scholarly journals The influence of the Drygalski Ice Tongue on the local ocean

2017 ◽  
Vol 58 (74) ◽  
pp. 51-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Stevens ◽  
Won Sang Lee ◽  
Giannetta Fusco ◽  
Sukyoung Yun ◽  
Brett Grant ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Structure ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Coastal Current ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Ocean Region ◽  
Oceanographic Data ◽  
Western Ross Sea

ABSTRACT The Drygalski Ice Tongue presents an ~80 km long floating obstacle to alongshore flows in the Victoria Land coastal ocean region of the Western Ross Sea. Here we use oceanographic data from near to the tongue to explore the interplay between the floating glacier and the local currents and stratification. A vessel-based circuit of the glacier, recording ocean temperature and salinity profiles, reveals the southwest corner to be the coldest and most complex in terms of vertical structure. The southwest corner structure beneath the surface warm, salty layer sustains a block of very cold water extending to 200 m depth. In this same location there was a distinct layer at 370 m not seen anywhere else of water at ~−1.93°C. The new observations broadly, but not directly, support the presence of a coherent Victoria Land Coastal Current. The data suggest the northward moving coastal current turns against the Coriolis force and works its way anticlockwise around the glacier, but with leakage beneath the glacier through the highly ‘rippled’ underside, resulting in a spatially heterogeneous supply to the Terra Nova Bay Polynya region – an important location for the formation of high-salinity shelf water.

Diversity and distribution of mollusc assemblages on the Victoria Land coast and the Balleny Islands, Ross Sea, Antarctica

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Schiaparelli ◽  
Anne-Nina Lörz ◽  
Riccardo Cattaneo-Vietti
Keyword(s):  
Species Richness ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Weddell Sea ◽  
Coastal Current ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Terra Nova ◽  
Mollusc Assemblages ◽  
Richness Estimators

In 2004 as part of the joint Latitudinal Gradient Project in the Ross Sea, cruises of RV Tangaroa and RV Italica along the Victoria Land coast and the Balleny Islands collected 142 species of mollusc (four Polyplacophora, 99 Gastropoda, 37 Bivalvia and two Scaphopoda). About 20% of these species represent new records for the Ross Sea quadrant. The species richness was found to be higher at 71–72°S (Cape Hallett–Cape Adare) and lower at 74–75°S (Terra Nova Bay–Cape Russell) using Shannon-Wiener's H', Pielou's J' and Simpson's λ indices, as well as by using species richness estimators (e.g. ICE, Chao 2, Jack 2). The Balleny Islands (65–67°S), though not exhaustively sampled, show diversity values comparable to those of Terra Nova Bay–Cape Russell. These islands, located in the main Antarctic Coastal Current, appear to represent a crossroads in the Southern Ocean, with mollusc and other invertebrate species present, that have previously been recorded only from the Weddell Sea. The higher diversity in the Cape Hallett–Cape Adare area is not easy to interpret, but could be a result of the intense iceberg scouring off the two capes, observed from seafloor mapping, a factor that is known to enhance species diversity at the regional scale. The existence of a decreasing trend in diversity towards higher latitudes along the Victoria Land coast cannot yet be shown, due to the large gaps in sampling coverage.

Significance of selected halocarbons monitoring in air samples collected in the Terra Nova Bay region (northern Victoria Land, Antarctica)

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filippo Mangani ◽  
Michela Maione ◽  
Luciano Lattanzi
Keyword(s):  
Ross Sea ◽  
Atmospheric Concentration ◽  
Air Samples ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Terra Nova ◽  
Concentration Levels

CCl3F (or CFC-11) and CCl2F2 (or CFC-12) were determined in air samples collected, during subsequent summer Antarctic campaigns, in different sampling sites in the Ross Sea Region. The samples were analysed by GC-ECD after enrichment. Data obtained since 1988–89 were plotted to observe the trend of CFCs atmospheric concentration levels. A decrease in the rate of increase of CFC-12 concentration was observed, whilst the concentration of CFC-11 was actually seen to be decreasing.

