The puzzle of landfast sea ice: ‘Fast’ ice and near-term climate impacts. Sea ice which is held motionless against the Antarctic coastline (so-called landfast, or 'fast' ice) is hugely important for global climate and Southern Ocean ecosystems but its extent has recently plummeted. This project will address major knowledge gaps by providing novel satellite-based mapping and analysis of fast ice extent, towards enabling incorporation of fast ice into Australia’s new sea ice-ocean Earth system mod ....The puzzle of landfast sea ice: ‘Fast’ ice and near-term climate impacts. Sea ice which is held motionless against the Antarctic coastline (so-called landfast, or 'fast' ice) is hugely important for global climate and Southern Ocean ecosystems but its extent has recently plummeted. This project will address major knowledge gaps by providing novel satellite-based mapping and analysis of fast ice extent, towards enabling incorporation of fast ice into Australia’s new sea ice-ocean Earth system model for the first time – to allow assessment of its impacts on global ocean circulation and ice shelf melt. Outcomes also include new automated capability for monitoring fast ice extent, analysis of its variability and drivers, and first maps of its thickness and roughness.Read moreRead less
Linking wave–sea ice feedbacks to rapid ice retreat. Antarctic sea ice extent has been in sharp decline since 2016, which is stressing the fragile Southern Ocean and Antarctic environments so vital to the global climate. This project aims to investigate a crucial candidate mechanism of sea ice loss by predicting rapid ice retreat in response to large Southern Ocean waves. New theory and modelling capabilities that account for wave–ice feedbacks will underpin the predictions, leveraging on recent ....Linking wave–sea ice feedbacks to rapid ice retreat. Antarctic sea ice extent has been in sharp decline since 2016, which is stressing the fragile Southern Ocean and Antarctic environments so vital to the global climate. This project aims to investigate a crucial candidate mechanism of sea ice loss by predicting rapid ice retreat in response to large Southern Ocean waves. New theory and modelling capabilities that account for wave–ice feedbacks will underpin the predictions, leveraging on recent research breakthroughs, including novel datasets derived from satellite and field observations. The outcomes are expected to quantify sea ice retreat due to ocean waves for the first time, with potentially major implications for coupled wave–sea ice modelling in climate studies.Read moreRead less
The Southern Ocean's response to abrupt climate change. This project aims to determine how the Southern Ocean responds to abrupt climate change, through geochemical analysis of marine sediment cores. Rapid warming events of the last ice age provide an analogue to human-caused warming. Experiments using ocean climate models will evaluate the drivers and consequences of the biogeochemical response of different sectors and zones of the Southern Ocean. The intended outcome is a better understanding ....The Southern Ocean's response to abrupt climate change. This project aims to determine how the Southern Ocean responds to abrupt climate change, through geochemical analysis of marine sediment cores. Rapid warming events of the last ice age provide an analogue to human-caused warming. Experiments using ocean climate models will evaluate the drivers and consequences of the biogeochemical response of different sectors and zones of the Southern Ocean. The intended outcome is a better understanding of how and why climate change impacts ocean productivity in the ecologically significant Southern Ocean. This will lead to better representations of carbon feedbacks in climate models and more robust projections of future climate change.Read moreRead less