Falco Pierpaolo, Krauzig Naomi, Castagno Pasquale, Garzia Angela, Martellucci Riccardo, Cotroneo Yuri, Flocco Daniela, Menna Milena, Pirro Annunziata, Mauri Elena, Memmola Francesco, Solidoro Cosimo, Pacciaroni Massimo, Notarstefano Giulio, Budillon Giorgio, Zambianchi Enrico
Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell'Ambiente, Università Politecnica delle Marche and Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Ancona, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze Matematiche e Informatiche, Scienze Fisiche e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Messina, Messina, Italy.
Nat Commun. 2024 Dec 4;15(1):10581. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54751-8.
The Ross Ice Shelf floats above the southern sector of the Ross Sea and creates a cavity where critical ocean-ice interactions take place. Crucial processes occurring in this cavity include the formation of Ice Shelf Water, the coldest ocean water, and the intrusion of Antarctic Surface Water, the main driver of frontal and basal melting. During the winter, a polynya forms along the Ross Ice Shelf edge, producing a precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water known as High Salinity Shelf Water. Due to the difficulty of direct exploration of the Ross Ice Shelf in the winter, processes occurring there have been only hypothesized to date. Here we show thermohaline observations collected along the Ross Ice Shelf front from 2020 to 2023 using unconventionally programmed Argo floats. These measurements provide year-round observations of water column changes in and around the Ross Ice Shelf cavity, allowing to quantify production of High Salinity Shelf Water, ocean heat content and basal melt rates.
罗斯冰架漂浮在罗斯海的南部区域上方，并形成了一个关键的海洋与冰相互作用的空洞。在这个空洞中发生的关键过程包括形成最寒冷的海水——冰架水，以及南极表层水的侵入，南极表层水是前沿和底部融化的主要驱动力。在冬季，罗斯冰架边缘会形成一个冰间湖，产生一种被称为高盐度陆架水的南极底层水的前身。由于冬季直接探索罗斯冰架存在困难，那里发生的过程至今仅为推测。在此，我们展示了2020年至2023年期间使用非常规编程的Argo浮标沿罗斯冰架前沿收集的温盐观测数据。这些测量提供了罗斯冰架空洞内外水柱变化的全年观测数据，从而能够量化高盐度陆架水的产生、海洋热含量和底部融化速率。
