On December 19th last year an OCEAN:ICE publication was released in the Journal Nature: "Record Low Antarctic Sea-Ice in 2023 Increased Ocean Heat Loss and Storms", by Simon A. Josey, Andrew J. S. Meijers, Adam T. Blaker, Jeremy P. Grist, Jenny Mecking & Holly C. Ayres. This research was initially conceived at the OCEAN:ICE/SO-CHIC workshop in 2023 and led by Simon Josey at the UK National Oceanography Centre. It focuses on the nature and consequences of the extremely low Antarctic sea ice observed in 2023, and finds that this was associated with massively increased ocean heat loss, an increase in atmospheric storm frequency and changes in the distribution of dense water formation. It also found that the timing of peak ocean winter heat loss was shifted by over a month compared to climatology.
This work demonstrates that large shifts are taking place within the Southern Ocean. Is shows that it is imperative that research, such as is taking place within OCEAN:ICE, is carried out to understand and predict how the changes in the Antarctic cryosphere will impact the global ocean and climate, and what feedback these may have on the ice sheet itself.
Read the full publication here: Record-low Antarctic sea ice in 2023 increased ocean heat loss and storms | Nature
The author of the article - Andrew Meijers (British Antarctic Survey)