On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Antarctic glacial meltwater is thought to play an important role in determining large-scale Southern Ocean climate trends, yet recent modeling efforts have proceeded without a good understanding of how its vertical distribution in the water...

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Published in:Journal of Physical Oceanography
Main Authors: Arnscheidt, Constantin W, Marshall, John, Dutrieux, Pierre, Rye, Craig D, Ramadhan, Ali
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Meteorological Society 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133815.2
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spelling ftmit:oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/133815.2 2023-06-11T04:05:22+02:00 On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves Arnscheidt, Constantin W Marshall, John Dutrieux, Pierre Rye, Craig D Ramadhan, Ali 2021-09-17T13:46:45Z application/octet-stream https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133815.2 en eng American Meteorological Society http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0286.1 Journal of Physical Oceanography 0022-3670 1520-0485 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133815.2 Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. American Meteorological Society (AMS) Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2021 ftmit https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0286.1 2023-05-29T08:51:58Z <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Antarctic glacial meltwater is thought to play an important role in determining large-scale Southern Ocean climate trends, yet recent modeling efforts have proceeded without a good understanding of how its vertical distribution in the water column is set. To rectify this, here we conduct new large-eddy simulations of the ascent of a buoyant meltwater plume after its escape from beneath an Antarctic ice shelf. We find that the meltwater’s settling depth is primarily a function of the buoyancy forcing per unit width of the source and the ambient stratification, consistent with the classical theory of turbulent buoyant plumes and in contrast to previous work that suggested an important role for centrifugal instability. Our results further highlight the significant role played by localized variability in stratification; this helps explain observed interannual variability in the vertical meltwater distribution near Pine Island Glacier. Because of the vast heterogeneity in mass loss rates and ambient conditions at different Antarctic ice shelves, a dynamic parameterization of meltwater settling depth may be crucial for accurately simulating high-latitude climate in a warming world; we discuss how this may be developed following this work, and where the remaining challenges lie.</jats:p> Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Pine Island Glacier Southern Ocean DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Antarctic Southern Ocean Pine Island Glacier ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000) Journal of Physical Oceanography
institution Open Polar
collection DSpace@MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
op_collection_id ftmit
language English
description <jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Antarctic glacial meltwater is thought to play an important role in determining large-scale Southern Ocean climate trends, yet recent modeling efforts have proceeded without a good understanding of how its vertical distribution in the water column is set. To rectify this, here we conduct new large-eddy simulations of the ascent of a buoyant meltwater plume after its escape from beneath an Antarctic ice shelf. We find that the meltwater’s settling depth is primarily a function of the buoyancy forcing per unit width of the source and the ambient stratification, consistent with the classical theory of turbulent buoyant plumes and in contrast to previous work that suggested an important role for centrifugal instability. Our results further highlight the significant role played by localized variability in stratification; this helps explain observed interannual variability in the vertical meltwater distribution near Pine Island Glacier. Because of the vast heterogeneity in mass loss rates and ambient conditions at different Antarctic ice shelves, a dynamic parameterization of meltwater settling depth may be crucial for accurately simulating high-latitude climate in a warming world; we discuss how this may be developed following this work, and where the remaining challenges lie.</jats:p>
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Arnscheidt, Constantin W
Marshall, John
Dutrieux, Pierre
Rye, Craig D
Ramadhan, Ali
spellingShingle Arnscheidt, Constantin W
Marshall, John
Dutrieux, Pierre
Rye, Craig D
Ramadhan, Ali
On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
author_facet Arnscheidt, Constantin W
Marshall, John
Dutrieux, Pierre
Rye, Craig D
Ramadhan, Ali
author_sort Arnscheidt, Constantin W
title On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
title_short On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
title_full On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
title_fullStr On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
title_full_unstemmed On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves
title_sort on the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath antarctic ice shelves
publisher American Meteorological Society
publishDate 2021
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133815.2
long_lat ENVELOPE(-101.000,-101.000,-75.000,-75.000)
geographic Antarctic
Southern Ocean
Pine Island Glacier
geographic_facet Antarctic
Southern Ocean
Pine Island Glacier
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Pine Island Glacier
Southern Ocean
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Pine Island Glacier
Southern Ocean
op_source American Meteorological Society (AMS)
op_relation http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0286.1
Journal of Physical Oceanography
0022-3670
1520-0485
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/133815.2
op_rights Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-20-0286.1
container_title Journal of Physical Oceanography
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