Dense Shelf Water Research Articles

Controls on Dense Shelf Water Formation in Four East Antarctic Polynyas

AbstractCoastal polynyas are key formation regions for dense shelf water (DSW) that ultimately contributes to the ventilation of the ocean abyss. However, not all polynyas form DSW. We examine how the physiographic setting, water‐mass distribution and transformation, water column stratification, and sea‐ice production regulate DSW formation in four East Antarctic coastal polynyas. We use a salt budget to estimate the relative contribution of sea‐ice production and lateral advection to the monthly change in salinity in each polynya. DSW forms in Mackenzie polynya due to a combination of physical features (shallow water depth and a broad continental shelf) and high sea‐ice production. Sea‐ice formation begins early (March) in Mackenzie polynya, counteracting fresh advection and establishing a salty mixed layer in autumn that preconditions the water column for deep convection in winter. Sea‐ice production is moderate in the other three polynyas, but saline DSW is not formed (a fresh variety is formed in the Barrier polynya). In the Shackleton polynya, brine rejection during winter is insufficient to overcome the very fresh autumn mixed layer. In Vincennes Bay, a strong inflow of modified Circumpolar Deep Water stratifies the water column, hindering deep convection and DSW formation. Our study highlights that DSW formation in a given polynya depends on a complex combination of factors, some of which may be strongly altered under a changing climate, with potentially important consequences for the ventilation of the deep ocean, the global meridional overturning circulation, and the transport of ocean heat to Antarctic ice shelves.

Contrasting particle fluxes and composition in a submarine canyon affected by natural sediment transport events and bottom trawling

Submarine canyons are important conduits of sediment and organic matter to deep-sea environments, mainly during high-energy natural events such as storms, river floods, or dense shelf water cascading, but also due to human activities such as bottom trawling. The contributions of natural and trawling-induced sediment and organic matter inputs into Palamós Canyon (NW Mediterranean) were assessed from three instrumented moorings deployed in the axis and northern flank of the canyon covering the trawling closure (February) and the trawling season (March-December) of 2017. During the trawling closure, large sediment fluxes with high contents of labile marine organic matter content were registered in the canyon axis, associated to storm resuspension on the shelf that coincided with dense shelf water cascading and high surface water productivity. Although no major natural sediment transport events occurred during the following spring and summer months, near-daily trawling-induced sediment gravity flows were recorded in the northern flank mooring, placed directly below a fishing ground, which sometimes reached the canyon axis. Compositionally, the organic matter transferred by trawling resuspension was impoverished in the most labile biomarkers (fatty acids, amino acids, and dicarboxylic acids) and had a high degree of degradation, which was similar to surficial sediment from the adjacent fishing ground. Trawling resuspended particles masked the transfer of organic matter enriched in labile biomarkers that naturally occur during the quiescent summer months. Overall, bottom trawling enhances the magnitude of particle fluxes while modifying its organic carbon composition, increasing the re-exposure and transfer of degraded organic carbon and potentially affecting benthic communities that rely on the arrival of fresh organic matter.

Dominant frazil ice production in the Cape Darnley polynya leading to Antarctic Bottom Water formation.

Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) occupies the abyssal layer of the world ocean and contributes to the global overturning circulation. It originates from dense shelf water, which forms from brine rejection during sea ice production. An important region of AABW formation has been identified off the Cape Darnley polynya. However, it remains unclear why and how high ice production leads to AABW formation. Using moored acoustic measurements and a satellite microwave algorithm, we reveal that underwater frazil ice dominates in the polynya. This underwater ice formation prevents heat-insulating surface-cover ice forming, thereby enabling efficient ice production. The high ice production in the nearshore and longer residence times create high-salinity source water for the AABW. Underwater frazil ice occurs as long as strong winds continue and occasionally penetrates depths of at least 80 m. Deep-penetrating frazil ice is particularly prominent in this polynya, while it also occurs in other Antarctic coastal polynyas.

