Journal Article

The Extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “Heat” Wave. Part II: Impacts on the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Baiman, Rebecca, Battista, Stefano Di, Choi, Taejin, Hubert, Guillaume, Wever, Nander, Ralph, F. Martin, Alexander, Simon P., Berne, Alexis, Mikolajczyk, David, Walker, Catherine, Bozkurt, Deniz, Zou, Xun, Clem, Kyle R., Maclennan, Michelle, Neff, Peter, Smith, Inga J., Gorodetskaya, Irina V., Lieser, Jan L., Kittel, Christoph, Vance, Tessa, Wille, Jonathan D., Trusel, Luke, Bergstrom, Dana M., Fraser, Alexander D., Bracegirdle, Thomas J., Rowe, Penny, Garreaud, René D., Francis, Diana, King, John C., Pohl, Benjamin, Heinrich, Victoria J., Landais, Amaelle, Codron, Francis, Joos, Hanna, Datta, Rajashree, Casado, Mathieu, Amory, Charles, Genthon, Christophe, Lazzara, Matthew, Shields, Christine A., Ollivier, Inès, González-Herrero, Sergi, Leonard, Gregory H., Kim, Seong-Joong, Binder, Hanin, Schlosser, Elisabeth, Blanchet, Juliette, Picard, Ghislain, Fourré, Elise, Udy, Danielle, Barthélemy, Léonard, Sprenger, Michael, Favier, Vincent, Vignon, Étienne

2024

Overview

Between 15 and 19 March 2022, East Antarctica experienced an exceptional heat wave with widespread 30°–40°C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet. In Part I, we assessed the meteorological drivers that generated an intense atmospheric river (AR) that caused these record-shattering temperature anomalies. Here, we continue our large collaborative study by analyzing the widespread and diverse impacts driven by the AR landfall. These impacts included widespread rain and surface melt that was recorded along coastal areas, but this was outweighed by widespread high snowfall accumulations resulting in a largely positive surface mass balance contribution to the East Antarctic region. An analysis of the surface energy budget indicated that widespread downward longwave radiation anomalies caused by large cloud-liquid water contents along with some scattered solar radiation produced intense surface warming. Isotope measurements of the moisture were highly elevated, likely imprinting a strong signal for past climate reconstructions. The AR event attenuated cosmic ray measurements at Concordia, something previously never observed. Last, an extratropical cyclone west of the AR landfall likely triggered the final collapse of the critically unstable Conger Ice Shelf while further reducing an already record low sea ice extent.

• Publisher: American Meteorological Society
• Subject: Anomalies / Antarctic ice sheet / Antarctic radiation / Antarctic zone / Atmospheric Science / Climate / Climatology / Coastal zone / Cores / Cosmic radiation / Cosmic ray showers / Cosmic rays / Cryosphere / Earth Sciences / Earth sciences & physical geography / Energy budget / Extratropical cyclones / Glaciation / Glaciology / Heat / Heat waves / Humidity / Ice cores / Ice cover / Ice sheets / Ice shelves / Imprinting / Isotopes / Land ice / Long wave radiation / Mass balance / Physical, chemical, mathematical & earth Sciences / Physique, chimie, mathématiques & sciences de la terre / Precipitation / Radiation / Sciences de la terre & géographie physique / Sciences of the Universe / Sea ice / Snow / Snow accumulation / Snowfall / Solar radiation / Storms / Surface energy / Surface properties / Surface temperature / Temperature / Temperature anomalies / Water