Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds
Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) can be found near the continental shelf break around most of Antarctica. Advection of this relatively warm water (up to 2 degrees C) across the continental shelf to the base of floating ice shelves is thought to be a critical source of heat for basal melting in some loca...
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ftolddominionuni:oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:ccpo_pubs-1021 2023-05-15T13:38:02+02:00 Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. Hofmann, Eileen E. 2012-07-01T07:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/21 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=ccpo_pubs unknown ODU Digital Commons https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/21 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=ccpo_pubs CCPO Publications Southern annular mode Mesoscale prediction system Sea ice Continental shelf Climate change Spatiotemporal variability Ocean GLOBEC Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology article 2012 ftolddominionuni 2021-03-02T18:08:52Z Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) can be found near the continental shelf break around most of Antarctica. Advection of this relatively warm water (up to 2 degrees C) across the continental shelf to the base of floating ice shelves is thought to be a critical source of heat for basal melting in some locations. A high-resolution (4 km) regional ocean-sea ice-ice shelf model of the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) coastal ocean was used to examine the effects of changes in the winds on across-shelf CDW transport and ice shelf basal melt. Increases and decreases in the strength of the wind fields were simulated by scaling the present-day winds by a constant factor. Additional simulations considered effects of increased Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) transport. Increased wind strength and ACC transport increased the amount of CDW transported onto the WAP continental shelf but did not necessarily increase CDW flux underneath the nearby ice shelves. The basal melt underneath some of the deeper ice shelves actually decreased with increased wind strength. Increased mixing over the WAP shelf due to stronger winds removed more heat from the deeper shelf waters than the additional heat gained from increased CDW volume transport. The simulation results suggest that the effect on the WAP ice shelves of the projected strengthening of the polar westerlies is not a simple matter of increased winds causing increased (or decreased) basal melt. A simple budget calculation indicated that iron associated with increased vertical mixing of CDW could significantly affect biological productivity of this region. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice Old Dominion University: ODU Digital Commons Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Old Dominion University: ODU Digital Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftolddominionuni |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Southern annular mode Mesoscale prediction system Sea ice Continental shelf Climate change Spatiotemporal variability Ocean GLOBEC Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology |
spellingShingle |
Southern annular mode Mesoscale prediction system Sea ice Continental shelf Climate change Spatiotemporal variability Ocean GLOBEC Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. Hofmann, Eileen E. Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds |
topic_facet |
Southern annular mode Mesoscale prediction system Sea ice Continental shelf Climate change Spatiotemporal variability Ocean GLOBEC Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology |
description |
Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) can be found near the continental shelf break around most of Antarctica. Advection of this relatively warm water (up to 2 degrees C) across the continental shelf to the base of floating ice shelves is thought to be a critical source of heat for basal melting in some locations. A high-resolution (4 km) regional ocean-sea ice-ice shelf model of the west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) coastal ocean was used to examine the effects of changes in the winds on across-shelf CDW transport and ice shelf basal melt. Increases and decreases in the strength of the wind fields were simulated by scaling the present-day winds by a constant factor. Additional simulations considered effects of increased Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) transport. Increased wind strength and ACC transport increased the amount of CDW transported onto the WAP continental shelf but did not necessarily increase CDW flux underneath the nearby ice shelves. The basal melt underneath some of the deeper ice shelves actually decreased with increased wind strength. Increased mixing over the WAP shelf due to stronger winds removed more heat from the deeper shelf waters than the additional heat gained from increased CDW volume transport. The simulation results suggest that the effect on the WAP ice shelves of the projected strengthening of the polar westerlies is not a simple matter of increased winds causing increased (or decreased) basal melt. A simple budget calculation indicated that iron associated with increased vertical mixing of CDW could significantly affect biological productivity of this region. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. Hofmann, Eileen E. |
author_facet |
Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. Hofmann, Eileen E. |
author_sort |
Dinniman, Michael S. |
title |
Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds |
title_short |
Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds |
title_full |
Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of Circumpolar Deep Water Transport and Ice Shelf Basal Melt along the West Antarctic Peninsula to Changes in the Winds |
title_sort |
sensitivity of circumpolar deep water transport and ice shelf basal melt along the west antarctic peninsula to changes in the winds |
publisher |
ODU Digital Commons |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/21 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=ccpo_pubs |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice |
op_source |
CCPO Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/21 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=ccpo_pubs |
_version_ |
1766100841808265216 |