Pleistocene oceanographic variability in the Ross Sea: A multiproxy approach to age model development and paleoenvironmental analyses

Understanding how ocean circulation has varied around Antarctica in the past is vital because significant volumes of ice are grounded below sea level, and therefore ice sheet variations are strongly coupled with oceanographic variability at the continental shelf margin. This study investigates the 11.75 m sediment core RS15-LC42, retrieved from the Central Basin of the Ross Sea. A magneto-biostratigraphic age model was constructed from a magnetic reversal stratigraphy, diatom biostratigraphy, and the relative paleointensity of the geomagnetic field. The core spans the last 1.34 Myr with a mean sedimentation rate of 0.88 cm/kyr, providing insights into paleoceanographic variability in the Ross Sea throughout the Pleistocene. Winnowed deposits enriched in iceberg rafted debris were formed due to a combination of enhanced glacial calving during glacial retreats, and export of Dense Shelf Water during interglacial and weak glacial periods when the ice-sheet was not grounded in the outer Joides Trough. During periods where the ice sheet grounded on the outer Ross Sea continental shelf, laminated sediments rich in reworked diatoms are interpreted to have formed due to glacial scouring and transport of shelf sediments to the mouth of the Joides Trough, where slope failures and meltwater pulses remobilized this material downslope to the Central Basin. Dense shelf water formation is inferred to be most intense during interglacial periods, with reduced export from the Joides Trough during ice sheet advances. The study does not find any evidence for prolonged ice-sheet grounding in the outer Ross Sea since ~0.3 Ma, however, we conclude that the grounding line reached the outer shelf frequently between 0.3 and 1.2 Ma, supporting higher Antarctic ice volumes during glacial periods in this interval. • High-resolution sediment age modelling of Pleistocene Antarctic sediments • The WAIS has likely not been grounded in the outer Ross Sea since MIS 10. • Bottom water export from the Ross Sea is strongest during interglacial periods.

Physical and biological controls on anthropogenic CO2 sink of the Ross Sea

The Antarctic continental shelf is known as a critical anthropogenic CO2 (Cant) sink due to its cold waters, high primary productivity, and unique circulation, which allow it to sequester large amounts of organic and inorganic carbon into the deep ocean. However, climate change is currently causing significant alteration to the Antarctic marine carbon cycle, with unknown consequences on the Cant uptake capacity, making model-based estimates of future ocean acidification of polar regions highly uncertain. Here, we investigated the marine carbonate system in the Ross Sea in order to assess the current anthropogenic carbon content and how physical–biological processes can control the Cant sequestration along the shelf-slope continuum. The Winter Water mass generated from convective events was characterized by high Cant level (28 µmol kg−1) as a consequence of the mixed layer break-up during the cold season, whereas old and less-ventilated Circumpolar Deep Water entering the Ross Sea revealed a very scarce contribution of anthropogenic carbon (7 µmol kg−1). The Cant concentration was also different between polynya areas and the shelf break, as a result of their specific hydrographic characteristics and biological processes: surface waters of the Ross Sea and Terra Nova Bay polynyas served as strong CO2 sink (up to −185 mmol m−2), due to the remarkable net community production, estimated from the summertime surface-dissolved inorganic carbon deficit. However, a large amount of the generated particulate organic carbon was promptly consumed by intense microbial activity, giving back carbon dioxide into the intermediate and deep layers of the continental shelf zone. Further Cant also derived from High-Salinity Shelf Water produced during winter sea ice formation (25 µmol kg−1), fueling dense shelf waters with additional input of Cant, which was finally stored into the abyssal sink through continental slope outflow (19 µmol kg−1). Our results suggest that summer biological activity over the Ross Sea shelf is pivotal for the shunt of anthropogenic CO2 between the organic and inorganic carbon pools, enhancing the ocean acidification of the upper mesopelagic zone and the long-term Cant sequestration into the deep ocean.

Warm surface waters increase Antarctic ice shelf melt and delay dense water formation

Melting ice shelves around Antarctica control the massive input of freshwater into the ocean and play an intricate role in global heat redistribution. The Amery Ice Shelf regulates wintertime sea-ice growth and dense shelf water formation. We investigated the role of warm Antarctic Surface Water in ice shelf melting and its impact on dense shelf water. Here we show that the coastal ocean in summer 2016/17 was almost sea-ice free, leading to higher surface water temperatures. The glacial meltwater fraction in surface water was the highest on record, hypothesised to be attributable to anomalous ice shelf melting. The excess heat and freshwater in early 2017 delayed the seasonal evolution of dense shelf water. Focused on ice shelf melting at depth, the importance and impacts of warming surface waters has been overlooked. In a warming climate, increased surface water heating will reduce coastal sea-ice production and potentially Antarctic Bottom Water formation.

