Ice Shelf Basal Melt and Influence on Dense Water Outflow in the Southern Weddell Sea

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
• Main Authors: Akhoudas, Camille, Sallée, Jean-Baptiste, Reverdin, Gilles, Aloisi, Giovanni, Benetti, Marion, Vignes, Lucie, Gelado, Maria
• Other Authors: Processus et interactions de fine échelle océanique (PROTEO), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPG Paris), Institute of Earth Sciences Reykjavik, University of Iceland Reykjavik, Chemistry Department, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de GranCanaria, Spain, European Project: 637770,H2020,ERC-2014-STG,WAPITI(2015)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2020
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Antarc*; Antarctic; Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf; Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves; Ronne Ice Shelf; Weddell Sea
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-02521455; https://insu.hal.science/insu-02521455/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-02521455/file/2019JC015710%281%29.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015710

International audience We use new observations of stable water isotopes from a research cruise in early 2017 to highlight ocean-ice interactions occurring under Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf, the largest Antarctic ice shelf. In particular, we investigate the properties of Ice Shelf Water with temperature lower than the surface freezing point, in the Filchner Depression. We identify two main flavors of Ice Shelf Water emerging from beneath the Filchner Ice Shelf, which originate from High Salinity Shelf Water end members with distinct characteristics. Furthermore, these two High Salinity Shelf Water end members interact with areas of the ice shelves with different basal properties to produce different versions of Ice Shelf Water. These water masses are associated with different rates of basal melting and refreezing, which we quantify. Ice Shelf Water types that flow out of the ice shelf cavity are composed of 0.4% of mass from ice shelf (melt minus freeze) when sampled at the front of Filchner Ice Shelf. The slightly lighter Ice Shelf Water version mixes directly with ambient water masses as it flows northward on the continental shelf. The resulting Ice Shelf Water mixture with temperature below the surface freezing point ultimately sinks along the continental slope into the deep ocean, as a precursor of the Weddell Sea bottom waters.