70% of the Antarctic sea ice area’s record low anomaly in 2023 was due to warm Southern Ocean sea surface temperatures, while 30% was due to atmospheric circulation, and the transition from La Niña to El Niño had minimal impact, according to results from a fully-coupled Earth system model nudged to observed atmospheric circulation.
- Zachary I. Espinosa
- Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth
- Cecilia M. Bitz