Collaborative Research: AnSlope Analysis

这项合作研究将分析在为期三年的南极坡锋项目(“ANSLOPE”)期间获得的南极海洋学数据集，该项目的目标是查明和量化支配密集的南极陆架水向邻近深海中层和深层转移的主要物理过程，以及开放海域穿过陆架断裂的补偿性极地流动。研究活动将围绕：(I)对罗斯海西北部斜坡前锋区域的全面描述，包括斜坡锋面的结构和密集陆架水的能量外流；(Ii)详细研究跨锋交换的动态及其与环境强迫(海洋、海冰、大气)的关系。这项工作将评估源自不同陆架槽的下行密集外流的空间和时间尺度；夹带、热压性和海底应力对外流稀释、下降和扩散的作用；以及驱动陆架入侵和跨等深线运动的主要机制。最终，在数据解释的指导下进行模拟研究将有助于全球海洋模式中交叉坡度交换的参数化的发展。尽管起源于南极的冷水团对全球海洋环流和气候的重要性是毋庸置疑的，但这些水团进入深海环流的过程却不是这样。南极洲周围的上大陆坡已被确定为大陆架和深海水域交换的主要门户。在这里，与几乎无处不在的锋面有关的地形、速度和密度场肯定会强烈影响大陆架和海洋制度之间的平流和湍流水性质的转移。这一门户的力量和多变性对于维持世界海洋的结构至关重要。

This collaborative study will analyze the antarctic oceanographic dataset obtained during the three-year Antarctic Slope Front Project ("AnSlope"), whose objective was to identify and quantify the principal physical processes governing the transfer of dense antarctic shelf waters into intermediate and deep layers of the adjacent deep ocean, and the compensatory poleward flow of open ocean waters across the shelf break. Research activities will be organized around: (i) a full description of the northwestern Ross Sea slope front region including the structure of the slope front and the energetic outflows of dense shelf water; and (ii) detailed study of the dynamics of cross-frontal exchange and their relationship to environmental forcing (ocean, sea ice, atmosphere). The work will evaluate the spatial and temporal scales of the descending dense outflows that originate in different shelf troughs; the roles of entrainment, thermobaricity, and benthic stress on the dilution, descent and spreading of the outflows; and the primary mechanisms driving on-shelf intrusions and cross-isobath motions. Ultimately, modeling studies guided by the data interpretation will facilitate the development of parameterizations of cross-slope exchanges in global ocean models.While the importance of cold water masses originating in the Antarctic to the global ocean circulation and climate is unquestioned, the processes by which these water masses enter the deep ocean circulation are not. The upper continental slope around Antarctica has been identified as the primary gateway for the exchange of shelf and deep ocean waters. Here the topography, velocity and density fields associated with the nearly ubiquitous front must strongly influence the advective and turbulent transfer of water properties between the shelf and oceanic regimes. The strength and variability of this gateway is critical in maintaining the structure of the world ocean.