaachenuniversity #research #science #antarctica #climatechange #climate #ice

Save the date! This is our next #climatecoffee on 14 November at 10 am CET with Oliver Huhn (Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research) Record of water mass age and meltwater fractions, Weddell Sea Registration link 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/exCTRUZS 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 🌊 Abstract: The ocean-ice shelf interaction at the Antarctic continental margins is one important driver for Antarctic Bottom Water formation. On the broad shelves, e.g., in the southern Weddell Sea, it contributes to the formation of dense water, that still prevents the intrusion of warmer water onto the shelf and towards the floating ice tongue of the largest ice shelf of the world, the Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf. On a RV POLARSTERN expedition in that region in 2021 we obtained hydrographic and trace gas measurements, from which we derived variables such as basal glacial meltwater (GMW) fractions and water mass ages. The trace gases comprise the lighter noble gasses, i.e., helium (He) and neon (Ne), as well as the anthropogenic transient trace gases chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-12) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). From the noble gases He and Ne we derived glacial meltwater fractions, and from the transient tracers we computed water mass ages, which we like to present and discuss. OCEAN:ICE #HorizonEurope