Enhanced westerly winds lead to increased ocean heat transport to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet

～Mechanism of Global Warming Accelerating Antarctic Ice Sheet Melting～

Joint Press Release by Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, National Institute of Polar Research (NiPR), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), and Hokkaido University.

A research group led by Associate Professor Kohei Mizobata, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology (President: Toshio Iseki, hereafter “TUMSAT”); the National Institute of Polar Research; the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology; and the Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, has found that enhanced westerly winds associated with global warming will strengthen the clockwise circulations and heat transport to the ice sheet in the East Antarctic coastal area.

The results of this research were published online in Geophysical Research Letters on March 15, 2025 at 5:14 p.m. (JST).

The complete press release can be downloaded as a PDF.

Contact

Research contact

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology

Department of Ocean Sciences

Associate Professor Kohei Mizobata

Email: mizobata@kaiyodai.ac.jp

Media contact

Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology

Public Relations Office

E-mail: so-koho[at]o.kaiyodai.ac.jp

Inter-university Research Institute Corporation Research Organization of Information and Systems National Institute of Polar Research

Public Relations Office

E-mail: koho[at]nipr.ac.jp

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

Press Office

E-mail: press[at]jamstec.go.jp

Hokkaido University

Public Relations & Communications Division, Office of Public Relations and Social Collaboration

Email: en-press[at]general.hokudai.ac.jp