Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf Programme Report No 6 (1992)

• Main Author: Unknown
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research 1992
• Subjects: Earth Science; Earth sciences and geology; Antarctic; Weddell Sea; Norway; Weddell; Ronne Ice Shelf; Antarc*; Antarctica; Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf; Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.2312/frisp_06; https://www.tib.eu/suchen/id/awi:44e2c41907c5846fccc417428ed0a8c20d67225f

This report gathers together written summaries of some of the talks presented at the seventh International Workshop of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf Programme (FRISP). The meeting was held at Senden, near Münster in Germany, on 25th - 26th June 1992 and was attended by 35 participants from Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK. We are very grateful to Professor Franz Thyssen and his colleagues at the Forschungsstelle für physikalische Glaziologie, Münster for their excellent organisation of the meeting in a beautiful Münsterland castle. On the first day, a crowded programme of talks on recent work and presentations of preliminary results from the last field season showed that scientific interest in the area is increasing. It is recognised that understanding global climate change requires an understanding of the role played by the oceans in transporting heat around the world. Ocean circulation is greatly influenced by the formation and sinking of bottom waters around Antarctica, especially in the Weddell Sea. Interactions between the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and the underlying water are thought to play a crucial role in helping to create Antarctic Bottom Water, a water component that eventually affects the properties of half the deep water mass in the world's ocean. The majority of talks at the meeting addressed basal processes or interactions with the ocean. Less emphasis was given this time to the other main reason for studying the ice shelf - its influence on the balance of the grounded ice sheet and ice streams feeding it. Two invited papers, on the "Influence of Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf on the Weddell Sea" (A. Jenkins) and "Circulation and water mass modification in the Weddell Sea" (E. Farbach) , were given on the second day. The remainder of the time was devoted to presentation and discussion of national field plans, particular attention being paid to the criteria for choosing and coordinating sites for drill holes. The high level of proposed activity over the next few years, both on the ice shelf and in the Weddell Sea, implies that close collaboration could lead to very productive international science. We are again grateful to the Alfred-Wegener-Institute for continuing to edit and publish the Report.