On the settling depth of meltwater escaping from beneath Antarctic ice shelves

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[15200485 - Journal of Physical Oceanography] On the Settling Depth of Meltwater Escaping from beneath Antarctic Ice Shelves.pdf

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sword-2021-09-17T13:46:45.original.xml (130 B)
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Author(s)
Arnscheidt, Constantin W
•
Marshall, John
•
Dutrieux, Pierre
•
Rye, Craig D
•
Ramadhan, Ali
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Journal of Physical Oceanography
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Version
Final published version
Abstract
AbstractAntarctic glacial meltwater is thought to play an important role in determining large-scale Southern Ocean climate trends, yet recent modeling efforts have proceeded without a good understanding of how its vertical distribution in the water column is set. To rectify this, here we conduct new large-eddy simulations of the ascent of a buoyant meltwater plume after its escape from beneath an Antarctic ice shelf. We find that the meltwater’s settling depth is primarily a function of the buoyancy forcing per unit width of the source and the ambient stratification, consistent with the classical theory of turbulent buoyant plumes and in contrast to previous work that suggested an important role for centrifugal instability. Our results further highlight the significant role played by localized variability in stratification; this helps explain observed interannual variability in the vertical meltwater distribution near Pine Island Glacier. Because of the vast heterogeneity in mass loss rates and ambient conditions at different Antarctic ice shelves, a dynamic parameterization of meltwater settling depth may be crucial for accurately simulating high-latitude climate in a warming world; we discuss how this may be developed following this work, and where the remaining challenges lie.
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
10.1175/JPO-D-20-0286.1
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