Unknown
In:
EPIC3Ocean, Ice, and Atmosphere: Interactions at the Antarctic continental margin (S Jacobs, R Weiss, eds ) Antarctic Research Series, AGU, Washington DC, USA, 75, pp. 319-339, ISBN: 0-87590-910-8
Publication Date:
2019-07-16
Description:
A survey of the southern Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas in early 1994 included the first deepoceanographic measurements along the calving front of Pine Island Glacier, which drains~2x10^5 km^2 of the marine-based West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The measurements reveal a cycloniccirculation in Pine Island Bay and 〉1 degC Circumpolar Deep Water flowing beneath and rapidlymelting the floating base of this deep-rooted glacier. Dissolved oxygen measurements show asubsurface oxygenation of the water column resulting from air bubbles in the melting ice. Seawateroxygen isotope analyses imply average delta18O values of -29 permil for precipitation on thecatchment basin that subsequently melts at the glacier base. Application of a two-dimensionalthermohaline circulation model to the sub-ice shelf cavity supports average basal melt rates inexcess of 10 m/a calculated by two other methods. This melt rate is more than 5 times the averagereported for any Antarctic ice shelf, drives Circumploar Deep Water upwelling on the continentalshelf, and generates melt-laden outflows that are well above surface freezing temperature.
Repository Name:
EPIC Alfred Wegener Institut
Type:
Article
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peerRev
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