Compound drivers behind new record high temperatures and surface melt at the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2022

PAOLA RODRIGUEZ IMAZIO

NATURE CLIMATE AND ATMOSPHERIOC SCIENCES

Springer Nature

Año: 2023

The Antarctic Peninsula (AP) experienced a new extreme warm event and record high surface melt inFebruary 2022, rivaling the recent temperature records from 2015 and 2020, and contributing to thealarming series of extreme warm events over this region showing stronger warming compared to therest of Antarctica. The northern/northwestern AP was directly impacted by an intense atmosphericriver (AR), which brought anomalous heat and rainfall, while the AR-enhanced foehn effect furtherwarmed its northeastern side. The event was triggered by multiple large-scale atmospheric circulationpatterns linking the AR formation to tropical convection anomalies and stationary Rossby waves, withan anomalous Amundsen Sea Low and a record-breaking high-pressure system east of the AP. Thecascade of impacts culminated in widespread and intensive surface melt across the AP. Circulationanalogue analysis showed that global warming might have played a role in the amplification of theevent. Increasing frequency of such events can undermine the stability of the AP ice shelves, withmultiple local to global impacts, including acceleration of the AP ice mass loss and changes insensitive ecosystems