TITLE:
Cross-Shelf Break Circumpolar Deep Water Intrusion in Shallower Area of Amundsen Sea
AUTHORS:
Ziang Li, Chuning Wang, Meng Zhou
KEYWORDS:
Amundsen Sea, CDW Intrusion, Climate Change, Heat Transport
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.12 No.4,
April
30,
2024
ABSTRACT: The ice shelves of the Amundsen Sea are currently undergoing a rapid melting phase, making a significant contribution to the rise of sea level. The heat of melting was mostly provided by the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) from outside the continental shelf which can be transported southward by deep sea troughs on the continental shelf. There are three major troughs in Amundsen Sea, and current research on cross-shelf break CDW intrusion has focused on the locations where troughs connect to the shelf break. We recently found an unreported intrusion site at shelf break away from deep troughs, and the significant CDW intrusion signal in this shallow area near 106?W was captured by observed temperature data in World Ocean Database (WOD). The tendency of CDW intrusion southward in this site was verified by numerical particle tracking experiments. The temperature transport of this intrusion pathway was compared with a recognized pathway in troughs, and results suggested that they have a similar amount of heat contribution. However, numerical experiments modeling climate change indicated that the intrusion here is not as sensitive to westerly winds as in the troughs. Thus, although there is a significant amount of heat contribution in shallow area pathway, unlike deep troughs, where CDW intrusion into the ice shelves will increase under the climate change.