Exceptionally warm and prolonged flow of warm deep water toward the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 2017
Exceptionally warm and prolonged flow of warm deep water toward the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 2017
Date
2020-06-09
Authors
Ryan, Svenja
Hellmer, Hartmut H.
Janout, Markus A.
Darelius, Elin
Vignes, Lucie
Schröder, Michael
Hellmer, Hartmut H.
Janout, Markus A.
Darelius, Elin
Vignes, Lucie
Schröder, Michael
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Person
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DOI
10.1029/2020GL088119
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Keywords
Ocean-ice shelf interaction
Weddell Sea
Warm inflow
Antarctic Slope Front
Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf
Weddell Sea
Warm inflow
Antarctic Slope Front
Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf
Abstract
The Filchner‐Ronne Ice Shelf, fringing the southern Weddell Sea, is Antarctica's second largest ice shelf. At present, basal melt rates are low due to active dense water formation; however, model projections suggest a drastic increase in the future due to enhanced inflow of open‐ocean warm water. Mooring observations from 2014 to 2016 along the eastern flank of the Filchner Trough (76°S) revealed a distinct seasonal cycle with inflow if Warm Deep Water during summer and autumn. Here we present extended time series showing an exceptionally warm and long inflow in 2017, with maximum temperatures exceeding 0.5°C. Warm temperatures persisted throughout winter, associated with a fresh anomaly, which lead to a change in stratification over the shelf, favoring an earlier inflow in the following summer. We suggest that the fresh anomaly developed upstream after anomalous summer sea ice melting and contributed to a shoaling of the shelf break thermocline.
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© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Ryan, S., Hellmer, H. H., Janout, M., Darelius, E., Vignes, L., & Schroeder, M. Exceptionally warm and prolonged flow of warm deep water toward the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 2017. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(13),(2020): e2020GL088119, doi:10.1029/2020GL088119.
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Ryan, S., Hellmer, H. H., Janout, M., Darelius, E., Vignes, L., & Schroeder, M. (2020). Exceptionally warm and prolonged flow of warm deep water toward the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in 2017. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(13), e2020GL088119.