Antarctic Cryospheric Change: Mechanisms and Feedback on Climate

Columbia University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

The Antarctic cryosphere is a key component of the global climate system, being linked to global sea level through ice sheet mass balance, and to the global ocean overturning circulation through sea ice driven production of Antarctic Bottom Water. This research seeks enhance understanding of cryosphere-climate models interactions in the Antarctic, thereby allowing for attribution of recently observed changes, and for improved quantification of the physical drivers of model-simulated future climate. The project also seeks to contribute to the education and professional training of a graduate research assistant. Educational outreach will occur by partnering with local high school science teachers and students as part of the Secondary School Field Research Program (SSFRP). This partnership with the SSFRP will develop a 4- week curriculum on climate modeling that will be suitable for use in high school Earth Science or Physics courses. The project has three objectives. First, the cryospheric response to changes in the top-of the-atmosphere (TOA) absorbed solar radiation (ASR) at high southern latitudes will be assessed. The second objective of the project is to quantify the effect of ozone depletion and recovery on the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. This will be accomplished both by analyzing the (Whole Atmosphere Community Climate) WACCM simulated surface mass balance, and by performing a series of sensitivity simulations with a stand-alone ice sheet model (the Ice Sheet System Model, or ISSM) forced by WACCM output. A third objective is to determine the atmospheric response to Antarctic sea-ice changes. This will be achieved by running WACCM with prescribed sea surface temperatures and sea-ice concentrations in order to examine the impacts of different sea-ice anomaly patterns. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.