The Extraordinary March 2022 East Antarctica “Heat” Wave. Part II: Impacts on the Antarctic Ice Sheet

• DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-23-0176.1
• Publication Date: 2023-11-15T18:24:51Z
• Authors: Jonathan D. Wille; Simon P. Alexander; Charles Amory; Rebecca Baiman; Léonard Barthélemy; Dana M. Bergstrom; Alexis Berne; Hanin Binder; Juliette Blanchet; Deniz Bozkurt; Thomas J. Bracegi...; Mathieu Casado; Taejin Choi; Kyle R. Clem; Francis Codron; Rajashree Datta; Stefano Di Battista; Vincent Favier; Diana Francis; Alexander D. Fraser; Elise Fourré; René D. Garreaud; Christophe Genthon; Irina V. Gorodets...; Sergi González-He...; Victoria J. Heinrich; Guillaume Hubert; Hanna Joos; Seong-Joong Kim; John C. King; Christoph Kittel; Amaelle Landais; Matthew Lazzara; Gregory H. Leonard; Jan L. Lieser; Michelle Maclennan; David Mikolajczyk; Peter Neff; Inès Ollivier; Ghislain Picard; Benjamin Pohl; F. Martin Ralph; Penny Rowe; Elisabeth Schlosser; Christine A. Shields; Inga J. Smith; Michael Sprenger; Luke Trusel; Danielle Udy; Tessa Vance; Étienne Vignon; Catherine Walker; Nander Wever; Xun Zou
• Keywords: Antarctic ice sheet; Ice core; Warm front

Abstract Between 15 and 19 March 2022, East Antarctica experienced an exceptional heat wave with widespread 30°–40°C temperature anomalies across the ice sheet. In Part I, we assessed meteorological drivers that generated intense atmospheric river (AR) caused these record-shattering anomalies. Here, continue our large collaborative study by analyzing diverse impacts driven AR landfall. These included rain surface melt was recorded along coastal areas, but this outweighed high snowfall accumulations resulting in a largely positive mass balance contribution to Antarctic region. An analysis of energy budget indicated downward longwave radiation cloud-liquid water contents some scattered solar produced warming. Isotope measurements moisture were highly elevated, likely imprinting strong signal for past climate reconstructions. The event attenuated cosmic ray at Concordia, something previously never observed. Last, extratropical cyclone west landfall triggered final collapse critically unstable Conger Ice Shelf while further reducing already record low sea extent. Significance Statement Using collective expertise, explored from 2022 Antarctica. One key takeaway is cryosphere sensitive extremes originating midlatitudes subtropics. Despite radiation, led huge amounts interior desert. isotopes snow warm airmass origin will be detectable future cores potentially distort Even space activity affected. Also, swells storm helped trigger degrading coverage.