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Publication Date
20 February 2023

Antarctic shelf ocean warming and sea ice melt affected by projected El Niño changes

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AbstractAntarctic shelf ocean warming affects melt of ice shelf/sheets and sea ice but projected changes vary vastly across climate models. A projected increase in El Niño variability has been found to slow future mid-latitude Southern Ocean warming but how this impacts the Antarctic shelf ocean is unknown. Here we show that a projected increase in El Niño variability accelerates Antarctic shelf ocean warming, hastening ice shelf/sheet melt but slowing sea ice reduction.

Cai, Wenju, Fan Jia, Shujun Li, Ariaan Purich, Guojian Wang, Lixin Wu, Bolan Gan, et al. 2023. “Antarctic Shelf Ocean Warming And Sea Ice Melt Affected By Projected El Niño Changes”. Nature Climate Change 13. Springer Science and Business Media LLC: 235-239. doi:10.1038/s41558-023-01610-x.
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