The importance of sea ice leads in the Southern Ocean - windows between atmosphere and ocean

The sea ice covered Southern Ocean covers an expanse of 18 million km2 at its greatest extent. This large region is poorly observed and contributes to significant uncertainties in global climate models.

Of particular importance is the prevalence of sea ice leads, open patches of water where direct interaction between the atmosphere and ocean occurs within the ice pack, affecting vertical fluxes of heat and carbon.

Despite their frequent occurrence, there are limited observations of sea ice leads in the Southern Ocean, with previous research focusing on the Arctic Ocean.

In this project, I will provide the first circumpolar characterisation of the spatial and temporal variability of sea ice leads and link them with changes to the upper ocean nearby.

This will be achieved by using pre-existing data for the circumpolar assessment and by deploying cutting-edge instrumentation for a field process study in the Weddell Sea sector of the Southern Ocean to focus in on specific processes.

The observational studies will be complemented with a combined 1D and 3D modelling investigation to identify the important scales and characteristics of sea ice leads.

This project is of significant global importance, providing the first insights to the fundamental length and time scales associated with sea ice leads and their impact on the upper ocean in Antarctica. This will ultimately strengthen and improve ocean models and make future predictions of climate change more reliable.