Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front
The Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) is located along much of the Antarctic continental shelf break and helps to maintain a barrier to the movement of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto the continental shelf. The stability of the ASF has a major control on cross-shelf heat transport and ocean-driven basal...
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:32381 2023-05-15T13:31:53+02:00 Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front Huneke, WGC Klocker, A Galton-Fenzi, BK 2019 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32381/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32381/1/137058%20-%20Deep%20bottom%20mixed%20layer%20drives%20intrinsic%20variability%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20Slope%20Front.pdf en eng Amer Meteorological Soc https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32381/1/137058%20-%20Deep%20bottom%20mixed%20layer%20drives%20intrinsic%20variability%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20Slope%20Front.pdf Huneke, WGC orcid:0000-0001-8624-365X , Klocker, A orcid:0000-0002-2038-7922 and Galton-Fenzi, BK 2019 , 'Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front' , Journal of Physical Oceanography, vol. 49 , pp. 3163-3177 , doi:10.1175/JPO-D-19-0044.1 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0044.1>. Antarctic Slope Front ocean model coastal flows currents fronts ocean dynamics Article PeerReviewed 2019 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0044.1 2021-09-20T22:18:22Z The Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) is located along much of the Antarctic continental shelf break and helps to maintain a barrier to the movement of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto the continental shelf. The stability of the ASF has a major control on cross-shelf heat transport and ocean-driven basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves. Here, the ASF dynamics are investigated for continental shelves with weak dense shelf water (DSW) formation, which are thought to have a stable ASF, common for regions in East Antarctica. Using an ocean process model, this study demonstrates how offshore bottom Ekman transport of shelf waters leads to the development of a deep bottom mixed layer at the lower continental slope, and subsequently determines an intrinsic variability of the ASF. The ASF variability is characterized by instability events that affect the entire water column and occur every 5–10 years and last for approximately half a year. During these instability events, the cross-shelf density gradient weakens and CDW moves closer to the continent. Stronger winds increase the formation rate of the bottom mixed layer, which causes a subsequent increase of instability events. If the observed freshening trend of continental shelf waters leads to weaker DSW formation, more regions might be vulnerable for the ASF variability to develop in the future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelves University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica Journal of Physical Oceanography 49 12 3163 3177 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctic Slope Front ocean model coastal flows currents fronts ocean dynamics |
spellingShingle |
Antarctic Slope Front ocean model coastal flows currents fronts ocean dynamics Huneke, WGC Klocker, A Galton-Fenzi, BK Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front |
topic_facet |
Antarctic Slope Front ocean model coastal flows currents fronts ocean dynamics |
description |
The Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) is located along much of the Antarctic continental shelf break and helps to maintain a barrier to the movement of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) onto the continental shelf. The stability of the ASF has a major control on cross-shelf heat transport and ocean-driven basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves. Here, the ASF dynamics are investigated for continental shelves with weak dense shelf water (DSW) formation, which are thought to have a stable ASF, common for regions in East Antarctica. Using an ocean process model, this study demonstrates how offshore bottom Ekman transport of shelf waters leads to the development of a deep bottom mixed layer at the lower continental slope, and subsequently determines an intrinsic variability of the ASF. The ASF variability is characterized by instability events that affect the entire water column and occur every 5–10 years and last for approximately half a year. During these instability events, the cross-shelf density gradient weakens and CDW moves closer to the continent. Stronger winds increase the formation rate of the bottom mixed layer, which causes a subsequent increase of instability events. If the observed freshening trend of continental shelf waters leads to weaker DSW formation, more regions might be vulnerable for the ASF variability to develop in the future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Huneke, WGC Klocker, A Galton-Fenzi, BK |
author_facet |
Huneke, WGC Klocker, A Galton-Fenzi, BK |
author_sort |
Huneke, WGC |
title |
Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front |
title_short |
Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front |
title_full |
Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front |
title_fullStr |
Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front |
title_full_unstemmed |
Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front |
title_sort |
deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the antarctic slope front |
publisher |
Amer Meteorological Soc |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32381/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32381/1/137058%20-%20Deep%20bottom%20mixed%20layer%20drives%20intrinsic%20variability%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20Slope%20Front.pdf |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic East Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica East Antarctica Ice Shelves |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/32381/1/137058%20-%20Deep%20bottom%20mixed%20layer%20drives%20intrinsic%20variability%20of%20the%20Antarctic%20Slope%20Front.pdf Huneke, WGC orcid:0000-0001-8624-365X , Klocker, A orcid:0000-0002-2038-7922 and Galton-Fenzi, BK 2019 , 'Deep bottom mixed layer drives intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Slope Front' , Journal of Physical Oceanography, vol. 49 , pp. 3163-3177 , doi:10.1175/JPO-D-19-0044.1 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0044.1>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JPO-D-19-0044.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Physical Oceanography |
container_volume |
49 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
3163 |
op_container_end_page |
3177 |
_version_ |
1766022111657197568 |