CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Oceanic Circulation

Image of the week – Our salty seas and how this affects sea ice growth

August 5, 2016
Image of the week – Our salty seas and how this affects sea ice growth
Lines of constant density for sea water . Black lines show lines of constant density as a function of temperature (y-axis) and salinity (x-axis). The dashed black line indicates, for a given salinity, the temperature at which the water will freeze. Figure adapted from Timmermans and Jayne (2016) - with permission.

Earth’s oceans are not simply just water, they are a complicated multi-component fluid consisting of water and dissolved salts (ask anyone who has tried to drink it!). The existence of these salts has a significant impact on global ocean circulation. Nowhere is this more significant than in the polar oceans where it is one of the key factors influencing sea ice formation. In this week’s imag ...[Read More]

Image of the week – The winds of summer (and surface fluxes of winter)

July 22, 2016
Image of the week – The winds of summer (and surface fluxes of winter)
Representation of the (a) summer and (b) winter oceanic circulation within the Adélie region, East Antarctica. MGT = Mertz Glacier Tongue (red dot on the Antarctica map); other acronyms indicate different water masses: Antarctic Surface Waters (AASW), Modified Circumpolar Deep Water (MCDW*), Dense Shelf Water (DSW) and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) explained below. [Credit: reprinted with permission from Snow et al. (2016, figure 4) ]. Click here here to enlarge the image.

Antarctica is separated from the deep Southern Ocean by a shallow continental shelf. Waters are exchanged between the deep ocean and the shallow shelf, forming the Antarctic cross-shelf circulation: Very dense waters leave the shelf as Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) that will then flow at the bottom of all oceans. Meanwhile, relatively warm water from the Southern Ocean, Modified Circumpolar Deep W ...[Read More]