Intraseasonal Sea Ice Concentration Variability Over the Weddell Sea During Austral Autumn

Abstract

The sea ice concentration (SIC) over the Weddell Sea displays obvious intraseasonal variability during austral autumn with a dominant frequency of 5–20 days. The intraseasonal SIC variability is manifested as development of sea ice anomalies from the northeastern Antarctic Peninsula toward the central Weddell Sea. Rossby wave train associated with the internal atmospheric variability featuring circumglobal zonal wavenumber 4 pattern induces the development of anomalous surface winds and sea ice drifting, leading to the SIC anomalies directly. The thermodynamical processes associated with the intraseasonal SIC variability include the air temperature, the moisturizing of the lower troposphere, the latent and sensible heating, and the downwelling longwave radiation, which contribute to the variation of the local greenhouse effect over the Weddell Sea, and thus lead to the sea ice variation. The investigation of the intraseasonal SIC variability helps the understanding of sea-ice-atmosphere interaction over the Antarctic region.