The group of Polar Ice-Ocean-Atmosphere Processes and Climate Effects focus on studying the complex interactions among ice, ocean, and atmosphere in polar regions.

A high-resolution regional ocean-sea ice-ice shelf coupled model for the Southern Ocean, a three-dimensional Antarctic ice sheet model, and a medium-resolution circum-Antarctic ocean-sea ice coupled model have been successfully developed. The study highlighted the critical role of subgrid-scale orographic drag parameterization schemes in the atmospheric models, which generate the forcing fields for coupled ice-ocean models, in reducing biases in simulating sea ice production in Antarctic coastal polynyas and the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water—a key water mass in global ocean circulation. Moreover, the occurrence of high-frequency atmospheric processes, such as synoptic-scale cyclones, was found to significantly enhance sea ice production and the formation of High Salinity Shelf Water—the precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water. These research findings have been incorporated into the scientific planning and functional design of Qinlin Station, China’s new research station in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.

Evaluate the uncertainty of Antarctic ice sheet changes using climate models. The  uncertainty in the magnitude of future climate change from climate model is as significant as the uncertainty in the structural differences of ice from sheet models.

The Beaufort Gyre, the freshwater reservoir in the Arctic, has transitioned to a quasi-stable state in which the freshwater content has plateaued, over the past decade. This transition of the Beaufort Gyre is associated with the changes in the source water properties and a southeastward shift in its location as a result of variation in the regional wind forcing, potentially impacts the intensity of the Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation and even the global climate.