Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica
The Dotson Ice Shelf, which abuts the warm waters of Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea, has exhibited high rates of ocean-driven basal melting in recent decades. As part of the UK-US ITGC collaboration, we surveyed the ice front using a vertical microstructure profiler (VMP) and two ocean gliders equipped w...
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ftgfzpotsdam:oai:gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de:item_5017703 2023-08-27T04:03:54+02:00 Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica Sheehan, P. Damerell, G. Hall, R. Dotto, T. Zheng, Y. Heywood, K. 2023 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5017703 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.57757/IUGG23-1876 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5017703 XXVIII General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject 2023 ftgfzpotsdam https://doi.org/10.57757/IUGG23-1876 2023-08-06T23:41:22Z The Dotson Ice Shelf, which abuts the warm waters of Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea, has exhibited high rates of ocean-driven basal melting in recent decades. As part of the UK-US ITGC collaboration, we surveyed the ice front using a vertical microstructure profiler (VMP) and two ocean gliders equipped with shear and temperature microstructure probes, as well as an ordinary conductivity-temperature sensor. Closely spaced (~1 km horizontal resolution) profiles in the principal in- and outflow regions were collected using the VMP, while the gliders conducted a series of near-zonal sections along the ice front over a three-week period. The glider sections reveal a concentrated inflow, 10 km across, of Circumpolar Deep Water in the east; outflow is concentrated in the west, but occurs over the remainder of the 40 km section. Estimates of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, ε, from shear and temperature, and from gliders and the VMP, generally agree to within an order of magnitude. High values of ε (10-8 to 10-7 W kg-1) are observed at the sea floor in the inflow region, a result of bottom friction, and throughout the water column in the principal outflow region. In the centre of the section, ε is lower (10-11 to 10-10 W kg-1), but for a region of elevated ε at the interface between Circumpolar Deep Water and the Winter Water that overlies it. We also calculate horizontal heat transports and, from ε, turbulent vertical heat fluxes, key quantities for understanding the influence of the ocean on basal melting. Conference Object Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Dotson Ice Shelf Ice Shelf GFZpublic (German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam) Amundsen Sea Dotson Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(-112.367,-112.367,-74.400,-74.400) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
GFZpublic (German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam) |
op_collection_id |
ftgfzpotsdam |
language |
English |
description |
The Dotson Ice Shelf, which abuts the warm waters of Antarctica’s Amundsen Sea, has exhibited high rates of ocean-driven basal melting in recent decades. As part of the UK-US ITGC collaboration, we surveyed the ice front using a vertical microstructure profiler (VMP) and two ocean gliders equipped with shear and temperature microstructure probes, as well as an ordinary conductivity-temperature sensor. Closely spaced (~1 km horizontal resolution) profiles in the principal in- and outflow regions were collected using the VMP, while the gliders conducted a series of near-zonal sections along the ice front over a three-week period. The glider sections reveal a concentrated inflow, 10 km across, of Circumpolar Deep Water in the east; outflow is concentrated in the west, but occurs over the remainder of the 40 km section. Estimates of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, ε, from shear and temperature, and from gliders and the VMP, generally agree to within an order of magnitude. High values of ε (10-8 to 10-7 W kg-1) are observed at the sea floor in the inflow region, a result of bottom friction, and throughout the water column in the principal outflow region. In the centre of the section, ε is lower (10-11 to 10-10 W kg-1), but for a region of elevated ε at the interface between Circumpolar Deep Water and the Winter Water that overlies it. We also calculate horizontal heat transports and, from ε, turbulent vertical heat fluxes, key quantities for understanding the influence of the ocean on basal melting. |
format |
Conference Object |
author |
Sheehan, P. Damerell, G. Hall, R. Dotto, T. Zheng, Y. Heywood, K. |
spellingShingle |
Sheehan, P. Damerell, G. Hall, R. Dotto, T. Zheng, Y. Heywood, K. Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica |
author_facet |
Sheehan, P. Damerell, G. Hall, R. Dotto, T. Zheng, Y. Heywood, K. |
author_sort |
Sheehan, P. |
title |
Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica |
title_short |
Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica |
title_full |
Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of Dotson Ice Shelf, Antarctica |
title_sort |
ocean mixing and heat transport at the ice front of dotson ice shelf, antarctica |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5017703 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-112.367,-112.367,-74.400,-74.400) |
geographic |
Amundsen Sea Dotson Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Amundsen Sea Dotson Ice Shelf |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Dotson Ice Shelf Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Dotson Ice Shelf Ice Shelf |
op_source |
XXVIII General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.57757/IUGG23-1876 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5017703 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.57757/IUGG23-1876 |
_version_ |
1775347295425921024 |