Antarctica’s Sudden Sea‑Ice Crash: Are We Crossing a Climate Tipping Point?
Antarctic Sea Ice: From Growth to Collapse Early stability and unexpected expansion For decades Antarctic sea ice behaved differently from its Arctic counterpart. While Arctic sea ice shrank steadily with warming, Antarctic sea ice grew slightly. The Southern Ocean is insulated from global warming by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and strong westerly winds, and freshwater input from melting ice shelves promoted surface stratification. That stratification created a “lid” of cold, fresh water that limited mixing with deeper warm water and helped sea ice form phys.org. Abrupt reversal in 2016 This apparent stability ended around 2015–16. In a Nature study, Marilyn Raphael