China’s Recent Progresses in Polar Climate Change and Its Interactions with the Global Climate System

• Published in: Advances in atmospheric sciences 2023-08, Vol.40 (8), p.1401-1428
• Main Authors: Li, Xichen, Chen, Xianyao, Wu, Bingyi, Cheng, Xiao, Ding, Minghu, Lei, Ruibo, Qi, Di, Sun, Qizhen, Wang, Xiaoyu, Zhong, Wenli, Zheng, Lei, Xin, Meijiao, Shen, Xiaocen, Song, Chentao, Hou, Yurong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acidification; Antarctic climate; Antarctic climate changes; Anthropogenic factors; Arctic climate changes; Atmospheric Sciences; Climate change; Climate change research; Climate models; Climate system; Climatic extremes; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Emissions; Expeditions; Geophysics/Geodesy; Global climate; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Meteorology; Multiship expeditions; National Reports to the IUGG by Chinese National Committee for IAMAS; Ocean acidification; Ozone; Polar climates; Polar environments; Polar regions; Regional climates; Review; Sea ice; Stratosphere; Temperature rise; Troposphere
• ISSN: 0256-1530; 1861-9533
• DOI: 10.1007/s00376-023-2323-3

During the recent four decades since 1980, a series of modern climate satellites were launched, allowing for the measurement and record-keeping of multiple climate parameters, especially over the polar regions where traditional observations are difficult to obtain. China has been actively engaging in polar expeditions. Many observations were conducted during this period, accompanied by improved Earth climate models, leading to a series of insightful understandings concerning Arctic and Antarctic climate changes. Here, we review the recent progress China has made concerning Arctic and Antarctic climate change research over the past decade. The Arctic temperature increase is much higher than the global-mean warming rate, associated with a rapid decline in sea ice, a phenomenon called the Arctic Amplification. The Antarctic climate changes showed a zonally asymmetric pattern over the past four decades, with most of the fastest changes occurring over West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula. The Arctic and Antarctic climate changes were driven by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and ozone loss, while tropical-polar teleconnections play important roles in driving the regional climate changes and extreme events over the polar regions. Polar climate changes may also feedback to the entire Earth climate system. The adjustment of the circulation in both the troposphere and the stratosphere contributed to the interactions between the polar climate changes and lower latitudes. Climate change has also driven rapid Arctic and Southern ocean acidification. Chinese researchers have made a series of advances in understanding these processes, as reviewed in this paper.