Climate change in Antarctica

Climate change in Antarctica is the long-term alteration of the continent’s atmosphere, ocean, sea ice, and land ice. Its effects vary sharply between regions and include surface warming, changing snowfall, shifting sea ice, and ice-sheet loss.

Antarctic Circumpolar Current: The eastward-flowing ocean current encircling Antarctica, separating relatively warm northern waters from colder southern waters. Its changing circulation and heat transport influence ocean warming around Antarctica.
Antarctic ice-sheet contribution to sea-level rise: The rise in global mean sea level caused by net loss of ice from the Antarctic ice sheet. This is the continent’s most consequential global effect as land ice enters the ocean.
Antarctic Peninsula warming: The pronounced twentieth-century warming observed across much of the Antarctic Peninsula, followed by periods of regional cooling. Its strong historical warming contrasts with the continent’s more mixed temperature record.
Arctic amplification: The tendency for the Arctic to warm faster than the global average. Arctic warming is stronger and more widespread than the historically uneven Antarctic surface trend.
Antarctic ice-sheet tipping point: A threshold beyond which Antarctic ice loss could continue through self-sustaining retreat despite later climate stabilization. Scientists are assessing whether and when vulnerable marine sectors could cross such thresholds.
Southern Annular Mode: A mode of climate variability describing shifts in the pressure belt and westerly winds around Antarctica. Its persistent positive phase strengthens westerlies and affects regional temperature and ocean circulation.
Antarctic sea-ice decline: A sustained reduction in the extent, duration, or thickness of sea ice surrounding Antarctica. Recent record-low extents show a major shift in a system once marked by modest overall growth.
East Antarctic cooling: A period of widespread surface cooling across parts of East Antarctica in the late twentieth century. This regional pattern shows why Antarctic trends cannot be represented by a single temperature curve.
Antarctic sea ice: Seasonally expanding and retreating ocean water frozen around the Antarctic continent. Unlike land ice, its melting has little direct effect on sea level.
Antarctic ice-sheet modeling: The use of numerical models to simulate ice-sheet flow, grounding-line motion, and interactions with the ocean and atmosphere. Model differences remain a major source of uncertainty in future sea-level projections.

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