Transport paths of radiocesium and radium isotopes in the intermediate layer of the southwestern Sea of Okhotsk

The spatial distributions of 134Cs, 137Cs, 226Ra, and 228Ra in/around the southwestern Sea of Okhotsk were examined in July 2019 and July 2021. Wide variations in the concentrations of these radionuclides were detected at the surface, including 0.2–0.7 mBq/L of 134Cs (decay-corrected to the date of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident), which indicated a large mixing ratio between the Soya Warm Current and East Sakhalin Current/Okhotsk Sea Surface Water. The Intermediate Cold Water at depths of approximately 30–300 m was subjected to the effects of 226Ra-rich and 228Ra-poor intermediate (or deeper) seawater. Moreover, the 134Cs concentrations were maximum in 2021 (approximately 0.6 mBq/L), which most probably resulted from the increase in 134Cs concentrations in the southward dense shelf water along the eastern Sakhalin Island along with the effect in the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water originating from the western subarctic water (e.g., the East Kamchatka Current) in the Pacific Ocean.

Recent changes and distribution of the newly-formed Cape Darnley Bottom Water, East Antarctica

Hydrographic top-to-bottom CTDs and profiling float profiles were collected during 2003–2020 periods in the south-west Indian Ocean sector of the Antarctic margin. Those calibrated dissolved oxygen, temperature and salinity records were used to document the distribution, pathway and changes of the newly-formed Cape Darnley Bottom Water (CDBW). We found that the newly-formed CDBW, with high fractions (50–90%) in the bottom 300 m, primarily appeared on the continental slope (64.5°-70°E) and the abyssal ocean (57°-64.5°E) in the eastern Cooperation Sea. Those distributions of CDBW fractions suggested a pathway originating from the Cape Darnley Polynya (CDP) and descending down Wild and Daly Canyons, and finally accumulating in the northwest abyssal ocean. The newly-formed CDBW presented decadal changes in potential temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and neutral density between 2003-2006 and 2013–2020. It showed significant cooling (∼0.098 °C/decade), freshening (∼0.013/decade), increasing dissolved oxygen (∼11.8 μmol/kg/decade) rates on the continental slope just off CDP, while warming (0.018–0.038 °C/decade), freshening (0.0044–0.0055/decade), decreasing density (0.009–0.014 kg/m3/decade) and increasing dissolved oxygen (4–12 μmol/kg/decade) in the Daly Canyon. The most likely explanation of those high change rates is the enhanced CDBW formation caused by increased cascading Dense Shelf Water (DSW) plumes in Daly Canyon, and subsequently enhanced entrainment of warmer mid-depth Modified Circumpolar Deep Water (MCDW). In the northwest abyssal plain, the potential temperature and dissolved oxygen show little change while the freshening and more buoyant signals remain considerable, which might be influenced by the changes of AABWs from different sources. Finally, we relate the recent changes of newly-formed CDBW to the Sea Ice Production (SIP) change in the CDP. The SIP in the CDP shows significant increasing trends (0.52 m/decade) during 2002–2020. It increased by 12.5% during this period, which indicates an increased formation of regional DSW driven by the sea-ice formation and associated brine rejection, thus increasing formation of CDBW. Those processes were likely responsible for the decadal changes of the recently-formed CDBW.

Simulation of Winter Deep Slope Convection in Peter the Great Bay (Japan Sea)

In wintertime, a high-density water forms on the shallow shelf in the vast Peter the Great Bay (Japan Sea). The steep continental slope with deep canyons and cold winters in the area provide suitable conditions for the implementation of deep slope convection—an important phenomenon in the formation of intermediate and bottom waters that occurs at a few locations in some semi-enclosed seas, including the Japan Sea. The descent of dense shelf water down the continental slope of Peter the Great Bay usually occurs to 1000–1200 m; however, in anomalously cold winters, it has been observed at greater than 2000 m depth supporting renewal and deep ventilation of intermediate and bottom waters in the Japan Sea. The deep slope convection is a rare episodic phenomenon with durations ranging from several hours to several days, that has never been simulated in Peter the Great Bay with a realistic numerical model of circulation. We apply the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) with a 600 m horizontal resolution to simulate the deep slope convection in the anomalously cold winter of 2001 when it has been observed in cruises. The results are compared with propagation of deep shelf water in the regular winter of 2010 when hydrological characteristics of this water were recorded by a profiler “Aqualog” installed at the shelf break. Using Lagrangian methods, we track and analyze the formation of dense shelf water, its advection to the slope edge in the bottom layer and descent down the slope. Special attention is payed to the role of coastal eddies arising due to a symmetric instability. These eddies promote the cross-shelf transport of the dense shelf water towards the continental slope edge. The simulation results are compared with rare observations of the deep slope convection in Peter the Great Bay.

