Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting
Changes in the rate of ocean‐driven basal melting of Antarctica's ice shelves can alter the rate at which the grounded ice sheet loses mass and contributes to sea level change. Melt rates depend on the inflow of ocean heat, which occurs through steady circulation and eddy fluxes. Previous studi...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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2019
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Online Access: | https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/314 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014688 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/ccpo_pubs/article/1318/viewcontent/Dinniman_2019_ModelingOceanEddiesonAntarctica_sColdWaterOCR.pdf |
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ftolddominionuni:oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:ccpo_pubs-1318 2023-12-17T10:20:19+01:00 Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting Mack, Stefanie L. Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. McGillicuddy, Dennis J. Padman, Laurence 2019-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/314 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014688 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/ccpo_pubs/article/1318/viewcontent/Dinniman_2019_ModelingOceanEddiesonAntarctica_sColdWaterOCR.pdf unknown ODU Digital Commons https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/314 doi:10.1029/2018JC014688 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/ccpo_pubs/article/1318/viewcontent/Dinniman_2019_ModelingOceanEddiesonAntarctica_sColdWaterOCR.pdf © 2019 American Geophysical Union. "AGU allows authors to deposit their journal articles if the version is the final published citable version of record, the AGU copyright statement is clearly visible on the posting, and the posting is made 6 months after official publication by the AGU." CCPO Publications Ross Sea Antarctica Water circulation Water column Ocean models Inflow Induction heating Sea level changes Surface water Continental shelves Stratification Melting Ice Computer simulation Resolution Glaciation Ice shelves Land ice Water temperature Deep water Ice sheets Sea level Eddies Climate Oceanography article 2019 ftolddominionuni https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014688 2023-11-20T19:09:45Z Changes in the rate of ocean‐driven basal melting of Antarctica's ice shelves can alter the rate at which the grounded ice sheet loses mass and contributes to sea level change. Melt rates depend on the inflow of ocean heat, which occurs through steady circulation and eddy fluxes. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of eddy fluxes for ice shelves affected by relatively warm intrusions of Circumpolar Deep Water. However, ice shelves on cold water continental shelves primarily melt from dense shelf water near the grounding line and from light surface water at the ice shelf front. Eddy effects on basal melt of these ice shelves have not been studied. We investigate where and when a regional ocean model of the Ross Sea resolves eddies and determine the effect of eddy processes on basal melt. The size of the eddies formed depends on water column stratification and latitude. We use simulations at horizontal grid resolutions of 5 and 1.5 km and, in the 1.5‐km model, vary the degree of topography smoothing. The higher‐resolution models generate about 2–2.5 times as many eddies as the low‐resolution model. In all simulations, eddies cross the ice shelf front in both directions. However, there is no significant change in basal melt between low‐ and high‐resolution simulations. We conclude that higher‐resolution models (km) are required to better represent eddies in the Ross Sea but hypothesize that basal melt of the Ross Ice Shelf is relatively insensitive to our ability to fully resolve the eddy field. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea Old Dominion University: ODU Digital Commons Ross Sea Ross Ice Shelf Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 124 7 5067 5084 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Old Dominion University: ODU Digital Commons |
op_collection_id |
ftolddominionuni |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Ross Sea Antarctica Water circulation Water column Ocean models Inflow Induction heating Sea level changes Surface water Continental shelves Stratification Melting Ice Computer simulation Resolution Glaciation Ice shelves Land ice Water temperature Deep water Ice sheets Sea level Eddies Climate Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Ross Sea Antarctica Water circulation Water column Ocean models Inflow Induction heating Sea level changes Surface water Continental shelves Stratification Melting Ice Computer simulation Resolution Glaciation Ice shelves Land ice Water temperature Deep water Ice sheets Sea level Eddies Climate Oceanography Mack, Stefanie L. Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. McGillicuddy, Dennis J. Padman, Laurence Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting |
topic_facet |
Ross Sea Antarctica Water circulation Water column Ocean models Inflow Induction heating Sea level changes Surface water Continental shelves Stratification Melting Ice Computer simulation Resolution Glaciation Ice shelves Land ice Water temperature Deep water Ice sheets Sea level Eddies Climate Oceanography |
description |
Changes in the rate of ocean‐driven basal melting of Antarctica's ice shelves can alter the rate at which the grounded ice sheet loses mass and contributes to sea level change. Melt rates depend on the inflow of ocean heat, which occurs through steady circulation and eddy fluxes. Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of eddy fluxes for ice shelves affected by relatively warm intrusions of Circumpolar Deep Water. However, ice shelves on cold water continental shelves primarily melt from dense shelf water near the grounding line and from light surface water at the ice shelf front. Eddy effects on basal melt of these ice shelves have not been studied. We investigate where and when a regional ocean model of the Ross Sea resolves eddies and determine the effect of eddy processes on basal melt. The size of the eddies formed depends on water column stratification and latitude. We use simulations at horizontal grid resolutions of 5 and 1.5 km and, in the 1.5‐km model, vary the degree of topography smoothing. The higher‐resolution models generate about 2–2.5 times as many eddies as the low‐resolution model. In all simulations, eddies cross the ice shelf front in both directions. However, there is no significant change in basal melt between low‐ and high‐resolution simulations. We conclude that higher‐resolution models (km) are required to better represent eddies in the Ross Sea but hypothesize that basal melt of the Ross Ice Shelf is relatively insensitive to our ability to fully resolve the eddy field. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mack, Stefanie L. Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. McGillicuddy, Dennis J. Padman, Laurence |
author_facet |
Mack, Stefanie L. Dinniman, Michael S. Klinck, John M. McGillicuddy, Dennis J. Padman, Laurence |
author_sort |
Mack, Stefanie L. |
title |
Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting |
title_short |
Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting |
title_full |
Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting |
title_fullStr |
Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling Ocean Eddies on Antarctica's Cold Water Continental Shelves and Their Effects on Ice Shelf Basal Melting |
title_sort |
modeling ocean eddies on antarctica's cold water continental shelves and their effects on ice shelf basal melting |
publisher |
ODU Digital Commons |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/314 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014688 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/ccpo_pubs/article/1318/viewcontent/Dinniman_2019_ModelingOceanEddiesonAntarctica_sColdWaterOCR.pdf |
geographic |
Ross Sea Ross Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Ross Sea Ross Ice Shelf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf Ross Sea |
op_source |
CCPO Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/314 doi:10.1029/2018JC014688 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/context/ccpo_pubs/article/1318/viewcontent/Dinniman_2019_ModelingOceanEddiesonAntarctica_sColdWaterOCR.pdf |
op_rights |
© 2019 American Geophysical Union. "AGU allows authors to deposit their journal articles if the version is the final published citable version of record, the AGU copyright statement is clearly visible on the posting, and the posting is made 6 months after official publication by the AGU." |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014688 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
124 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
5067 |
op_container_end_page |
5084 |
_version_ |
1785590870328737792 |