Oceanography of the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas

该项目将是第一个系统的海洋学研究， 阿蒙森海和贝灵斯-豪森海的大陆架， 并将包括温度和盐度剖面，水取样， 用于海洋化学和连续精确测深。 上升的温暖深水覆盖了阿蒙森河和贝林斯豪森河 将大量的热量输送给海冰， 边缘冰架 区域降水量大， 在历史上保持着常年的冰层覆盖。 然而，在过去的几年里，卫星图像显示， 冰层正在急剧消退， 在早些时候已经存在的地区， 被冰雪覆盖。 这些异常的冰分布很可能 伴随着地表水性质的改变， 深层垂直环流可能发生变化。 有 有迹象表明，有利于减少海冰的条件 可能会向西迁移到罗斯海， 近几十年来， 南极半岛。 该项目将利用R/V纳撒尼尔B。帕默倒计时二 1993年至1994年的夏末，一艘潜艇， 9月和10月定期巡航，观察冬末 条件

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.