Sensitivity of South America Climate to Positive Extremes of Antarctic Sea Ice.

Global climate change is expected to increasingly affect climate-sensitive sectors of society, such as the economy and environment, with significant impacts on water, energy, agriculture and fisheries. This is the case in South America, whose economy is highly dependent on the agricultural sector. Here, we analyzed the sensitivity of South American climate to positive extremes of Antarctic sea ice (ASI) extent and volume at continental and regional scales.

Lagged response of Tropical Atlantic Ocean to cold and fresh water pulse from Antarctic sea ice melting.

The formation of dense water masses at polar regions has been largely influenced by climate changes arising from global warming. In this context, based on ensemble simulations with a coupled model we evaluate the meridional shift of a climate signal (i.e.

Response of southern troposphere meridional circulation to historical maxima of Antarctic sea ice.

The variability of Antarctic sea ice (ASI) has great potential to affect atmospheric circulation, with impacts that can extend from the surface to the middle and high levels of troposphere. The present study has evaluated the response of South Atlantic tropospheric circulation to increased coverage in area and volume of ASI. Monthly data of air temperature, zonal and meridional wind and mean sea level pressure were obtained from two ensemble simulations performed with the GDFL/CM2.