Publication Date:
2022-10-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ryan, S., Hellmer, H. H., Janout, M., Darelius, E., Vignes, L., & Schroeder, M. Exceptionally warm and prolonged flow of warm deep water toward the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 2017. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(13),(2020): e2020GL088119, doi:10.1029/2020GL088119.
Description:
The Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf, fringing the southern Weddell Sea, is Antarctica's second largest ice shelf. At present, basal melt rates are low due to active dense water formation; however, model projections suggest a drastic increase in the future due to enhanced inflow of open‐ocean warm water. Mooring observations from 2014 to 2016 along the eastern flank of the Filchner Trough (76°S) revealed a distinct seasonal cycle with inflow if Warm Deep Water during summer and autumn. Here we present extended time series showing an exceptionally warm and long inflow in 2017, with maximum temperatures exceeding 0.5°C. Warm temperatures persisted throughout winter, associated with a fresh anomaly, which lead to a change in stratification over the shelf, favoring an earlier inflow in the following summer. We suggest that the fresh anomaly developed upstream after anomalous summer sea ice melting and contributed to a shoaling of the shelf break thermocline.
Description:
The authors would like to express their gratitude to the officers and crews of RV Polarstern (cruises PS92 [Grant AWI_PS82_02], PS96 [Grant AWI_PS96_01], and PS111 [Grant AWI_PS111_01]), RRS Ernest Shackleton (Cruise ES060), and RSS James Clark Ross (Cruise JR16004) for their efficient assistance. E. D. received funding from the project TOBACO (267660), POLARPROG, Norges Forskningsrd.
Keywords:
Ocean-ice shelf interaction
;
Weddell Sea
;
Warm inflow
;
Antarctic Slope Front
;
Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
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