Distribution and stoichiometry of Al, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk

Trace metals play an important role in marine biogeochemistry. However, the detailed distribution of trace metals in the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk remain unknown. Herein, we report the full-depth and section distributions of the dissolved (d), total dissolvable (td), and labile particulate (lp) phases of Al, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, and Pb in seawater samples collected from the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk during the GEOTRACES-Japan program. High lpM/tdM ratios suggest active scavenging in the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk. The lpAl and lpFe species were dominant in tdAl and tdFe, showing a strong positive correlation to each other in the both the Seas of Japan and Okhotsk. The maximum lpAl, lpFe, lpMn, and lpCo concentrations were observed at σ0 = 26.8–27.0 for dense shelf water (DSW) in the Sea of Okhotsk, implying that a metal source is laterally transported to the western subarctic North Pacific. The high enrichment factors of dMn, dCo, dNi, dCu, dZn, dCd, and dPb in the surface water of the Sea of Japan were attributed to anthropogenic emissions of these metals. In addition, temporal variations of the trace metals were examined in the Sea of Japan. The distribution of dCd did not change significantly during 1984–2010; however, data suggest that lpMn and lpFe exhibited dynamic temporal and spatial variations.

Freshwater components track the export of dense shelf water from Prydz Bay, Antarctica

Seawater samples were collected around Prydz Bay, Antarctica for measurement of stable oxygen isotopes (δ18O) in austral summer of 2013. Based on a three-end member mixing model of salinity and δ18O, the fraction of meteoric water (fMW) and sea-ice meltwater (fSIM) is estimated. Our results show that the average fMW varies from 0.5% to 3.0%, and decreases northward from the Amery Ice Shelf, while the average fSIM is small (−2.0%–1.0%) and shows the signal of brine-injected dense water, all of which indicate that the Prydz Bay shelf water is abundant with meteoric water and brine under the impact of ice-shelf water and intense sea ice formation. There is a continuous distribution of positive fMW and negative fSIM in the bottom water from the slope to the basin near Cape Darnley and Prydz Channel, which reflects the sinking of Dense Shelf Water (DSW) from Prydz Bay in the production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). The contribution of DSW to AABW (fDSW) is estimated by mass balance of potential temperature, salinity and δ18O. The fDSW has a large spatial variation, with higher values near Prydz Channel (40–60%) and down-slope off Cape Darnley (70%), which confirms two routes for DSW export from Prydz Bay. Our study reveals the transport path of shelf water through freshwater components, and emphasizes the importance of shelf water of Prydz Bay in the formation of AABW.

Variability and Formation Mechanism of Polynyas in Eastern Prydz Bay, Antarctica

Based on satellite remote sensing, several polynyas have been found in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica. Compared with the Mackenzie Bay Polynya, the only polynya in the west, the polynyas in eastern Prydz Bay have a larger area and higher ice production, but have never been studied individually. In this study, four recurrent polynyas were identified in eastern Prydz Bay from sea ice concentration data during 2002–2011. Their areas generally exhibit synchronous temporal variations and have good correlation with wind speed, which indicates that they are primarily wind-driven polynyas that need at least one stationary ice barrier to block the inflow of drifting sea ice. The components of the ice barriers of these four polynyas were identified through comparison of satellite remote sensing visible images and synthetic aperture radar images. All types of fast ice, including landfast ice, offshore fast ice and ice fingers serving as ice barriers for these polynyas are anchored by an assemblage of small icebergs and have an approximately year-round period of variations that also regulates the variability of polynyas. The movement and grounding of giant icebergs near the polynyas significantly affects the development of the polynyas. The results of this study illustrate the important impact of icebergs on Antarctic wind-driven polynyas and the formation of dense shelf water.

