Decadal variability of ice-shelf melting in the Amundsen Sea driven by sea-ice freshwater fluxes

Haigh, Michael ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9062-7613; Holland, Paul R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-289X. 2024 Decadal variability of ice-shelf melting in the Amundsen Sea driven by sea-ice freshwater fluxes. Geophysical Research Letters, 51 (9), e2024GL108406. 10, pp. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108406

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Official URL: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.102...

Abstract/Summary

The ice streams flowing into the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, are losing mass due to changes in oceanic basal melting of their floating ice shelves. Rapid ice-shelf melting is sustained by the delivery of warm Circumpolar Deep Water to the ice-shelf cavities, which is first supplied to the continental shelf by an undercurrent that flows eastward along the shelf break. Temporal variability of this undercurrent controls ice-shelf basal melt variability. Recent work shows that on decadal timescales the undercurrent variability opposes surface wind variability. Using a regional model, we show that undercurrent variability is induced by sea-ice freshwater fluxes, particularly those north of the shelf break, which affect the cross-shelf break density gradient. This sea-ice variability is linked to tropical Pacific variability impacting atmospheric conditions over the Amundsen Sea. Ice-shelf melting also feeds back onto the undercurrent by affecting the on-shelf density, thereby influencing shelf-break density gradient anomalies.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108406
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	Amundsen Sea, ice shelves, sea ice, undercurrent, decadal variability
Date made live:	10 May 2024 11:30 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536808

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL108406

ISSN:

0094-8276

Additional Keywords:

Amundsen Sea, ice shelves, sea ice, undercurrent, decadal variability

Date made live:

10 May 2024 11:30 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536808