Winter seal-based observations reveal glacial meltwater surfacing in the southeastern Amundsen Sea
Winter seal-based observations reveal glacial meltwater surfacing in the southeastern Amundsen Sea
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冬季基于海豹的观测揭示了阿蒙森海东南部的冰川融水表面
DOI：
10.1038/s43247-021-00111-z
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发表时间：
2021
影响因子：
7.9
通讯作者：
Loose, Brice
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Zheng, Yixi;Heywood, Karen J.;Webber, Benjamin G. M.;Stevens, David P.;Biddle, Louise C.;Boehme, Lars;Loose, Brice
确定注入极地海洋的冰川融水对于量化气候系统对冰盖质量损失的反应至关重要。然而，融水观测不足，其路径知之甚少，特别是在冬季。在这里，我们目前的冬季融水分布附近的松岛冰川使用标记的海豹收集的数据，揭示了一个高度可变的融水分布与两个融水丰富的层在上250米，并在450米左右，连接分散的融水丰富的列。我们表明，水文签名的融水是最清楚的冬季，当它的存在可以明确映射。我们认为，浮力融水提供近地表的热量，有助于保持冰穴接近冰架。融水反馈到冰穴和海气热通量表明，虽然决定融水分布的过程是小尺度的，它们是重要的，代表在地球系统模型。
Determining the injection of glacial meltwater into polar oceans is crucial for quantifying the climate system response to ice sheet mass loss. However, meltwater is poorly observed and its pathways poorly known, especially in winter. Here we present winter meltwater distribution near Pine Island Glacier using data collected by tagged seals, revealing a highly variable meltwater distribution with two meltwater-rich layers in the upper 250 m and at around 450 m, connected by scattered meltwater-rich columns. We show that the hydrographic signature of meltwater is clearest in winter, when its presence can be unambiguously mapped. We argue that the buoyant meltwater provides near-surface heat that helps to maintain polynyas close to ice shelves. The meltwater feedback onto polynyas and air-sea heat fluxes demonstrates that although the processes determining the distribution of meltwater are small-scale, they are important to represent in Earth system models.