Ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea is one of the fastest growing and most worrying contributions to international sea-level rise. If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, global sea levels might rise by up to three meters. The patterns of ice loss recommend that the ocean might have been warming in the Amundsen Sea over the previous one hundred years, however scientific observations of the region only began in 1994.
Ocean temperature levels around the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will most likely continue to rise if greenhouse gas emissions increase, with consequences for ice melt and international sea levels.
Map of the Amundsen Sea Basin. Credit: European Geosciences Union
A new research study supplies the first proof that increasing greenhouse gases have a long-lasting warming result on the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica. Scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) say that while others have proposed this link, nobody has actually been able to show it.
Ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Amundsen Sea is among the fastest growing and most worrying contributions to global sea-level rise. Worldwide sea levels might rise by up to three meters if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt. The patterns of ice loss suggest that the ocean may have been warming in the Amundsen Sea over the previous one a century, but clinical observations of the region only started in 1994.
In the research study– released in the journal Geophysical Research Letters– oceanographers utilized advanced computer system modeling to simulate the action of the ocean to a variety of possible changes in the atmosphere in between 1920-2013.
The Amundsen Sea area is only a fraction of the whole West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the region contains enough ice to raise global sea levels by 4 feet (1.2 meters). Credit: NASA/GSFC/SVS
The simulations show the Amundsen Sea typically ended up being warmer over the century. This warming corresponds with simulated trends in wind patterns in the area which increase temperatures by driving warm water currents towards and below the ice. Increasing greenhouse gases are understood to make these wind patterns most likely, therefore the trend in winds is believed to be triggered in part by human activity.
This study supports theories that ocean temperatures in the Amundsen Sea have been increasing considering that prior to records began. Ocean temperature levels around the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will most likely continue to increase if greenhouse gas emissions increase, with consequences for ice melt and global sea levels.
Dr. Kaitlin Naughten, ocean-ice modeler at BAS and lead author of this study, says, “Our simulations demonstrate how the Amundsen Sea reacts to long-term patterns in the environment, specifically the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds. Because we understand these winds are impacted by greenhouse gases, this raises concerns for the future. Nevertheless, it should also provide us hope, since it reveals that water level increase is not out of our control.”
Teacher Paul Holland, ocean and ice researcher at BAS and a co-author of the research study, says, “Changes in the Southern Hemisphere westerly winds are a reputable climate reaction to the effect of greenhouse-gasses. The Amundsen Sea is also subject to really strong natural environment variability. The simulations recommend that both anthropogenic and natural changes are accountable for the ocean-driven ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.”
Referral: “Simulated Twentieth-Century Ocean Warming in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica” by Kaitlin A. Naughten, Paul R. Holland, Pierre Dutrieux, Satoshi Kimura, David T. Bett and Adrian Jenkins, 28 February 2022, Geophysical Research Letters.DOI: 10.1029/ 2021GL094566.