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Calibrated Seismic Imaging of Eddy-Dominated Warm-Water Transport Across the Bellingshausen Sea, Southern Ocean

cam.issuedOnline2018-04-30
dc.contributor.authorGunn, KL
dc.contributor.authorWhite, NJ
dc.contributor.authorLarter, RD
dc.contributor.authorCaulfield, CP
dc.contributor.orcidGunn, KL [0000-0003-2397-5364]
dc.contributor.orcidWhite, NJ [0000-0002-4460-299X]
dc.date.accessioned2018-04-25T12:35:41Z
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-21T09:22:12Z
dc.date.available2018-04-25T12:35:41Z
dc.date.available2018-06-21T09:22:12Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstract<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Seismic reflection images of thermohaline circulation from the Bellingshausen Sea, adjacent to the West Antarctica Peninsula, were acquired during February 2015. This survey shows that bright reflectivity occurs throughout the upper 300 m. By calibrating these seismic images with coeval hydrographic measurements, intrusion of warm water features onto the continental shelf at Marguerite and Belgica Troughs is identified and characterized. These features have distinctive lens‐shaped patterns of reflectivity with lengths of 0.75–11.00 km and thicknesses of 100–150 m, suggesting that they are small mesoscale to submesoscale eddies. Abundant eddies are observed along a transect that crosses Belgica Trough. Near Alexander Island Drift, a large, of order <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgrc22803-math-0001.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:21699275:media:jgrc22803:jgrc22803-math-0001" /> km<jats:sup>3</jats:sup>, bowl‐like feature, that may represent an anticyclonic Taylor column, is imaged on a pair of orthogonal images. A modified iterative procedure is used to convert seismic imagery into maps of temperature that enable the number and size of eddies being transported onto the shelf to be quantified. Finally, analysis of prestack shot records suggests that these eddies are advecting southward at speeds of <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="graphic/jgrc22803-math-0002.png" xlink:title="urn:x-wiley:21699275:media:jgrc22803:jgrc22803-math-0002" /> m s<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>, consistent with limited legacy hydrographic measurements. Concentration of observed eddies south of the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front implies they represent both a dominant, and a long‐lived, mechanism of warm‐water transport, especially across Belgica Trough. Our observations suggest that previous estimates of eddy frequency may have been underestimated by up to 1 order of magnitude, which has significant implications for calculations of ice mass loss on the shelf of the West Antarctic Peninsula.</jats:p>
dc.identifier.doi10.17863/CAM.24608
dc.identifier.eissn2169-9291
dc.identifier.issn2169-9275
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/277319
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)
dc.publisher.urlhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018jc013833
dc.relation.replaceshttps://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/275156
dc.relation.replaces1810/275156
dc.subjectseismic oceanography
dc.subjectBellingshausen Sea
dc.subjectwarm-core eddies
dc.subjectice-shelf basal melt
dc.subjectAntarctic Slope Front
dc.titleCalibrated Seismic Imaging of Eddy-Dominated Warm-Water Transport Across the Bellingshausen Sea, Southern Ocean
dc.typeArticle
dcterms.dateAccepted2018-04-02
prism.endingPage3099
prism.issueIdentifier4
prism.publicationDate2018
prism.publicationNameJournal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
prism.startingPage3072
prism.volume123
pubs.funder-project-idEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K034529/1)
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2018-04-01
rioxxterms.licenseref.urihttp://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved
rioxxterms.typeJournal Article/Review
rioxxterms.versionAM
rioxxterms.versionofrecord10.1029/2018JC013833

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