Preconditioning of the Weddell Sea Polynya by the Ocean Mesoscale and Dense Water Overflows

• Published in: Journal of Climate
• Main Authors: Dufour, Carolina O., Morrison, Adele, Griffies, S. M., Frenger, Ivy, Zanowski, Hannah, Winton, Micheal
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Meteorological Society
• Subjects: Weddell Sea; Weddell; Morrison; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/247340; https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-16-0586.1; https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/247340/3/01_Dufour_Preconditioning_of_the_Weddell_2017.pdf.jpg

The Weddell Sea polynya is a large opening in the open-ocean sea ice cover associated with intense deep convection in the ocean. A necessary condition to form and maintain a polynya is the presence of a strong subsurface heat reservoir. This study investigates the processes that control the stratifi...