Reestablishing the circumpolar wave in sea ice around Antarctica from one winter to the next

Remarkable correlation exists between warm water, poleward winds over the o cean, and low sea ice concentrations and extents over the winter sea ice pa ck around Antarctica, even to the point of continuing paterns across the ic e-sea boundary. Since the wind stress associated with poleward wind is expe cted to compact the ice during sea ice edge retraction, we conclude that th e memory of the Antarctic circumpolar wave in the sea ice pack is carried f rom one austral winter to the next by the neighboring water temperatures si nce the sea ice pack retracts nearly to Antarctica in austral summer.