The role of Antarctic sea ice in configuring the global ocean

This project will determine the mechanisms by which Antarctic sea ice regulates the establishment of the world ocean's permanent pycnocline (PP, an interface of elevated stratification that sets apart well-ventilated, near-surface waters from more slowly-renewed, deeper waters), the time scales over which this happens, and the ways in which the PP structures the meridional overturning circulation and ventilation of the global ocean.

The student will achieve this by performing and analysing a suite of numerical experiments with perturbed surface forcings (e.g., Antarctic sea ice seasonality or Southern Ocean winds) in an idealised global ocean model, and re-casting the most revealing experiments in a realistic Southern Ocean model constrained by observations.

The results will provide new fundamental understanding of the long-term, planetary-scale consequences of the dramatic retreat currently being experienced by Antarctic sea ice.