Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state Article Swipe

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Sea ice Oceanography Circumpolar star Antarctic sea ice Climatology Geology Ice shelf Cryosphere Lead (geology) Arctic ice pack Drift ice Geomorphology

Ariaan Purich , Edward Doddridge ·

YOU? · · 2023 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00961-9 · OA: W4386712917

In February 2023, Antarctic sea ice set a record minimum; there have now been three record-breaking low sea ice summers in seven years. Following the summer minimum, circumpolar Antarctic sea ice coverage remained exceptionally low during the autumn and winter advance, leading to the largest negative areal extent anomalies observed over the satellite era. Here, we show the confluence of Southern Ocean subsurface warming and record minima and suggest that ocean warming has played a role in pushing Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state. In addition, this new state exhibits different seasonal persistence characteristics, suggesting that the underlying processes controlling Antarctic sea ice coverage may have altered.