Ice-ocean interactions beneath the north-western Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica ...

• Main Author: Stewart, Craig Lincoln
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2018
• Subjects: oceanography; glaciology; ice-ocean interactions; Ross Ice Shelf; Ross Sea; ice shelf basal melting; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.21483; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/274361

Basal melting of ice shelves is causing accelerating mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet, yet the oceanographic processes which drive this are rarely observed. This thesis uses new observations from phase sensitive radar and moored oceanographic instruments to describe the processes which drive rapid basal melting of the north-western Ross Ice Shelf. Oceanographic conditions at the mooring site are strongly influenced by the neighbouring Ross Sea Polynya. High Salinity Shelf Water fills the lower water column continuously, but during summer a southward flow ventilates the cavity bringing Antarctic Surface Water (AASW) to the site. Tides account for half of the flow speed variance, and low frequency variability is influenced by local winds, and eddies associated with sea ice production in the polynya. Four years of basal melt rate observations show a mean melt rate of 1.8 m y$^{-1}$ at the mooring site and a strong seasonal cycle driven principally by water temperature variations. Radar observations show ...