Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study
The spreading of Dense Shelf Water (DSW) from Antarctic coastal margins to lower latitudes plays a vital role in the ocean thermohaline circulation and the global climate system. Through enhanced localized sea ice production in Antarctic coastal polynyas, cold and saline DSW is formed over the conti...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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2017
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Online Access: | https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/1/119352%20final.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911 |
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ftunivtasmania:oai:eprints.utas.edu.au:38894 2023-05-15T13:42:39+02:00 Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study Kusahara, K Williams, GD Tamura, T Massom, R Hasumi, H 2017 application/pdf https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/1/119352%20final.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911 en eng Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Inc. https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/1/119352%20final.pdf Kusahara, K orcid:0000-0003-4067-7959 , Williams, GD orcid:0000-0003-1769-8356 , Tamura, T, Massom, R orcid:0000-0003-1533-5084 and Hasumi, H 2017 , 'Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, vol. 122, no. 8 , 6238–6253 , doi:10.1002/2017JC012911 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911>. dense shelf water Southern Ocean polynyas Antarctica modelling Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunivtasmania https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911 2021-12-13T23:18:00Z The spreading of Dense Shelf Water (DSW) from Antarctic coastal margins to lower latitudes plays a vital role in the ocean thermohaline circulation and the global climate system. Through enhanced localized sea ice production in Antarctic coastal polynyas, cold and saline DSW is formed over the continental shelf regions as a precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). However, the detailed fate of coastal DSW over the Southern Ocean is still unclear. Here, we conduct extensive passive tracer experiments using a circumpolar ocean-sea ice-ice shelf model to investigate pathways of the regional polynya-based DSW from the Antarctic margins to the deep Southern Ocean basins. In the numerical experiments, the Antarctic coastal margin is divided into nine regions, and a passive tracer is released from each region at the same rate as the local sea ice production. The modeled spatial distribution of the total concentration of the nine tracers is consistent with the observed AABW distribution and clearly demonstrates nine routes of the DSW over the Southern Ocean along its bottom topography. Furthermore, the model shows that while ∼50% of the total tracer is distributed northwards from the continental shelf to the deep ocean, ∼7% is transported polewards beneath ice shelf cavities. The comprehensive tracer experiments allow us to estimate the contribution of local DSW to the total concentration along each of the pathways. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Southern Ocean University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 122 8 6238 6253 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tasmania: UTas ePrints |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtasmania |
language |
English |
topic |
dense shelf water Southern Ocean polynyas Antarctica modelling |
spellingShingle |
dense shelf water Southern Ocean polynyas Antarctica modelling Kusahara, K Williams, GD Tamura, T Massom, R Hasumi, H Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
topic_facet |
dense shelf water Southern Ocean polynyas Antarctica modelling |
description |
The spreading of Dense Shelf Water (DSW) from Antarctic coastal margins to lower latitudes plays a vital role in the ocean thermohaline circulation and the global climate system. Through enhanced localized sea ice production in Antarctic coastal polynyas, cold and saline DSW is formed over the continental shelf regions as a precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). However, the detailed fate of coastal DSW over the Southern Ocean is still unclear. Here, we conduct extensive passive tracer experiments using a circumpolar ocean-sea ice-ice shelf model to investigate pathways of the regional polynya-based DSW from the Antarctic margins to the deep Southern Ocean basins. In the numerical experiments, the Antarctic coastal margin is divided into nine regions, and a passive tracer is released from each region at the same rate as the local sea ice production. The modeled spatial distribution of the total concentration of the nine tracers is consistent with the observed AABW distribution and clearly demonstrates nine routes of the DSW over the Southern Ocean along its bottom topography. Furthermore, the model shows that while ∼50% of the total tracer is distributed northwards from the continental shelf to the deep ocean, ∼7% is transported polewards beneath ice shelf cavities. The comprehensive tracer experiments allow us to estimate the contribution of local DSW to the total concentration along each of the pathways. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kusahara, K Williams, GD Tamura, T Massom, R Hasumi, H |
author_facet |
Kusahara, K Williams, GD Tamura, T Massom, R Hasumi, H |
author_sort |
Kusahara, K |
title |
Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
title_short |
Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
title_full |
Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
title_fullStr |
Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
title_sort |
dense shelf water spreading from antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep southern ocean: a regional circumpolar model study |
publisher |
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Inc. |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/ https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/1/119352%20final.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Shelf Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
https://eprints.utas.edu.au/38894/1/119352%20final.pdf Kusahara, K orcid:0000-0003-4067-7959 , Williams, GD orcid:0000-0003-1769-8356 , Tamura, T, Massom, R orcid:0000-0003-1533-5084 and Hasumi, H 2017 , 'Dense shelf water spreading from Antarctic coastal polynyas to the deep Southern Ocean: a regional circumpolar model study' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, vol. 122, no. 8 , 6238–6253 , doi:10.1002/2017JC012911 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911>. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC012911 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
122 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
6238 |
op_container_end_page |
6253 |
_version_ |
1766170731882741760 |