Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats
Oceanographic conditions on the continental shelf of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, affect sea ice production, Antarctic Bottom Water formation, mass loss from the Ross Ice Shelf, and ecosystems. Since ship access to the Ross Sea is restricted by sea ice in winter, most upper ocean measurements have been...
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ftdatacite:10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 2023-05-15T13:24:13+02:00 Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats Porter, David F. Springer, Scott R. Padman, Laurie Fricker, Helen A. Tinto, Kirsteen J. Riser, Stephen C. Bell, Robin E. ROSETTA-Ice Team 2019 https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 unknown Columbia University https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018jc014683 Oceanography FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Oceanography--Observations Sea ice Sea ice--Environmental aspects Text Articles article-journal ScholarlyArticle 2019 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jc014683 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Oceanographic conditions on the continental shelf of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, affect sea ice production, Antarctic Bottom Water formation, mass loss from the Ross Ice Shelf, and ecosystems. Since ship access to the Ross Sea is restricted by sea ice in winter, most upper ocean measurements have been acquired in summer. We report the first multiyear time series of temperature and salinity throughout the water column, obtained with autonomous profiling floats. Seven Apex floats were deployed in 2013 on the midcontinental shelf, and six Air‐Launched Autonomous Micro Observer floats were deployed in late 2016, mostly near the ice shelf front. Between profiles, most floats were parked on the seabed to minimize lateral motion. Surface mixed layer temperatures, salinities, and depths, in winter were −1.8 °C, 34.34, and 250–500 m, respectively. Freshwater from sea ice melt in early December formed a shallow (20 m) surface mixed layer, which deepened to 50–80 m and usually warmed to above −0.5 °C by late January. Upper‐ocean freshening continued throughout the summer, especially in the eastern Ross Sea and along the ice shelf front. This freshening requires substantial lateral advection that is dominated by inflow from melting of sea ice and ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea and by inputs from the Ross Ice Shelf. Changes in upper‐ocean freshwater and heat content along the ice shelf front in summer affect cross‐ice front advection, ice shelf melting, and calving processes that determine the rate of mass loss from the grounded Antarctic Ice Sheet in this sector. Text Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Sea ice DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Antarctic Ross Sea Amundsen Sea Ross Ice Shelf |
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Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Oceanography FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Oceanography--Observations Sea ice Sea ice--Environmental aspects |
spellingShingle |
Oceanography FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Oceanography--Observations Sea ice Sea ice--Environmental aspects Porter, David F. Springer, Scott R. Padman, Laurie Fricker, Helen A. Tinto, Kirsteen J. Riser, Stephen C. Bell, Robin E. ROSETTA-Ice Team Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats |
topic_facet |
Oceanography FOS Earth and related environmental sciences Oceanography--Observations Sea ice Sea ice--Environmental aspects |
description |
Oceanographic conditions on the continental shelf of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, affect sea ice production, Antarctic Bottom Water formation, mass loss from the Ross Ice Shelf, and ecosystems. Since ship access to the Ross Sea is restricted by sea ice in winter, most upper ocean measurements have been acquired in summer. We report the first multiyear time series of temperature and salinity throughout the water column, obtained with autonomous profiling floats. Seven Apex floats were deployed in 2013 on the midcontinental shelf, and six Air‐Launched Autonomous Micro Observer floats were deployed in late 2016, mostly near the ice shelf front. Between profiles, most floats were parked on the seabed to minimize lateral motion. Surface mixed layer temperatures, salinities, and depths, in winter were −1.8 °C, 34.34, and 250–500 m, respectively. Freshwater from sea ice melt in early December formed a shallow (20 m) surface mixed layer, which deepened to 50–80 m and usually warmed to above −0.5 °C by late January. Upper‐ocean freshening continued throughout the summer, especially in the eastern Ross Sea and along the ice shelf front. This freshening requires substantial lateral advection that is dominated by inflow from melting of sea ice and ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea and by inputs from the Ross Ice Shelf. Changes in upper‐ocean freshwater and heat content along the ice shelf front in summer affect cross‐ice front advection, ice shelf melting, and calving processes that determine the rate of mass loss from the grounded Antarctic Ice Sheet in this sector. |
format |
Text |
author |
Porter, David F. Springer, Scott R. Padman, Laurie Fricker, Helen A. Tinto, Kirsteen J. Riser, Stephen C. Bell, Robin E. ROSETTA-Ice Team |
author_facet |
Porter, David F. Springer, Scott R. Padman, Laurie Fricker, Helen A. Tinto, Kirsteen J. Riser, Stephen C. Bell, Robin E. ROSETTA-Ice Team |
author_sort |
Porter, David F. |
title |
Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats |
title_short |
Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats |
title_full |
Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats |
title_fullStr |
Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evolution of the Seasonal Surface Mixed Layer of the Ross Sea, Antarctica, Observed With Autonomous Profiling Floats |
title_sort |
evolution of the seasonal surface mixed layer of the ross sea, antarctica, observed with autonomous profiling floats |
publisher |
Columbia University |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 |
geographic |
Antarctic Ross Sea Amundsen Sea Ross Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Ross Sea Amundsen Sea Ross Ice Shelf |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Sea ice |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018jc014683 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7916/d8-kw7j-2c46 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018jc014683 |
_version_ |
1766378070432808960 |