Tropical Pacific warms West Antarctica
Nature Geoscience
April 11, 2011
Recent winter warming in continental West Antarctica is caused by rising sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, suggests a study online this week in Nature Geoscience. This warming in West Antarctica is linked to tropical Pacific temperatures through changes in the atmospheric circulation.
Eric Steig and colleagues analysed observations of surface temperature from Antarctica and the global oceans along with atmospheric circulation data to identify the influence of Pacific sea surface temperatures on atmospheric dynamics, which brings warmer air to West Antarctica during the winter. They also perform climate model simulations to confirm this relationship between the climate in the tropics and high latitudes.
doi: 10.1038/ngeo1129
Research highlights
-
Jan 15
Environment: Seagrass meadows may facilitate marine plastic removal from the seaScientific Reports
-
Jan 15
Planetary Science: Mercury may have shrunk less than previously thoughtCommunications Earth＆Environment
-
Jan 13
Environment: Polyester fibres found to be widespread in the ArcticNature Communications
-
Dec 23
Planetary science: Over 100,000 new craters identified on the MoonNature Communications
-
Dec 22
Conservation: Agricultural expansion could cause widespread biodiversity declines by 2050Nature Sustainability
-
Dec 18
Geology: Alpine summits may have been ice-free during life of Tyrolean IcemanScientific Reports
