Southern Ocean pinnipeds provide bathymetric insights on the East Antarctic continental shelf

Abstract Poor coverage of the Antarctic continental shelf bathymetry impedes understanding the oceanographic processes affecting Antarctica’s role in global climate. Continental shelf bathymetry influences warm modified Circumpolar Deep Water movement onto the shelf, making it an important factor pr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Communications Earth & Environment
Main Authors: Clive R. McMahon, Mark A. Hindell, Jean Benoit Charrassin, Richard Coleman, Christophe. Guinet, Robert Harcourt, Sara Labrousse, Benjemin Raymond, Michael Sumner, Natalia Ribeiro
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2023
Subjects:
Geology
QE1-996.5
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Antarctic
Shackleton
Shackleton Ice Shelf
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
Underwood
Underwood Glacier
Vanderford Glacier
Antarc*
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00928-w
https://doaj.org/article/550974a6c52c4ecaad7ff7e04a518b4f
Description
Summary:Abstract Poor coverage of the Antarctic continental shelf bathymetry impedes understanding the oceanographic processes affecting Antarctica’s role in global climate. Continental shelf bathymetry influences warm modified Circumpolar Deep Water movement onto the shelf, making it an important factor promoting ice shelf melting and influencing the flow of ice shelves into the ocean. Building on previous work using seal dives to redefine bathymetry, our longitudinal study of ocean physics and animal behaviour provided new depth information from over 500,000 individual seal dives on the East Antarctic continental shelf. About 25% of these seal dives were 220 m (sometimes over 1000 m) deeper than the interpolated seafloor from IBCSO V2. Focusing on four well-sampled regions, we show that the bathymetry of 22% to 60% of the sampled area was improved by incorporating seal dive data. This revealed new bathymetric features, including troughs off the Shackleton Ice Shelf and Underwood Glacier and a deep canyon near the Vanderford Glacier. This deep canyon, the Mirounga-Nuyina Canyon, was confirmed by a recent multi-beam echo sounder survey. Further acquisitions of seal data will improve our understanding and modelling of Antarctic coastal ocean processes and ice-sheet dynamics.

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