North and Tropical Atlantic Ocean Bringing Climate Change to Antarctica

Science Daily

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." Read more

Journal Reference:

1. Xichen Li, David M. Holland, Edwin P. Gerber, Changhyun Yoo. Impacts of the north and tropical Atlantic Ocean on the Antarctic Peninsula and sea ice. Nature, 2014; 505 (7484): 538 DOI: 10.1038/nature12945