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Wintertime ocean conditions over the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf, Antarctica
Author(s) -
Nicholls Keith W.,
Boehme Lars,
Biuw Martin,
Fedak Michael A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl035742
Subject(s) - weddell sea bottom water , geology , continental shelf , ice shelf , oceanography , sea ice , sill , antarctic bottom water , iceberg , bottom water , climatology , cryosphere , petrology
During the austral winter of 2007 a Weddell Seal tagged with a miniaturized conductivity‐temperature‐depth (CTD) instrument travelled over the central southern Weddell Sea continental shelf. The instrument yielded 750 CTD profiles, 250 of them to the sea floor. The data show a full depth flow of water onto the shelf via a sill at the shelf break (74°S 44°W). The warmth from the core of the flow was able to maintain the surface mixed layer above the freezing point, resulting in a band of reduced ice‐production. An estimate of the on‐shelf flux suggests that this flow accounts for most of the estimated 3 Sv of water draining from the southern Weddell Sea continental shelf.