2004 LOM Workshop

Tuesday 4:20 - 4:40 p.m.

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Modelling the ocean circulation and the transformation of water masses over the Ross Sea Continental Shelf, including the Ross Ice-Shelf Cavity

Miguel Angel Morales Maqueda, David Holland
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences of New York University, New York, NY
maqueda@cims.nyu.edu

ABSTRACT

The isopycnic coordinate model MICOM is employed here to model the ocean circulation over the continental-shelf region of the Ross Sea and underneath the Ross Ice Shelf.Our goal is to determine the impact of ocean-ice shelf interactions on the transformation of water masses in the region.To avoid having to deal with problematic boundary conditions on the eastern Ross Sea, the model domain encompasses as well the continental-shelf areas all the way to the Antarctic Peninsula.Our model simulations suggest that year-to-year variability in the westward advection of relatively fresh waters from the Amundsen and Bellinghausen Seas into the Ross Sea has the potential to strongly affect the circulation and water properties both in the Ross Sea proper and beneath the Ross Ice-Shelf.

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LOM Users' Workshop, February 9-11, 2004