Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

• Main Authors: Douglas G. Martinson, Richard A. Iannuzzi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Weddell; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.514.5037; http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/res/div/ocp/pub/martinson/Martinson_and_Iannuzzi_1998.pdf

The sea ice distribution in the Antarctic polar oceans is intimately tied to the underlying ocean structure, which controls the oceans ' vertical heat flux and stability. The former determines the rate at which ice grows for a given air-sea heat flux, while the latter limits the amount of sea ice that can grow locally before overturning the water column. These relationships have been described through a set of scalings, allowing us to estimate, through examination of the vertical distributions of ocean temperature and salinity: (1) the maximum amount of in situ ice growth in any one location, (2) the ratio of ice melt to ice growth, (3) the amount of ice that has melted in any particular summer location, (4) the ocean winter-averaged heat flux. Climatological maps of these quantities are presented for the Weddell gyre region and general results described. Results include: (1) the sea ice cover throughout the seasonal sea ice region is typically 0.6 m thick or less by the spring melt period, though it is thinner than 0.3 m in some regions near the gyre core; (2) the ocean-ice system manages to liberate heat from the deep water at an average winter rate of 25-35 W/m2 throughout the gyre, regardless of the large scale stratification and dynamic setting which reflect different processes by which the heat makes its way to the surface from the deep waters; (3)