Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Until recently, trends in sea-ice cover in the Arctic and Antarctic seemed to follow opposite pathways. While Arctic sea ice showed a strong and prolonged decrease, Antarctic sea ice displayed a small but significant increase. Yet, in 2015, Antarctic sea ice experienced a sharp decline to an unprecedented summertime low in 2016 and a subsequent year-round minimum in 2023. These series of events have suggested the start of a sustained decline in Antarctic sea ice, similar to that in the Arctic. Meanwhile, the Arctic sea ice is transitioning towards a seasonal regime that resembles that of the Antarctic sea ice. These ongoing changes motivated the workshop on {\it The Role of Sea Ice and its Variability in the Climate System}, which brought together the Arctic and Antarctic research communities in July 2024 at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. Here, we synthesize the discussions that took place during the workshop on changes in sea-ice properties as well as on oceanic and atmospheric drivers of these changes. We acknowledged that understanding these drivers requires enhanced observations of sea-ice parameters, such as thickness, improved process representation in models, such as ocean mesoscale eddies, and a more integrated approach to studying both polar regions. Our ability to predict sea ice changes, and hence assess future climate risks, depends on this refined understanding.
Authors: Theo Spira, Ivy Frenger, Carolina Dufour, Rachel Diamond, Frida Perez, Bianca Mezzina, Maria Vittoria Guarino, Andreas Klocker, Miriam G. Bennett, Cecilia Bitz, Thomas J. Bracegirdle, Giulia Castellani, François Challet, Maria Paz Chidichimo, Francesco Cocetta, Feba Francis, Birte Gülk, Mukund Gupta, F. Alexander Haumann, Petra Heil, Kirstin Hoffmann-Abdi, Doroteaciro Iovino, Camille Lique, Torge Martin, Francois Massonnet, Marina Noro, Kate Oglethorpe, Benjamin Richaud, T. S. Fousiya, Helen Julia Shea, Alessandro Silvano, Inga Jane Smith, Amy B. Solomon, Sharon Stammerjohn
Institutions: University of Gothenburg, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Ifremer, British Antarctic Survey, University of California, Los Angeles, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, ENEA Casaccia Research Centre, NORCE Research AS, University of East Anglia, University of Washington, University of Bremen, Sorbonne Université, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, CMCC Foundation - Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, University of Hyderabad, Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques, Delft University of Technology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Australian Antarctic Division, University of Bonn, UCLouvain, Universidade de São Paulo, University of Cambridge, Université de Toulouse, Monash University, University of Southampton, University of Otago, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4415891849
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: