Circulation and bottom water production in the Weddell Sea

Gill, A. E.

doi:10.1016/0011-7471(73)90048-x

Cited by 310 publications

(367 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…A frontal system at the continental shelf break prevents direct access of WDW onto the shelf [e.g., Gill, 1973]. MWDW can, however, encroach onto the Weddell Sea continental shelf in certain regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summertime water masses off the northern Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Nicholls

Pudsey

Morris

2004

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] We report on oceanographic observations made at the northern end of Larsen C Ice Shelf in the western Weddell Sea. It appears that the Larsen C continental shelf is flushed not by High Salinity Shelf Water from the southern continental shelf, but by Modified Weddell Deep Water (MWDW) flowing across the shelf break. MWDW is observed at the ice front, having tracked west along the northward facing slopes of depressions that reach to the shelf break. Ice Shelf Water observed near the ice front is not, however, derived from MWDW directly, but from MWDW pre-conditioned by winter cooling and by salinification from sea ice production. If the ice shelf base generally is being melted only by pre-conditioned MWDW, then, contrary to recent suggestions, changes in the temperature of the deep Weddell Sea are unlikely to have a major impact on melt rates at the base of Larsen C Ice Shelf.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Summertime water masses off the northern Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Nicholls

Pudsey

Morris

2004

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…The ASF dynamics control the exchanges of heat, salt and freshwater across the continental shelf, and their transport around the continent by its associated westward surface-intensified flow, which we refer to here as the Antarctic Slope Current (ASC). The ASF therefore influences deep water formation [Gill, 1973], melting of ice shelves [Smedsrud et al, 2006], and transport of nutrients and krill [Pauly et al, 2000].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observations of the Antarctic Slope Undercurrent in the southeastern Weddell Sea

Chavanne

Heywood

Nicholls

et al. 2010

Geophysical Research Letters

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The Antarctic Slope Front presents a dynamical barrier between the cold Antarctic shelf waters in contact with ice shelves and the warmer subsurface waters offshore. Two hydrographic sections with full‐depth current measurements were undertaken in January and February 2009 across the slope and shelf in the southeastern Weddell Sea. Southwestward surface‐intensified currents of ∼30 cm s−1, and northeastward undercurrents of 6–9 cm s−1, were in thermal‐wind balance with the sloping isopycnals across the front, which migrated offshore by 30 km in the time interval between the two sections. A mid‐depth undercurrent on February 23 was associated with a 130‐m uplift of the main pycnocline, bringing Warm Deep Water closer to the shelf break. This vertical displacement, comparable to that caused by seasonal variations in wind speed, implies that undercurrents may affect the exchanges between coastal and deep waters near the Antarctic continental margins.

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“…The Weddell Sea is traditionally regarded as one of the main locations for deep and bottom water formation around Antarctica [Gill, 1973] The injection of CFCs into deeper layers occurs vertically by convection and subduction followed by a lateral redistribution through advection and mixing. The results do not reveal the deep double-core structure known from tracer sampling along the Greenwich Meridian (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%