Interannual variations and regionality of Antarctic sea-ice-temperature associations

In the Antarctic, climate-scale anomalies of surface temperature ( T s ) are associated with the atmospheric circulation and also sea-ice conditions. Negative (positive) anomalies of station T s tend to accompany more (less) extensive sea ice in broadly similar longitudes. However, the relationship between temperature and sea-ice conditions during large interannual variations of the circulation has been little explored, as has its association over longer distances within Antarctica. This study examines the inter-associations between T s at seven automatic weather stations in East Antarctica and the Ross Sea area, and sea-ice conditions in the sector 30° Ε eastward to 60° W for the three ice-growth seasons (March-October) of 1987-89. Strong between-year differences occur in the intercorrelalions among station T s , sectoral içe extent and the relationship between the two climate variables, especially for 1988 and 1989. These differences are also expressed in the patterns of cold-air mesoscale cyclogenesis over sub-Antarctic latitudes. The study indicates that the T s -sea-ice link is modulated strongly in the presence of large-scale interannual anomalies of the atmospheric circulation, including the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).