Can rifts alter ocean dynamics beneath ice shelves? ...

• Main Author: Poinelli, Mattia
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Root 2024
• Subjects: Antarctic; Buttress; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.48577/jpl.qm6mhd; http://dataverse.jpl.nasa.gov/citation?persistentId=doi:10.48577/jpl.QM6MHD

Land ice discharge from the Antarctic continent into the ocean is restrained by ice shelves, floating extensions of grounded ice that buttress the glacier freshwater outflow. The ongoing thinning of these ice shelves - largely due to enhanced melting at their base in response to global warming - is known to accelerate the outflow of glaciers into the world oceans, augmenting global sea level. Mechanisms of ocean heat intrusion under the ice base are therefore crucial to project the future of Antarctic ice shelves. Furthermore, ice shelves are weakened by the presence of km-wide full-thickness ice rifts, which are observed all around Antarctica. However, their impact on ocean circulation around and below ice shelves has been largely unexplored as ocean models are commonly characterized by resolutions that are too coarse to resolve their presence. Here, we apply the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model at 250 m resolution to investigate the sensitivity of sub-shelf ocean dynamics and ...