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An Unprecedented Record Low Antarctic Sea-ice Extent during Austral Summer 2022

Advances in Atmospheric Sciences (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Seasonal minimum Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) in 2022 hit a new record low since recordkeeping began in 1978 of 1.9 million km2 on 25 February, 0.17 million km2 lower than the previous record low set in 2017. Significant negative anomalies in the Bellingshausen/Amundsen Seas, the Weddell Sea, and the western Indian Ocean sector led to the new record minimum. The sea ice budget analysis presented here shows that thermodynamic processes dominate sea ice loss in summer through enhanced poleward heat transport and albedo-temperature feedback. In spring, both dynamic and thermodynamic processes contribute to negative sea ice anomalies. Specifically, dynamic ice loss dominates in the Amundsen Sea as evidenced by sea ice thickness (SIT) change, while positive surface heat fluxes contribute most to sea ice melt in the Weddell Sea.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments and suggestions. This is a contribution to the Year of Polar Prediction (YOPP), a flagship activity of the Polar Prediction Project (PPP), initiated by the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP) of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). We acknowledge the WMO WWRP for its role in coordinating this international research activity. This study is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41941009, 41922044, and 42006191), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (Grant No. 2020B1515020025), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 19lgzd07), the Norges Forskningsråd (Grant no. 328886).

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Affiliations

  1. School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai), Zhuhai, 519082, China

    Jinfei Wang, Hao Luo, Qinghua Yang, Qian Shi & Bo Han

  2. Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences University at Albany, State University of New York, New York, 12222, USA

    Jiping Liu

  3. Ministry of Natural Resources Key Laboratory for Polar Science, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, 200136, China

    Lejiang Yu

Authors
  1. Jinfei Wang
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  2. Hao Luo
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  3. Qinghua Yang
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  4. Jiping Liu
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  5. Lejiang Yu
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  6. Qian Shi
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  7. Bo Han
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Correspondence to Hao Luo.

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Wang, J., Luo, H., Yang, Q. et al. An Unprecedented Record Low Antarctic Sea-ice Extent during Austral Summer 2022. Adv. Atmos. Sci. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2087-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2087-1

Key words

  • Antarctic
  • record low
  • sea ice budget
  • atmospheric circulation