Oceanography of the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas

该项目将是对阿蒙森和贝林斯-豪森海大陆架的首次系统海洋学研究，将包括温度和盐度剖面、海洋化学水样和连续精密水深测量。上升的温暖深水覆盖了阿蒙森和贝林斯-豪森冰架，并向海冰和边缘冰架提供了大量的热量。区域降水量大，历史上常年保持冰盖。然而，在过去的几年里，卫星图像显示，冰层正在急剧消退，在早先被冰覆盖的地区，大片开放水域持续了整个冬天。这些异常的冰层分布很可能伴随着地表水性质的变化，也可能伴随着深层垂直环流的变化。有迹象表明，有利于海冰减少的条件可能会向西向罗斯海迁移，并可能影响到南极半岛西侧近几十年来逐渐变暖的趋势。该项目将在两次巡航中使用纳撒尼尔·B·帕尔默号，一次是在1993-1994年夏末，另一次是在9月和10月，以观察冬末情况。

This project will be the first systematic oceanographic study of the continental shelves of the Amundsen and Bellings-hausen Seas, and will include temperature and salinity profiling, water sampling for ocean chemistry, and continuous precision bathymetry. Upwelling warm deep water covers the Amundsen and Bellings-hausen shelves and delivers significant amounts of heat to the sea ice and fringing ice shelves. The regional precipitation is heavy, and has historically maintained a perennial ice cover. However, within the last few years satellite images have shown that the ice has been receding dramatically, with large areas of open water persisting through the winter in sectors that earlier had been ice-covered. These anomalous ice distributions are likely to have been accompanied by altered surface water properties, and possibly changes in the deep vertical circulation. There are indications that the conditions favoring a reduction in the sea ice may migrate westward toward the Ross Sea, and may have influenced a gradual warming over recent decades on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. The project will make use of the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer in two cruises; one in the late austral summer 1993-1994, and a subse- quent cruise in September and October to observe late winter conditions.