Summary
Mixing in Ellis Fjord, Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica, is controlled by processes influenced by the extent of ice formation. A study of water temperature and salinity as a site near the middle of the fjord was undertaken from May 1994 to February 1995 after a summer (1993-94) in which the ice cover of the fjord was largely retained. vertical mixing resulting from exclusion of salt during the limited winter formation of ice was insufficient to completely mix the non-meromictic basins of the fjord. In contrast, a previous study during a winter with far more ice production recorded much stronger vertical mixing throughout the fjord. Warming and freshening of the fjord during the 1994-95 summer, when the ice again did not melt significantly, was attributable to flow of warmer, less saline water along the fjord. This process was probably related to the formation of tidal jets at the narrow and shallow entrance to the fjord, and was thus influenced by the ice condistions around the entrance. These jets would also have introduced significant amounts of extra-fjord water (along with any resident biota) into the fjord.