Supercooled Southern Ocean waters
Date
2020-10-09Author
Haumann, F. Alexander
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Moorman, Ruth
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Riser, Stephen C.
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Smedsrud, Lars H.
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Maksym, Ted
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Wong, Annie P. S.
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Wilson, Earle A.
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Drucker, Robert S.
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Talley, Lynne D.
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Johnson, Kenneth S.
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Key, Robert M.
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Sarmiento, Jorge L.
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/26495As published
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL090242DOI
10.1029/2020GL090242Keyword
Southern Ocean; Supercooling; Sea ice; Ice shelf; Observations; ConvectionAbstract
In cold polar waters, temperatures sometimes drop below the freezing point, a process referred to as supercooling. However, observational challenges in polar regions limit our understanding of the spatial and temporal extent of this phenomenon. We here provide observational evidence that supercooled waters are much more widespread in the seasonally ice‐covered Southern Ocean than previously reported. In 5.8% of all analyzed hydrographic profiles south of 55°S, we find temperatures below the surface freezing point (“potential” supercooling), and half of these have temperatures below the local freezing point (“in situ” supercooling). Their occurrence doubles when neglecting measurement uncertainties. We attribute deep coastal‐ocean supercooling to melting of Antarctic ice shelves and surface‐induced supercooling in the seasonal sea‐ice region to wintertime sea‐ice formation. The latter supercooling type can extend down to the permanent pycnocline due to convective sinking plumes—an important mechanism for vertical tracer transport and water‐mass structure in the polar ocean.
Description
© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Haumann, F. A., Moorman, R., Riser, S. C., Smedsrud, L. H., Maksym, T., Wong, A. P. S., Wilson, E. A., Drucker, R., Talley, L. D., Johnson, K. S., Key, R. M., & Sarmiento, J. L. Supercooled Southern Ocean waters. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(20), (2020): e2020GL090242, doi:10.1029/2020GL090242.
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Suggested Citation
Haumann, F. A., Moorman, R., Riser, S. C., Smedsrud, L. H., Maksym, T., Wong, A. P. S., Wilson, E. A., Drucker, R., Talley, L. D., Johnson, K. S., Key, R. M., & Sarmiento, J. L. (2020). Supercooled Southern Ocean waters. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(20), e2020GL090242.The following license files are associated with this item:
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