Climatic role of Southern Hemisphere extratropical cyclones and their relationship with sea ice

Abstract

Transient atmospheric systems play a central role in determining the climate of the high southern latitudes. One element which might have been expected to be intimately tied up with cyclonic activity is the extent of sea ice encircling the Antarctic continent. The author refers to studies which suggest relationships between sea ice and cyclones on synoptic time-scales, but in which these become very weak when interannual relationships are considered. It is suggested that the intuitive appeal of an ice-cyclone connection has an implicit and characteristic time-scale (of a few hours or days) associated with it. However, the same reasoning cannot be applied to longer periods, because of the non..