British Antarctic Survey

We present aircraft measurements of boundary layer structure and surface fluxes from a flight over the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Warm advection, associated with föhn flow, led to the formation of a stable boundary layer over the ice shelf, with a very sharp low-level jet at the top of the surfac...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: J. C. King, T. A. Lachlan-cope, R. S. Ladkin, A. Weiss, High Cross, Madingley Rd
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Airborne measurements
Antarctic
Orographic flows
Stable boundary layer
3
Larsen Ice Shelf
Antarc*
Antarctica
British Antarctic Survey
Ice Shelf
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.555.4429
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/3218/1/Flight_19_paper_PDFA.pdf
Description
Summary:We present aircraft measurements of boundary layer structure and surface fluxes from a flight over the Larsen Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Warm advection, associated with föhn flow, led to the formation of a stable boundary layer over the ice shelf, with a very sharp low-level jet at the top of the surface inversion. The strong shear associated with the jet kept the gradient Richardson number small and maintained a turbulent boundary layer over a depth of at least 600 m. The net energy balance at the surface was 52 W m-2, equivalent to a melt rate of 13 mm water per day. Net radiation (48 W m-2) made the largest contribution to melt. The contribution from the sensible heat flux (13 W m-2) was largely balanced by an upwards flux of latent heat (–9 W m-2). These measurements provide insight into the processes that control surface melt rates in an area that has experienced recent rapid warming and deglaciation.

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