Pre-LGM open-water conditions south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue, Ross Sea, Antarctica

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Furio Finocchiaro ◽  
Carlo Baroni ◽  
Ester Colizza ◽  
Roberta Ivaldi
Keyword(s):  
Ross Sea ◽  
Open Water ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
The Core ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Insoluble Organic Matter ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Marine Isotope Stage 3 ◽  
Raised Beaches

AbstractA marine sediment core collected from the Nordenskjold Basin, to the south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue, provides new sedimentological and chronological data for reconstructing the Pleistocene glacial history and palaeoenvironmental evolution of Victoria Land. The core consists of an over consolidated biogenic mud covered with glacial diamicton; Holocene diatomaceous mud lies on top of the sequence. Radiocarbon dates of the acid insoluble organic matter indicate a pre-Last Glacial Maximum age (>24kyr) for the biogenic mud at the base of the sequence. From this we can presume that at least this portion of the western Ross Sea was deglaciated during Marine Isotope Stage 3 and enjoyed open marine conditions. Our results are consistent with recent findings of pre-Holocene raised beaches at Cape Ross and in the Terra Nova Bay area.

Sea ice deformation and thickness in the Western Ross Sea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Rack ◽  
Daniel Price ◽  
Christian Haas ◽  
Patricia J. Langhorne ◽  
Greg H. Leonard
Keyword(s):  
Sea Ice ◽  
Satellite Images ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Thickness Distribution ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Ice Dynamics ◽  
Sea Ice Thickness ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Western Ross Sea

<p>Sea ice cover is arguably the longest and best observed climate variable from space, with over four decades of highly reliable daily records of extent in both hemispheres. In Antarctica, a slight positive decadal trend in sea ice cover is driven by changes in the western Ross Sea, where a variation in weather patterns over the wider region forced a change in meridional winds. The distinguishing wind driven sea ice process in the western Ross Sea is the regular occurrence of the Ross Sea, McMurdo Sound, and Terra Nova Bay polynyas. Trends in sea ice volume and mass in this area unknown, because ice thickness and dynamics are particularly hard to measure.</p><p>Here we present the first comprehensive and direct assessment of large-scale sea-ice thickness distribution in the western Ross Sea. Using an airborne electromagnetic induction (AEM) ice thickness sensor towed by a fixed wing aircraft (Basler BT-67), we observed in November 2017 over a distance of 800 km significantly thicker ice than expected from thermodynamic growth alone. By means of time series of satellite images and wind data we relate the observed thickness distribution to satellite derived ice dynamics and wind data. Strong southerly winds with speeds of up to 25 ms<sup>-1</sup> in early October deformed the pack ice, which was surveyed more than a month later.</p><p>We found strongly deformed ice with a mean and maximum thickness of 2.0 and 15.6 m, respectively. Sea-ice thickness gradients are highest within 100-200 km of polynyas, where the mean thickness of the thickest 10% of ice is 7.6 m. From comparison with aerial photographs and satellite images we conclude that ice preferentially grows in deformational ridges; about 43% of the sea ice volume in the area between McMurdo Sound and Terra Nova Bay is concentrated in more than 3 m thick ridges which cover about 15% of the surveyed area. Overall, 80% of the ice was found to be heavily deformed and concentrated in ridges up to 11.8 m thick.</p><p>Our observations hold a link between wind driven ice dynamics and the ice mass exported from the western Ross Sea. The sea ice statistics highlighted in this contribution forms a basis for improved satellite derived mass balance assessments and the evaluation of sea ice simulations.</p>

scholarly journals Variability in high-salinity shelf water production in the Terra Nova Bay polynya, Antarctica

Ocean Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung-Tae Yoon ◽  
Won Sang Lee ◽  
Craig Stevens ◽  
Stefan Jendersie ◽  
SungHyun Nam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Salinity ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
Shelf Water ◽  
Antarctic Bottom Water ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Salinity Variability ◽  
Salinity Increase ◽  
Terra Nova

