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Oceans
Oceanic heat transport onto the Amundsen Sea shelf through a submarine glacial trough
Article first published online: 16 JAN 2007
DOI: 10.1029/2006GL028154
Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.
Additional Information
How to Cite
, , , , , and (2007), Oceanic heat transport onto the Amundsen Sea shelf through a submarine glacial trough, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L02602, doi:10.1029/2006GL028154.
Publication History
- Issue published online: 16 JAN 2007
- Article first published online: 16 JAN 2007
- Manuscript Accepted: 1 DEC 2006
- Manuscript Revised: 17 NOV 2006
- Manuscript Received: 13 SEP 2006
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Amundsen Sea;
- heat transport;
- basal melting
[1] Glaciers which drain the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) into the Amundsen Sea are accelerating and thinning rapidly. These observations have been attributed to the regional oceanography whereby heat contained within Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) drives the basal melting of floating glaciers. On the basis of new data we calculate that 2.8 terra-Watts (1012) of oceanic heat flow onto the continental shelf and toward the glaciers via a submarine glacial trough. This is enough to account for most of the basal melting in the entire region suggesting the ocean is supplying an excess of heat toward the Antarctic continent.