Applications are now being accepted for a PhD studentship to study drivers of extreme high temperature events over coastal Antarctica. A description of the project and details on applying can be found here:
https://iapetus2.ac.uk/studentships/drivers-of-extreme-high-temperature-events-over-antarctica/
High temperature events along coastal Antarctica result in surface temperature anomalies of a few degree with extensive surface melt. While many of these events are of short duration, they involve complex interactions between the air, ocean and ice. The synoptic situation at the time of the high temperature events often consists of a warm ridge extending towards the Antarctic in association with strong meridional flow. Large magnitude, more persistent events have been linked to atmospheric rivers, which are narrow bands of warm, moist air originating in lower latitudes (Wille et al., 2019). It is puzzling that some of the high temperature events have been preceded by downslope flow from the interior of Antarctica, where the air is normally much colder than that on the coast. To date, the dynamical aspects of these extremes remain poorly understood.
This project will investigate high temperature events in the coastal Antarctica using hourly ERA5 reanalysis in combination with the latest CMIP6 model outputs and the nested configuration of the UK Met Office Unified Model. The aim is to improve our understanding of the high temperature events and make projections of the likelihood of future changes.
The project aims to answer two key questions:
Q1. What are the key stages and dynamical drivers of the high temperature events along coastal Antarctica?
Q2. To what extent is projected climate change linked to high temperature events?
Please contact Dr. Hua Lu if you have any questions.
email: hlu@bas.ac.uk