Abstract
Abstract. The Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), including an ice shelf component, has been applied on a circum-Antarctic domain to derive estimates of ice shelf basal melting. Significant improvements made compared to previous models of this scale are the inclusion of tides and a horizontal spatial resolution of 2 km, which is sufficient to resolve on-shelf heat transport by bathymetric troughs and eddy-scale circulation. We run the model with ocean–atmosphere–sea ice conditions from the year 2007 to represent nominal present-day climate. We force the ocean surface with buoyancy fluxes derived from sea ice concentration observations and wind stress from ERA-Interim atmospheric reanalysis. Boundary conditions are derived from the ECCO2 ocean state estimate; tides are incorporated as sea surface height and barotropic currents at the open boundary. We evaluate model results using satellite-derived estimates of ice shelf melting and established compilations of ocean hydrography. The Whole Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM v1.0) qualitatively captures the broad scale difference between warm and cold regimes as well as many of the known characteristics of regional ice–ocean interaction. We identify a cold bias for some warm-water ice shelves and a lack of high-salinity shelf water (HSSW) formation. We conclude that further calibration and development of our approach are justified. At its current state, the model is ideal for addressing specific, process-oriented questions, e.g. related to tide-driven ice shelf melting at large scales.
Highlights
Modelling of Antarctic ice shelf–ocean interaction is critical to predicting future changes in sea level and climate
Following King and Padman (2005), we assess the accuracy of tides in the model by comparing tidal height signals against 69 Antarctic tide gauge (ATG) station data, including observations from tide gauges, gravimetric data, and GPS records of ice shelf surface elevation
The total ice shelf basal mass loss is close to but 4 % below the lowest estimate derived from satellite observations
Summary
Modelling of Antarctic ice shelf–ocean interaction is critical to predicting future changes in sea level and climate. O. Richter et al.: The Whole Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM v1.0): development and evaluation et al, 2018; Naughten et al, 2018a). Richter et al.: The Whole Antarctic Ocean Model (WAOM v1.0): development and evaluation et al, 2018; Naughten et al, 2018a) Within these models, Antarctic-wide applications are of particular interest, as they resolve ice shelf teleconnections (Gwyther et al, 2014; Silvano et al, 2018) and smaller ice shelves with less research focus all around the continent (Timmermann et al, 2012). Consistent model design and parameter choices in large-scale models make it easier to compare different regions, and coupled ice sheet–ocean models for climate predictions will need Antarctic-wide domains (AsayDavis et al, 2017). The first realistic, coupled models are becoming available (Timmermann and Goeller, 2017; Naughten et al, 2021)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
