Tropical SST Impact on the Southern Hemisphere Eddy-driven Jet and Antarctic Sea Ice Variation

The Southern Ocean and Antarctica are projected to undergo large changes in a warming climate. Yet our understanding of what has led to recent changes in those regions is still incomplete. This thesis used a range of climate model experiments to highlight the importance of tropical sea surface temperature variability in remotely forcing multi-decadal changes in the Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude jet and Antarctic sea ice. It quantified the importance of tropical Pacific variability in driving the observed wind patterns and found that the tropical Indian Ocean was critical to the recent sea ice expansion in the Ross Sea.