Abstract
Recent rapid thinning of West Antarctic ice shelves are believed to be caused by intrusions of warm deep water that induce basal melting and seaward meltwater export. This study uses data from three bottom-mounted mooring arrays to show seasonal variability and local forcing for the currents moving into and out of the Dotson ice shelf cavity. A southward flow of warm, salty water had maximum current velocities along the eastern channel slope, while northward outflows of freshened ice shelf meltwater spread at intermediate depth above the western slope. The inflow correlated with the local ocean surface stress curl. At the western slope, meltwater outflows followed the warm influx along the eastern slope with a ~2–3 month delay. Ocean circulation near Dotson Ice Shelf, affected by sea ice distribution and wind, appears to significantly control the inflow of warm water and subsequent ice shelf melting on seasonal time-scales.
Highlights
Recent rapid thinning of West Antarctic ice shelves are believed to be caused by intrusions of warm deep water that induce basal melting and seaward meltwater export
We show that there is a clear seasonal variability of mCDW water flowing into the Dotson Ice Shelf (DIS) and how it propagates into the cavity beneath the ice shelf
Using two years of mooring data near the calving front of Dotson ice shelf, we identified a substantial inflow of warm and salty water near the seabed at the eastern flank of the deep trough that leads into the ice shelf cavity
Summary
Recent rapid thinning of West Antarctic ice shelves are believed to be caused by intrusions of warm deep water that induce basal melting and seaward meltwater export. Ocean circulation near Dotson Ice Shelf, affected by sea ice distribution and wind, appears to significantly control the inflow of warm water and subsequent ice shelf melting on seasonal time-scales. At the Amundsen Sea Embayment (ASE), ice from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is drained into the ocean through the Pine Island, Thwaites, Haynes, Smith, Pope, and Kohler glaciers. These glaciers had an ice flux of 334 ± 15 Gt yr−1 in 20139, and they have potential to impact sea level rise globally should this flux change significantly. Understanding seawater circulation near the ice shelf is essential for determining how changes in oceanic heat transport affect basal melting of ice shelves[19]. Temporal and spatial variations in ocean circulation and heat transport to and from the sub-DIS cavity and look into associated forcing mechanisms are investigated
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