Collaborative Research: The Impact of Oceanic Forcing on the Melting of West Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers

南极半岛西部是南半球变暖最快的地区，观测显示该地区的冰川和冰盖在20世纪普遍退缩。南极半岛对于科学研究、物种和生态系统保护、旅游、航运以及美国在南极洲的国家利益来说，是一个越来越重要的国际地区。未来南极半岛西部冰的融化对这一生物活跃地区的区域淡水收支、海洋环流和生态系统具有重要意义。区域和全球海平面上升预估表明，南极西部半岛对全球海平面的贡献必须包括在年代际预估中，因为目前它对全球海平面的贡献与南极西部冰盖分量在量级上是相等的。这项研究将检验海洋目前所扮演的角色。它在未来可能扮演什么角色？在南极半岛西部冰川融化的过程中本提案旨在利用高分辨率模型和历史数据相结合，了解海洋结构和动力学对南极西部半岛冰川融化的影响。该项目的重点是(1)大陆架环流过程- -例如由风和浮力强迫以及与南极环极流的交换所驱动，并受复杂的底部地形所调节- -相对于由冰川融化本身所驱动的环流，对冰川融化的重要性；(2)沿海海洋性质和环流动力学的明显差异所产生的影响；特别强调了布兰斯菲尔德海峡和南部大陆架之间的差异，以及（iii）在确定近岸热强迫的垂直结构及其对冰川融化的影响方面，公海和大陆架之间的风和浮力调制交换的竞争以及大陆架上的运输和混合过程。

The Western Antarctic Peninsula is the fastest-warming region in the Southern Hemisphere and observations show widespread retreat of glaciers and ice sheets in this region over the 20th century. The Antarctic Peninsula is an area of growing importance internationally for scientific research, species and ecosystem conservation, tourism, shipping, and US national interests in Antarctica. The future melting of ice along the West Antarctic Peninsula is of importance to the regional freshwater budget, ocean circulation, and ecosystems in this biologically active region. Regional and global projections of sea level rise indicate the West Antarctic Peninsula must be included in decadal scale projections as the contribution to global sea level is at present equal in magnitude to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet component. This study will examine the role that the ocean is playing presently?and what role it might play in the future?in the melting of ice along the West Antarctic Peninsula.This proposal aims to understand the impact of the ocean structure and dynamics on the melting of West Antarctic Peninsula glaciers using a combination of high-resolution models and historic data. The project focuses on (i) the importance that shelf circulation processes - driven for example by wind and buoyancy forcing and by the exchange with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and modulated by the complex bottom topography - have on the melting of glaciers, relative to that circulation driven by the melting glacier itself, (ii) the impact of the distinct differences in ocean properties and circulation dynamics along the coast, with particular emphasis in differences between Bransfield Strait and the shelf to the south, and (iii) the competition of wind- and buoyancy-modulated exchange between the open ocean and the shelf and the transport and mixing processes on the shelf in determining the vertical structure of the nearshore thermal forcing, and its impact on glacier melting.