New Study: Southern Hemisphere Sea Ice Now Extends ~80 km Farther North Than Prior Estimates
By Kenneth Richard on 10. May 2021
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It was previously thought the northern limit for Southern Hemisphere sea ice was 55°S. But recent declines in surface air temperatures in southernmost South America have led to sea ice formation creeping 80 to 100 kilometers further north than previous estimates. Since 2000, sea ice has been extending well into 54°S.
The southernmost tip of South America has experienced rapid cooling in the last several centuries. In “the most recent decades” the climate has deteriorated to the coldest sea surface temperatures of the last 10,000 years (Bertrand et al., 2017).
Image Source: Bertrand et al., 2017
Not only has the sea ice around Antarctica been advancing in recent decades in tandem with Southern Ocean cooling (Fan et al., 2014), but the entire Southern Hemisphere’s sea ice extent has been creeping northwards since the 1970s (Comiso et al., 2017).
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