Seasonal Transformation and Spatial Variability of Water Masses Within MacKenzie Polynya, Prydz Bay

AbstractWe provide a detailed description of the spatial distribution, seasonality and transformation of the main water masses within MacKenzie Polynya (MP) in Prydz Bay, East Antarctica, using data from instrumented southern elephant seals. Dense Shelf Water (DSW) formation in MP shows large spatial variability that is related to the (a) local bathymetry, (b) water column preconditioning from the presence/absence of different water masses, and (c) proximity to the Amery Ice Shelf meltwater outflow. MP exhibits sustained sea ice production and brine rejection (thus, salinity increase) from April to October. However, new DSW is only formed from June onward, when the mixed layer deepens and convection is strong enough to break the stratification set by Antarctic Surface Water above and Ice Shelf Water below. We found no evidence of DSW export from MP to Darnley polynya, as previously suggested. Rather, our observations suggest some DSW formed in Darnley Polynya may drain toward the western Prydz Bay. Then, DSW is exported offshore from Prydz Bay through the Prydz Channel. The interplay between sea ice formation, meltwater input, and sea floor topography is likely to explain why some coastal polynyas form more DSW than others, as well as the temporal variability in DSW formation within a particular polynya.

Mesoscale, Tidal, and Seasonal/Interannual Drivers of the Weddell Sea Overturning Circulation

Abstract The Weddell Sea supplies 40%–50% of the Antarctic Bottom Water that fills the global ocean abyss, and therefore exerts significant influence over global circulation and climate. Previous studies have identified a range of different processes that may contribute to dense shelf water (DSW) formation and export on the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf. However, the relative importance of these processes has not been quantified, which hampers prioritization of observational deployments and development of model parameterizations in this region. In this study a high-resolution (1/12°) regional model of the southern Weddell Sea is used to quantify the overturning circulation and decompose it into contributions due to multiannual mean flows, seasonal/interannual variability, tides, and other submonthly variability. It is shown that tides primarily influence the overturning by changing the melt rate of the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf (FRIS). The resulting ∼0.2 Sv (1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) decrease in DSW transport is comparable to the magnitude of the overturning in the FRIS cavity, but small compared to DSW export across the continental shelf break. Seasonal/interannual fluctuations exert a modest influence on the overturning circulation due to the relatively short (8-yr) analysis period. Analysis of the transient energy budget indicates that the nontidal, submonthly variability is primarily baroclinically generated eddies associated with dense overflows. These eddies play a comparable role to the mean flow in exporting dense shelf waters across the continental shelf break, and account for 100% of the transfer of heat onto the continental shelf. The eddy component of the overturning is sensitive to model resolution, decreasing by a factor of ∼2 as the horizontal grid spacing is refined from 1/3° to 1/12°.

Natural vs. trawling-induced water turbidity and suspended sediment transport variability within the Palamós Canyon (NW Mediterranean)

Increases of water turbidity and suspended sediment transport in submarine canyons have been associated with high-energy events such as storms, river floods and dense shelf water cascading (DSWC), and occasionally with bottom trawling along canyon flanks and rims. To assess the variations on the water column turbidity and sediment transport in the Palamós Canyon linked to both natural and trawling-induced processes, an autonomous hydrographic profiler, as well as a near-bottom current meter and a turbidimeter were deployed in the canyon axis (929 m depth) from February to June 2017, covering a trawling closure (February) and trawling activities (March-June). Periods of enhanced water turbidity during the trawling closure were mostly associated with storms and DSWC events, transporting turbid dense waters into the canyon. In absence of such events, the water column displayed low suspended sediment concentrations (~ 0.3 mg L− 1) until the trawling season began, when particulate matter detachments, ranging between > 1 mg L− 1 and 3.8 mg L− 1, were observed at the water depths where the trawling grounds are found. During the trawling closure, high near-bottom suspended sediment fluxes (35–44 g m− 2 s− 1) were sporadically registered at ~ 920 m depth associated with a major storm and DSWC event. Smaller but more frequent increases of near-bottom suspended sediment fluxes (0.1–1.4 g m− 2 s− 1) were recorded during trawling activities. Despite these smaller trawling-induced suspended sediment fluxes, 30 days of continuous bottom trawling activity transported a total amount of 40 kg m− 2, of similar magnitude to that generated by a major DSWC event (50 kg m− 2). Since bottom trawling in Palamós Canyon is practiced on a daily basis throughout the year, a much larger contribution of anthropogenically derived water turbidity and suspended sediment transport can be expected.

