Articles | Volume 15, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4281-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4281-2021
Research article
 | 
07 Sep 2021
Research article |  | 07 Sep 2021

Southern Ocean polynyas in CMIP6 models

Martin Mohrmann, Céline Heuzé, and Sebastiaan Swart

Data sets

Global Sea Ice Concentration Climate Data Record v2.0 - Multimission OSI SAF https://doi.org/10.15770/EUM_SAF_OSI_0008

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Short summary
Polynyas are large open-water areas within the sea ice. We developed a method to estimate their area, distribution and frequency for the Southern Ocean in climate models and observations. All models have polynyas along the coast but few do so in the open ocean, in contrast to observations. We examine potential atmospheric and oceanic drivers of open-water polynyas and discuss recently implemented schemes that may have improved some models' polynya representation.