The West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) has been one of the fastest warming regions on Earth, with a large decline in sea ice cover over the past few decades. In this region, the southern limit of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is adjacent to the shelf break, allowing transfer of warmer Circumpolar Deep Water onto the shelf. This transfer is known to occur in particular regions, for example where flow interacts with canyons across the shelf.
Following on from previous work carried out at CCPO, I have been developing a high-resolution ocean-ice shelf-sea ice model (ROMS), forced with atmospheric reanalysis. The aim has been to investigate the on-shore transfer of warm water onto the shelf, and the impact of model resolution on these processes. Model results have been validated and compared with observations available from the region, such as timeseries from moored sensors and temperature profiles from tagged seals. Papers detailing results from this project are currently in preparation.
Following on from previous work carried out at CCPO, I have been developing a high-resolution ocean-ice shelf-sea ice model (ROMS), forced with atmospheric reanalysis. The aim has been to investigate the on-shore transfer of warm water onto the shelf, and the impact of model resolution on these processes. Model results have been validated and compared with observations available from the region, such as timeseries from moored sensors and temperature profiles from tagged seals. Papers detailing results from this project are currently in preparation.
Figure: Bathymetry of the Antarctic Peninsula [m], from Bedmap2 and Gebco08. Grey box shows the position of the model domain. Blue lines indicate the extent of ice shelves. Red to yellow lines show the location of fronts in the ACC (Orsi et al. 1999). The southern boundary of the ACC is adjacent to the shelf break.