N. J. Robinson

Evolution of a supercooled Ice Shelf Water plume with an actively growing subice platelet matrix

We use new observations in Western McMurdo Sound, combined with longitudinal hydrographic transects of the sound, to identify a northward-flowing Ice Shelf Water (ISW) plume exiting the cavity of the McMurdo-Ross Ice Shelf. We estimate the plumes net northward transport at 0.4 ± 0.1 Sv, carving out a corridor approximately 35 km wide aligned with the Victoria Land Coast. Basal topography of the McMurdo Ice Shelf is such that the plume is delivered to the surface without mixing with overlying warmer water, and is therefore able to remain below the surface freezing temperature at the point of observation beneath first-year ice. Thus, the upper ocean was supercooled, by up to 50 mK at the surface, due to pressure relief from recent rapid ascent of the steep basal slope. The 70 m thick supercooled layer supports the growth and maintenance of a thick, semirigid, and porous matrix of platelet ice, which is trapped by buoyancy at the ice-ocean interface. Continued growth of individual platelets in supercooled water creates significant brine rejection at the top of the water column which resulted in convection over the upper 200 m thick, homogeneous layer. By examining the diffusive nature of the intermediate water between layers of ISW and High Salinity Shelf Water, we conclude that the ISW plume must have originated beneath the Ross Ice Shelf and demonstrate that it is likely to expand eastward across McMurdo Sound with the progression of winter.

Observed platelet ice distributions in Antarctic sea ice: An index for ocean‐ice shelf heat flux

Antarctic sea ice that has been affected by supercooled Ice Shelf Water (ISW) has a unique crystallographic structure and is called platelet ice. In this paper we synthesize platelet ice observations to construct a continent-wide map of the winter presence of ISW at the ocean surface. The observations demonstrate that, in some regions of coastal Antarctica, supercooled ISW drives a negative oceanic heat flux of −30 Wm−2 that persists for several months during winter, significantly affecting sea ice thickness. In other regions, particularly where the thinning of ice shelves is believed to be greatest, platelet ice is not observed. Our new data set includes the longest ice-ocean record for Antarctica, which dates back to 1902 near the McMurdo Ice Shelf. These historical data indicate that, over the past 100 years, any change in the volume of very cold surface outflow from this ice shelf is less than the uncertainties in the measurements.

Observations of amplified roughness from crystal accretion in the sub‐ice ocean boundary layer

Ice crystal accretion on the underside of sea ice and ice shelves, a signature of pressure-induced supercooling, has the potential to alter the energy balance in the ocean boundary layer through enhanced hydrodynamic roughness. Here we present estimates of crystal-driven ocean boundary layer roughness in supercooled water beneath sea ice adjacent to the McMurdo/Ross Ice Shelf. Data were collected from four sites in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, between 2007 and 2015, and represent a range of ice shelf-affected conditions. The results show that drag of the rough ice underside in the presence of platelets is 6–30 times larger than typical levels homogeneously applied in ice-ocean interaction models. The crystal-enhanced drag promotes increased entrainment into the boundary layer from the upper ocean, which has the potential to affect ice shelf evolution and sea ice growth through enhanced turbulent exchange of heat and momentum.

The influence of the Drygalski Ice Tongue on the local ocean

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.