Glacial ice and atmospheric forcing on the Mertz Glacier Polynya over the past 250 years

The Mertz Glacier Polynya off George V Land, East Antarctica, is a source of Adélie Land Bottom Water, which contributes up to B25% of the Antarctic Bottom Water. This major polynya is closely linked to the presence of the Mertz Glacier Tongue that traps pack ice upstream. In 2010, the Mertz Glacier...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Communications
Main Authors: CAMPAGNE, Philippine, CROSTA, Xavier, HOUSSAIS, Marie-Noëlle, SWINGEDOUW, Didier, SCHMIDT, Sabine, MARTIN, Antoine, DEVRED, E., CAPO, Sylvain, MARIEU, Vincent, MASSÉ, Guillaume, CLOSSET, Ivia
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2015
Subjects:
Planète et Univers [physics]/Océan
Atmosphère
Planète et Univers [physics]/Sciences de la Terre/Océanographie
Planète et Univers [physics]/Sciences de la Terre/Climatologie
Antarctic
The Antarctic
East Antarctica
Mertz Glacier
George V Land
Mertz Glacier Tongue
Antarc*
Antarctica
Iceberg*
Sea ice
Online Access:https://oskar-bordeaux.fr/handle/20.500.12278/199775
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12278/199775
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7642
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Summary:The Mertz Glacier Polynya off George V Land, East Antarctica, is a source of Adélie Land Bottom Water, which contributes up to B25% of the Antarctic Bottom Water. This major polynya is closely linked to the presence of the Mertz Glacier Tongue that traps pack ice upstream. In 2010, the Mertz Glacier calved a massive iceberg, deeply impacting local sea ice conditions and dense shelf water formation. Here we provide the first detailed 250-year long reconstruction of local sea ice and bottom water conditions. Spectral analysis of the data sets reveals large and abrupt changes in sea surface and bottom water conditions with a B70-year cyclicity, associated with the Mertz Glacier Tongue calving and regrowth dynamics. Geological data and atmospheric reanalysis, however, suggest that sea ice conditions in the polynya were also very sensitive to changes in surface winds in relation to the recent intensification of the Southern Annular Mode.

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