Circulation and Melting Beneath the Ross Ice Shelf

Abstract

Thermohaline observations in the water column beneath the Ross Ice Shelf and along its terminal face show significant vertical stratification, active horizontal circulation, and net melting at the ice shelf base. Heat is supplied by seawater that moves southward beneath the ice shelf from a central warm core and from a western region of high salinity. The near-freezing Ice Shelf Water produced flows northward into the Ross Sea.