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Abstract

A coupled sea ice-mixed layer-pycnocline model for the Weddell Sea (Lemke et al., this issue; Owens and Lemke, this issue) is extended to the entire sea ice area around the Antarctic continent. The monthly atmospheric forcing and the annual oceanic forcing are specified from climatology. Sensitivity runs were performed with a fixed mixed layer, without snow cover, with a different ice strength constant (P*) and a varying e-folding constant for the closing of leads (h0), without dynamics, and without ocean currents. Since the atmospheric forcing fields, although derived from large, historical data sets, differ considerably depending on the analysis technique, alternative wind, temperature, and precipitation forcing has been applied. Finally, the model has been forced with mean monthly winds supplemented by stochastic variations representing short-term variability. The model results are compared with analyses of satellite data as well as with single measurements, and with simulation results from earlier models.