Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica
Pine Island Ice Shelf, in the Amundsen Sea, is losing mass due to increased heat transport by warm ocean water penetrating beneath the ice shelf and causing basal melt. Tracing this warm deep water and the resulting glacial meltwater can identify changes in melt rate and the regions most affected by...
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ftunivrhodeislan:oai:digitalcommons.uri.edu:gsofacpubs-1743 2024-09-15T17:39:01+00:00 Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica Biddle, Louise C. Loose, Brice Heywood, Karen J. 2019-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/775 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015133 https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/context/gsofacpubs/article/1743/viewcontent/Loose_UpperOceanDistribution_2019.pdf unknown DigitalCommons@URI https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/775 doi:10.1029/2019JC015133 https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/context/gsofacpubs/article/1743/viewcontent/Loose_UpperOceanDistribution_2019.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications text 2019 ftunivrhodeislan https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015133 2024-08-21T00:09:34Z Pine Island Ice Shelf, in the Amundsen Sea, is losing mass due to increased heat transport by warm ocean water penetrating beneath the ice shelf and causing basal melt. Tracing this warm deep water and the resulting glacial meltwater can identify changes in melt rate and the regions most affected by the increased input of this freshwater. Here, optimum multiparameter analysis is used to deduce glacial meltwater fractions from independent water mass characteristics (standard hydrographic observations, noble gases, and oxygen isotopes), collected during a ship-based campaign in the eastern Amundsen Sea in February–March 2014. Noble gases (neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) and oxygen isotopes are used to trace the glacial melt and meteoric water found in seawater, and we demonstrate how their signatures can be used to rectify the hydrographic trace of glacial meltwater, which provides a much higher-resolution picture. The presence of glacial meltwater is shown to mask the Winter Water properties, resulting in differences between the water mass analyses of up to 4-g/kg glacial meltwater content. This discrepancy can be accounted for by redefining the “pure†Winter Water endpoint in the hydrographic glacial meltwater calculation. The corrected glacial meltwater content values show a persistent signature between 150 and 400 m of the water column across all of the sample locations (up to 535 km from Pine Island Ice Shelf), with increased concentration toward the west along the coastline. It also shows, for the first time, the signature of glacial meltwater flowing off-shelf in the eastern channel. Text Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island University of Rhode Island: DigitalCommons@URI Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 124 10 6854 6870 |
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University of Rhode Island: DigitalCommons@URI |
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ftunivrhodeislan |
language |
unknown |
description |
Pine Island Ice Shelf, in the Amundsen Sea, is losing mass due to increased heat transport by warm ocean water penetrating beneath the ice shelf and causing basal melt. Tracing this warm deep water and the resulting glacial meltwater can identify changes in melt rate and the regions most affected by the increased input of this freshwater. Here, optimum multiparameter analysis is used to deduce glacial meltwater fractions from independent water mass characteristics (standard hydrographic observations, noble gases, and oxygen isotopes), collected during a ship-based campaign in the eastern Amundsen Sea in February–March 2014. Noble gases (neon, argon, krypton, and xenon) and oxygen isotopes are used to trace the glacial melt and meteoric water found in seawater, and we demonstrate how their signatures can be used to rectify the hydrographic trace of glacial meltwater, which provides a much higher-resolution picture. The presence of glacial meltwater is shown to mask the Winter Water properties, resulting in differences between the water mass analyses of up to 4-g/kg glacial meltwater content. This discrepancy can be accounted for by redefining the “pure†Winter Water endpoint in the hydrographic glacial meltwater calculation. The corrected glacial meltwater content values show a persistent signature between 150 and 400 m of the water column across all of the sample locations (up to 535 km from Pine Island Ice Shelf), with increased concentration toward the west along the coastline. It also shows, for the first time, the signature of glacial meltwater flowing off-shelf in the eastern channel. |
format |
Text |
author |
Biddle, Louise C. Loose, Brice Heywood, Karen J. |
spellingShingle |
Biddle, Louise C. Loose, Brice Heywood, Karen J. Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica |
author_facet |
Biddle, Louise C. Loose, Brice Heywood, Karen J. |
author_sort |
Biddle, Louise C. |
title |
Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica |
title_short |
Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica |
title_full |
Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Upper Ocean Distribution of Glacial Meltwater in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica |
title_sort |
upper ocean distribution of glacial meltwater in the amundsen sea, antarctica |
publisher |
DigitalCommons@URI |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/775 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015133 https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/context/gsofacpubs/article/1743/viewcontent/Loose_UpperOceanDistribution_2019.pdf |
genre |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island |
genre_facet |
Amundsen Sea Antarc* Antarctica Ice Shelf Pine Island |
op_source |
Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/775 doi:10.1029/2019JC015133 https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/context/gsofacpubs/article/1743/viewcontent/Loose_UpperOceanDistribution_2019.pdf |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JC015133 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
124 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
6854 |
op_container_end_page |
6870 |
_version_ |
1810476822787260416 |