Exploring drivers of change in the Ross Sea with a regional ocean model ...

• Main Authors: Mountford, Alethea, Bull, Christopher, Jenkins, Adrian, Jourdain, Nicolas, Mathiot, Pierre
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences 2023
• Subjects: Amundsen Sea; Antarctic; Ross Ice Shelf; Ross Sea; Antarc*; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.57757/iugg23-0246; https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5016243

<!--!introduction!--> The Ross Sea and the Ross Ice Shelf are relatively stable, despite increasing global anthropogenic pressures, with waters below the Ross Ice Shelf remaining in a cold state. The Ross Sea is an important region for sea ice production, as well as water mass transformation and the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water. However, long term observations have shown a trend of freshening in the Ross Sea over the past 6 decades, which is believed to be primarily driven by net mass loss of ice shelves further upstream in the Amundsen Sea. Continued ocean warming and freshening of the Ross Sea has the potential to tip the Ross Ice Shelf cavity from its current cold state to a warm state. This freshening and cold to warm transition could have significant impact on local basal melting (and associated ice mass loss) and deep water formation, as well as farther reaching impacts such as changes to thermohaline circulation and potential sea level rise. We present a regional 1/4° resolution ocean ... : The 28th IUGG General Assembly (IUGG2023) (Berlin 2023) ...