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Interleaving layers are commonly observed in the subsurface ocean near thermohaline fronts. They imply a lateral exchange of water mass properties and have been shown to influence both lateral and vertical mixing rates. We examine a set of in situ observations…
Ocean-driven basal melt can thin and weaken ice shelves, reducing buttressing and causing sea level rise. However, the processes driving melt in ice shelf cavities are challenging to observe. Here we report float observations spanning the ocean cavity beneath Shackleton Ice Shelf.
Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is derived from dense water that sinks from the Antarctic continental shelf to the deep ocean. The sinking of AABW is balanced by a return flow of lighter water, and the resulting overturning circulation determines the density stratification of the deep ocean…
The fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) influence the growth and instability of eddies, eddy-mean flow interaction, and the development of submesoscale processes. We use in situ hydrography and directly measured velocity from a comprehensive shipboard survey of the Polar Front (PF)…
The long-held view that the East Antarctic margin is isolated from warm offshore waters has been challenged by recent observations showing incursions of warm modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW) reaching several East Antarctic ice shelves. However…
Overview of past and future climate change in Australia's area of responsibility in Antarctica, sub-Antarctic islands and Southern Ocean, and impacts of Antarctic changes upon the Australian mainland.
Interleaving layers are commonly observed in the subsurface ocean near thermohaline fronts. They imply a lateral exchange of water mass properties and have been shown to influence both lateral and vertical mixing rates. We examine a set of in situ observations…
Standing meanders along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) have been shown to be regions of elevated eddy variability, meridional heat transport, and vertical exchange. In this study, we investigate the influence of a standing meander south of Australia on air-sea heat fluxes…
The vertically integrated zonal momentum balance of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is dominated by wind stress at the surface and topographic form stress (TFS) at the bottom. It has been argued that wind stress is transferred from the surface to the bottom by transient baroclinic eddies…
Manganese (Mn) is an essential element involved in photosynthesis, yet its concentrations in Southern Ocean open waters are very low, arising from biological uptake and limited external inputs. At southern latitudes…
The Totten Glacier in East Antarctica, with an ice volume equivalent to >3.5?m of global sea-level rise, is grounded below sea level and, therefore, vulnerable to ocean forcing. Here…
Dense, cold waters formed on Antarctic continental shelves descend along the Antarctic continental margin, where they mix with other Southern Ocean waters to form Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). AABW then spreads into the deepest parts of all major ocean basins…
Eddy stirring at mesoscale oceanic fronts generates finescale filaments, visible in submesoscale-resolving model simulations and high-resolution satellite images of sea surface temperature, ocean color, and sea ice. Submesoscale filaments have widths of O(1–10)…
Antarctica. The word conjures up images of mountains draped with glaciers, ferocious seas dotted with icebergs and iconic species found nowhere else. The continent includes about one-tenth of the planet's land surface, nearly 90% of Earth's ice and about 70% of its fresh water.
Antarctic and Southern Ocean science is vital to understanding natural variability, the processes that govern global change and the role of humans in the Earth and climate system. The potential for new knowledge to be gained from future Antarctic science is substantial. Therefore…