The Role of the Pacific‐Antarctic Ridge in Establishing the Northward Extent of Antarctic Sea‐Ice

Abstract

The accelerating rate of climate change is one of the main challenges humanity faces in the coming decades (IPCC, 2021). However, variations in the rates of change make it difficult to develop mitigation or adaptation strategies. Ice albedo feedback is a fundamental element of the global climate because it is responsible for the rapid oscillation between glacial and interglacial stages (Hall, 2004;Marcianesi et al., 2021). Sea-ice variability also affects freshwater fluxes that impact overturning circulation (Liu et al., 2022;Meccia et al., 2022;Wu et al., 2021), as well as biological processes and polar food webs (Castellani et al., 2020;Massom & Stammerjohn, 2010). Therefore, the study and monitoring of the variability in Antarctic Sea-ice concentration (SIC) and extent (SIE) is crucial for understanding and forecasting future of changes to Earth's climate (Parkinson, 2004).The Southern Ocean (SO) can be characterized by large variations in SIC and SIE at both local and regional scales. For example, observations of the Bellingshausen Sea (in the Pacific sector of the SO) show strong decrease during the last four decades (

Transport Pathways for Iron Supply to the Australian Antarctic Ridge Phytoplankton Bloom

“…It follows the path of the Balleney Gyre, on the western side of the Ross Gyre (Figure 1b). It aligns with the Pacific Antarctic Ridge (PAR), which has been shown to modulate eddy trajectories and the sea ice edge (Ferola et al., 2023). Finally, it is close to the Balleny Islands (Figure 1a), heavily glaciated islands of volcanic origin that have been associated with release of dissolved iron (DFe) from sediments (Fourquez et al., 2023; Janssen et al., 2020; Sieber et al., 2021).…”