Long-term changes on the Bransfield Strait deep water masses: Variability, drivers and connections with the northwestern Weddell Sea

The Bransfield Strait receives substantial input from recently ventilated Dense Shelf Water (i.e., High Salinity Shelf Water – HSSW or Low Salinity Shelf Water – LSSW) formed in the Weddell Sea continental shelf. The bathymetric restricted connections to the surrounding oceans make the Bransfield Strait's deep basins proxy regions to study the temporal variability of these waters. HSSW is an important precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water, a water mass with a global impact on the deeper branches of the global overturning circulation. The deep waters in the central basin of the Bransfield Strait have unveiled significant long–term cooling, freshening, and lightening between 1963 and 2019. Conversely, in the eastern basin of the Bransfield Strait, signals of freshening, lightening, and decreasing of dissolved oxygen have been present since 1975, but somewhat less robust than those founded on the central basin. Hence, that dichotomy in neighboring regions influenced by same source water masses suggests different mixing proportions and variability, likely resulting from distinct source regions of the dense waters precursors. In addition, the deep water masses in the Bransfield Strait have shown a strong interannual variability of thermohaline properties, which is mainly explained by the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and the Southern Annular Mode. These climate modes are likely to influence the periods of increasing salinity, such as 2010 to 2016, favoring higher intrusions of HSSW rather than the less dense variety into the Bransfield Strait. Evidence to the increased contribution of HSSW during that period may be explained by an increase in the sea ice formation in the Weddell Sea. During the sea ice formation, higher rates of Dense Shelf Water was likely formed in the northwestern Weddell Sea due to brine rejection. The changes reported here are key to add new insights on a better understanding of how changes in the source water masses can affect the deep branches of the global overturning circulation cell, which is still a challenging question for the community. Finally, the hydrographic properties time series in the Bransfield Strait used here spanned through six decades, which is much longer than those previously reported in the Weddell Sea, providing further and stronger evidence on how climate variability affects bottom water in the Southern Ocean.

Effects of the atmospheric forcing resolution on simulated sea ice and polynyas off Adélie Land, East Antarctica

Coastal polynyas of the Southern Ocean play a central role in the ventilation of the deep ocean and affect the stability of ice shelves. It appears crucial to incorporate them into climate models, but it is unclear how to adequately simulate them. In particular, there is no consensus on the atmospheric forcing resolution needed to appropriately model the sea ice in coastal Antarctica. A high resolution might be required to represent the local winds such as katabatic winds which are key drivers of coastal polynyas. To fill in this gap, we have tested the sensitivity of sea ice and air-sea-ice interactions to the resolution of the atmospheric forcing in a high-resolution ocean–sea ice model. A set of regional atmospheric simulations at horizontal resolutions of 20, 10, and 5 km are performed with an atmospheric regional model and used to force three ocean–sea ice simulations in the Adélie Land sector, East Antarctica. Due to the better representation of topography with a refined grid, the offshore component of coastal winds becomes stronger at increased resolution. The wind intensification is particularly strong down valleys channelizing the katabatic flow, with increase in wind speed ranging between 1 and 3 m/s. Under a higher resolution forcing, polynyas open more frequently and are wider. This fosters the growth rate of sea ice in polynyas, while landfast ice and pack ice are weakly affected. In polynyas, the production of sea ice is increased by up to 30% at 5 km resolution compared to 20 km resolution. Polynyas downstream of the katabatic wind pathway are more affected than the ones driven by easterly winds, highlighting the importance of the local wind conditions. Brine rejection associated with these higher sea ice production rates affects the salinity budget of the ocean and enhances both the volume and density of the dense Shelf Water produced off Adélie Land. These results underpin the need to better account for local coastal winds and polynyas in ocean and climate models.