Abstract. Terra Nova Bay in Antarctica is a formation region for high-salinity shelf water (HSSW), which is a major source of Antarctic Bottom Water. Here, we analyze spatiotemporal salinity variability in Terra Nova Bay with implications for the local HSSW production. The salinity variations in the Drygalski Basin and eastern Terra Nova Bay near Crary Bank in the Ross Sea were investigated by analyzing hydrographic data from instrumented moorings, vessel-based profiles, and available wind and sea-ice products. Near-bed salinity in the eastern Terra Nova Bay (∼660 m) and Drygalski Basin (∼1200 m) increases each year beginning in September. Significant salinity increases (>0.04) were observed in 2016 and 2017, which is likely related to active HSSW formation. According to velocity data at identical depths, the salinity increase from September was primarily due to advection of the HSSW originating from the coastal region of the Nansen Ice Shelf. In addition, we show that HSSW can also be formed locally in the upper water column (<300 m) of the eastern Terra Nova Bay through convection supplied by brine from the surface, which is related to polynya development via winds and ice freezing. While the general consensus is that the salinity of the HSSW was decreasing from 1995 to the late 2000s in the region, the salinity has been increasing since 2016. In 2018, it returned to values comparable to those in the early 2000s.

Thermohaline structure and variability in the Terra Nova Bay polynya, Ross Sea

2000 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 493-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Budillon ◽  
G. Spezie
Keyword(s):  
Surface Layer ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Heat Budget ◽  
Salt Content ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Local Source ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Terra Nova

Hydrological measurements from three cruises during the summers 1994/95, 1995/96 and 1997/98 in the western sector of the Ross Sea allow summer and year to year changes in heat and salt content in the Terra Nova Bay polynya to be analysed. Changes in the surface layer (upper pycnocline) followed the expected seasonal pattern of warming and freshening from the beginning to the end of the summer. These near-surface changes, expressed as net heating and salting rate, were about 11 W m−2 and -6 mg salt m−2 s−1. The heating changes were substantially lower than the estimated heat supplied by the atmosphere during the summer, which underlines the importance for this season of the advective component carried by the currents in the total heat budget. The year to year differences were about one or two orders of magnitude smaller than the seasonal changes in the surface layer. In the intermediate and deep layers, the summer heat and salt variability were of the same order as or one order higher than from one summer to the next. The differences in sign and magnitude for the heat change in the upper and in the lower pycnocline indicate a weak connection in the summer period between the surface heat fluxes and the deep waters. A local source of very cold water (with temperatures below the surface freezing point) of about 0.3 Sv has been detected close to the Terra Nova Bay coast. It arose out of the interaction of the shallow–intermediate layers of High Salinity Shelf Water with the coastal glaciers. The presence and the variability of this cold water point to the significant role of the thermohaline properties of Terra Nova Bay waters in controlling the floating glacier by governing the basal melting processes.

Miocene-to-Quaternary oblique rifting signature in the Western Ross Sea from fault patterns in the McMurdo Volcanic Group, north Victoria Land, Antarctica

2015 ◽  
Vol 656 ◽  
pp. 74-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianluca Vignaroli ◽  
Fabrizio Balsamo ◽  
Guido Giordano ◽  
Federico Rossetti ◽  
Fabrizio Storti
Keyword(s):  
Ross Sea ◽  
Volcanic Group ◽  
Victoria Land ◽  
Oblique Rifting ◽  
Western Ross Sea

Summer distribution and abundance of larval and juvenile fishes in the western Ross Sea

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Vacchi ◽  
M. La Mesa ◽  
S. Greco
Keyword(s):  
Fish Community ◽  
Ross Sea ◽  
Larval Fish ◽  
Fish Larvae ◽  
Pleuragramma Antarcticum ◽  
Terra Nova Bay ◽  
Single Station ◽  
Summer Distribution ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Western Ross Sea

Ichthyoplankton samples were collected during the November–December 1994 Italian Antarctic Oceanographic Cruise carried out to the western Ross Sea. A midwater trawl (Hamburg Plankton Net) was used to collect samples at 26 stations. Larval and juvenile specimens of 21 species belonging to six families (Artedidraconidae, Bathydraconidae, Channichthyidae, Macrouridae, Nototheniidae and Paralepididae) were caught from surface to 380 m depth. Mean relative abundance of larval fish in the whole area was about 2.7 specimens 1000 m−3 of filtered water. Pleuragramma antarcticum were the most abundant as postlarvae and juveniles. Larval and postlarval specimens of Chionodraco myersi were also abundant and widespread. The high number of Trematomus lepidorhinus (570 larvae) found in a single station off Terra Nova Bay (74°48′75“S, 164°36′90”E) was noteworthy. Our data demonstrate that the species diversity of the larval fish community in the western Ross Sea is much as found elsewhere in the Antarctic and show a greater abundance of fish larvae in inshore than in offshore waters.

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