Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea
Small to medium sized icebergs (200 m to 10 km across) in two areas of the Weddell Sea were tracked using satellite-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from 22 January–21 February 1994 and 29 January–25 February 1992 respectively. The westward mass flux of icebergs in the Antarctic Coastal Current...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2002
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102002000032 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102002000032 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0954102002000032 2024-09-15T17:41:57+00:00 Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea GLADSTONE, R. BIGG, G.R. 2002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102002000032 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102002000032 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Antarctic Science volume 14, issue 3, page 278-287 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 journal-article 2002 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102002000032 2024-07-24T04:04:08Z Small to medium sized icebergs (200 m to 10 km across) in two areas of the Weddell Sea were tracked using satellite-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from 22 January–21 February 1994 and 29 January–25 February 1992 respectively. The westward mass flux of icebergs in the Antarctic Coastal Current was estimated at the eastern entrance to the Weddell Sea as being 50–70 Gta −1 . A large contrast was found between observations over the narrow shelf here and the off-shelf area. The latter region had very much reduced iceberg density, and the bergs moved with slower and less coherent velocities compared with the fast, but narrow (10–20 km wide) flow in the Coastal Current. This region is a promising site for the monitoring of decadal trends in iceberg fluxes. The second study area in the south-western Weddell Sea showed iceberg motion consistent with non-contemporaneous observations of tagged icebergs, with steady flow parallel to the shelf-ice edge, at significantly lower densities and speeds than in the Coastal Current but almost double that observed off-shelf in the eastern Weddell Sea. We also suggest that shipboard observations of icebergs need careful analysis to avoid their over-estimating true iceberg concentrations by a substantial amount. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Iceberg* Weddell Sea Cambridge University Press Antarctic Science 14 3 278 287 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
Small to medium sized icebergs (200 m to 10 km across) in two areas of the Weddell Sea were tracked using satellite-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) from 22 January–21 February 1994 and 29 January–25 February 1992 respectively. The westward mass flux of icebergs in the Antarctic Coastal Current was estimated at the eastern entrance to the Weddell Sea as being 50–70 Gta −1 . A large contrast was found between observations over the narrow shelf here and the off-shelf area. The latter region had very much reduced iceberg density, and the bergs moved with slower and less coherent velocities compared with the fast, but narrow (10–20 km wide) flow in the Coastal Current. This region is a promising site for the monitoring of decadal trends in iceberg fluxes. The second study area in the south-western Weddell Sea showed iceberg motion consistent with non-contemporaneous observations of tagged icebergs, with steady flow parallel to the shelf-ice edge, at significantly lower densities and speeds than in the Coastal Current but almost double that observed off-shelf in the eastern Weddell Sea. We also suggest that shipboard observations of icebergs need careful analysis to avoid their over-estimating true iceberg concentrations by a substantial amount. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
GLADSTONE, R. BIGG, G.R. |
spellingShingle |
GLADSTONE, R. BIGG, G.R. Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea |
author_facet |
GLADSTONE, R. BIGG, G.R. |
author_sort |
GLADSTONE, R. |
title |
Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea |
title_short |
Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea |
title_full |
Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea |
title_fullStr |
Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Satellite tracking of icebergs in the Weddell Sea |
title_sort |
satellite tracking of icebergs in the weddell sea |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102002000032 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102002000032 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Iceberg* Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Iceberg* Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Antarctic Science volume 14, issue 3, page 278-287 ISSN 0954-1020 1365-2079 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0954102002000032 |
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Antarctic Science |
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14 |
container_issue |
3 |
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278 |
op_container_end_page |
287 |
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1810488265263808512 |