Collaborative Research: Initiation of the Antarctic Slope Front in West Antarctica

南极陆坡前缘（英语：Antarctic slope front，ASF）是南极洲大陆架和斜坡的一个持续特征。 它是南大洋的一个明显连贯但采样不足的组成部分？的全球流通。AFS是南极表层水从下面更新的主要来源区域，也是底层水流入全球深海的主要来源区域。人们对了解AFS海洋热量、气体、盐（淡水）、营养物、微粒和碳通过与高纬度海洋、极地大气、海冰和陆冰的成分交换而发生的交换和转化非常感兴趣。南极洲西部半岛不存在ASF和相关海流，而在阿蒙森海观察到了一个完善的ASF。在这两者之间，别林斯高晋海拥有冰架，这些冰架经历了南极洲最近最戏剧性的变薄速度，但仍然是全球海洋中研究最少的地区之一。该项目将利用海洋滑翔机和船载CTD和ADCP测量，对沿着大陆架断裂处和别林斯高晋海主要海槽的锋面环流进行全面调查。 就更广泛的影响而言，这项研究将减少耦合气候模型的不确定性，这些模型可用于预测未来海平面上升，这是由于连接阿蒙森海和别林斯高晋海的南极西部冰架迅速变薄造成的。该项目还将支持一名研究生和博士后研究员的教育。

The Antarctic slope front (ASF) is a persistent feature of the continental shelf and slope around much of Antarctica. It is a notably coherent yet under-sampled component of the Southern Ocean?s global circulation. The AFS is a primary source region for the renewal of Antarctic surface water from below and also bottom water flow into the global deep ocean. There is considerable interest in understanding the exchanges and transformations of AFS ocean heat, gasses, salt (freshwater), nutrients, particulates and carbon through exchanges with components of the high latitude ocean, polar atmosphere, sea-ice and land ice. The ASF and associated currents are absent on the West Antarctic Peninsula, whereas a well-established ASF has been observed in the Amundsen Sea. In between, the Bellingshausen Sea hosts ice shelves that have experienced some of the most dramatic recent thinning rates in Antarctica, yet remains one of the most under-studied regions of the global ocean. The project will make a comprehensive survey of the frontal circulation along the continental shelf break and the major troughs of the Bellingshausen Sea using both ocean gliders and ship-based CTD and ADCP measurements. In terms of broader impacts, this research will reduce the uncertainty in coupled climate models that may be used to project future sea-level rise resulting from rapid thinning of the West Antarctic ice shelves that connect to the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas. The project will also support the education of a graduate student and post-doctoral researcher.