Causes and Consequences of Changing Ocean Properties, Circulation and Sea Ice in the Polar Regions: the SROCC Assessment.
Michael Paul Meredith1, Martin Sommerkorn2, Sandra Cassotta3, Chris Derksen4, Alexey Ekaykin5, Anne B Hollowed6, Gary Kofinas7, Andrew Mackintosh8, Jess Melbourne-Thomas9, Mônica Muelbert10,11, Geir Ottersen12, Hamish D Pritchard13, Edward Schuur14, Shengping He15 and Victoria L Peck13, (1)NERC British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (2)WWF, Norway, (3)Aalborg University, Denmark, (4)Environment and Climate Change Canada, Climate Reseach Division, Toronto, ON, Canada, (5)Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Climate and Environment Research Laboratory, St Petersburg, Russia, (6)NOAA, Alaska Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA, United States, (7)University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States, (8)Monash University, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Melbourne, Australia, (9)CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Hobart, TAS, Australia, (10)Instituto do Mar (IMar), Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), São Paulo, United States, (11)Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia, (12)Institute of Marine Research, Norway, (13)British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom, (14)Northern Arizona University, Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (15)Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, Bergen, Norway
Abstract:
Climate change in the Arctic and Antarctic exerts a profound influence both within the polar regions themselves, and over all of our planet.
Physical and ecosystem changes influence societies and economies, via factors that include food provision, transport and access to non-renewable resources.
Sea level, global climate and potentially mid-latitude weather are influenced by physical and biogeochemical changes in the polar regions, through coupled feedback processes, sea ice changes and the melting of snow and land-based ice sheets and glaciers.
Reflecting this importance, the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC) features a chapter dedicated to assessing past, ongoing and future change in the polar regions, the impacts of these changes, and the possible options for response. The role of the polar oceans, both in determining the changes and impacts in the polar regions and in structuring the global influence, is an important feature of this chapter.
This talk will outline the key findings from the polar regions chapter that relate to changing ocean circulation, ocean properties and sea ice. It will synthesise the latest information on the rates, patterns and causes of changes in ocean climate in the Arctic and Southern Oceans. It will cover the oceans’ interactions with sea ice, and the past and prospective changes in sea ice extent at both poles. It will assess cryospheric driving of ocean change from ice sheets, ice shelves and glaciers, and the role of the oceans in determining the past and future evolutions of polar land-based ice. Together with complementary presentations on polar marine ecosystems and responding to polar change, it covers the polar ocean aspects of the SROCC assessment.
