North and Tropical Atlantic Ocean Bringing Climate Change to Antarctica
Jan. 22, 2014 — The gradual warming of the North and Tropical Atlantic Ocean is contributing to climate change in Antarctica, a team of New York University scientists has concluded. The findings, which rely on more than three decades of atmospheric data and appear in the journal Nature, show new ways in which distant regional conditions are contributing to Antarctic climate change.
"Our findings reveal a previously unknown -- and surprising -- force behind climate change that is occurring deep in our southern hemisphere: the Atlantic Ocean," says Xichen Li, a doctoral student in NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and the study's lead author. "Moreover, the study offers further confirmation that warming in one region can have far-reaching effects in another."
Over the past few decades, Antarctica has experienced dramatic climate change, with its peninsula exhibiting the strongest warming of any region on the planet. During its summer, Antarctic changes have been attributed to greenhouse gas increase and stratospheric ozone loss. However, less clear are the forces behind climate changes that occur during its winter. In addition, the effects of these changes during the cold season are complex, further stifling efforts to find the atmospheric culprit.