Change of nitrogen chemical tracer N2* between the Okhotsk Sea and the subarctic North Pacific

Using the nitrogen chemical tracer N2* (an anomaly of [N2] in terms of the saturation ratio of dissolved nitrogen gas to dissolved argon gas in seawater), we quantitatively investigated the processes that affect the flux of oceanic nitrogen gas at the air-sea interface in the subarctic region of the Sea of Okhotsk (OK) and the North Pacific Ocean (NP): denitrification, air injection, and rapid cooling, in five regions, (i) the inflow region from NP into OK, (ii) the continental shelf region, (iii) the continental slope region, (iv) the Okhotsk Sea pelagic ocean region and (v) the outflow region from OK to NP following the flow of seawater from upstream to downstream. In the inflow region, half of ∼1 μmol kg−1 of N2* amount was due to the denitrification effect, followed by 40% due to the rapid cooling effect, and the remaining about 10% was due to the air injection effect. On the continental shelf, N2* showed a maximum value of ∼8 μmol kg−1, of which about 56% was the rapid cooling effect, followed by the denitrification effect of 44%, which resulted from the formation of the dense shelf water (DSW) and the active biological production on the continental shelf. On the continental slope, the denitrification effect accounted for three-fourths of N2*, and the remaining one-fourth was due to the rapid cooling effect, which is due to the mixing of DSW with the surrounding seawater and the active denitrification at a wide depth on the continental slope. In the pelagic ocean region, the N2* content was the lowest in OK and the fraction of the three effects are almost the same as on the continental slope, which is related to the process of DSW incorporation into the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water. In the outflow region from OK to NP, which is downstream of the above regions, the N2* content steeply decreased by 60% compared to the Okhotsk Sea pelagic ocean region due to tidal mixing in the Bussol Strait. The above quantitative analysis of these five regions showed that the Kruzenshtern Strait, the Bussol’ Strait and the continental shelf and slope of OK play an important role in controlling the three effects affecting the flux of ocean nitrogen gas in OK and NP.

Salinity regime of the northwestern Bering Sea shelf

The present study has examined the long-term variability of water mass properties and its relation to sea ice production (SIP) in the northwestern Bering Sea shelf using hydrographic and satellite data, and output from atmospheric reanalysis. As per our analysis of hydrographic data in the summer seasons, significant variability in bottom water temperature and salinity was noted. The temperature in 2018 showed particularly remarkable warming of the whole water column throughout the Gulf of Anadyr (GOA) and cold pool (CP) region. These oceanic parameters exhibited correlations with SIP in the Anadyr polynya, which is identified as one of the most active polynyas in the Northern Hemisphere. Specifically, there were more saline and colder water during high-SIP years, suggesting the influence of dense shelf water (DSW) that is formed during freezing processes; however, in low SIP years, bottom salinity has been observed to behave inversely, resulting in more saline water with lower SIP. We suggest that the influence of warm and saline water, originating from the Pacific, transported by ocean currents intensified by wintertime southerly winds in low-SIP years. The properties of bottom water in the semi-closed GOA are influenced by intrusion of the Pacific-originated water and DSW.

Warm Modified Circumpolar Deep Water Intrusions Drive Ice Shelf Melt and Inhibit Dense Shelf Water Formation in Vincennes Bay, East Antarctica

AbstractAntarctic Bottom Water (AABW) production supplies the deep limb of the global overturning circulation and ventilates the deep ocean. While the Weddell and Ross Seas are recognized as key sites for AABW production, additional sources have been discovered in coastal polynya regions around East Antarctica, most recently at Vincennes Bay. Vincennes Bay, despite encompassing two distinct polynya regions, is considered the weakest source, producing Dense Shelf Water (DSW) only just dense enough to contribute to the lighter density classes of AABW found offshore. Here we provide the first detailed oceanographic observations of the continental shelf in Vincennes Bay (104‐111°E), using CTD data from instrumented elephant seals spanning from February to November of 2012. We find that Vincennes Bay has East Antarctica’s warmest recorded intrusions of modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) and that warm mCDW drives basal melt under Vanderford and Underwood ice shelves. Our study also provides the first direct observational evidence for the inflow of meltwater to this region, which increases stratification and hinders DSW formation, and thus AABW production. The Vincennes Bay glaciers, together with the Totten Glacier, drain part of the Aurora Basin, which holds up to 7 m of sea level rise equivalent. Our results highlight the vulnerability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to intrusions of mCDW.