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SUMMARY:Sea ice and the ocean mixed layer over the Antarctic continental s
 helf - Alek Petty (University College London)
DTSTART:20140115T110000Z
DTEND:20140115T120000Z
UID:TALK49195@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Dan Jones
DESCRIPTION:The Antarctic shelf seas exhibit a strong bimodal distribution
  in the ocean temperature at the shelf seabed. The Amundsen and Bellingsha
 usen (AB) shelf seas are flooded by relatively warm Circumpolar Deep Water
 \, which is implicit in the recent ocean-driven erosion of the Antarctic I
 ce Sheet. In contrast\, the Weddell and Ross shelf seas are filled with co
 ld shelf waters\, which cool and ventilate the deep ocean\, and feed the g
 lobal thermohaline circulation through Antarctic Bottom Water formation. S
 everal mechanisms have been proposed to explain this distribution\, such a
 s the close proximity of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to the AB shelf
  break. In our recent work\, however\, an idealised sea ice-mixed layer mo
 del was used to demonstrate that the bimodal distribution could be explain
 ed purely by regional differences in atmospheric forcing. \n\nMore recent 
 investigations\, using a sophisticated sea ice model (CICE) coupled to a s
 imple mixed layer model\, has demonstrated the dominant role of sea ice in
  controlling the mixed layer evolution within all four shelf seas. The mod
 el has also been used to understand the extent to which recent shelf sea t
 rends (e.g. the Ross Sea freshening) can be explained directly by surface 
 (e.g. sea ice) trends. The results add support to increasing ice shelf mel
 twater being the main cause of the recent freshening\, however large uncer
 tainties still remain.
LOCATION:British Antarctic Survey\, Room 330B
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