Séminaire
The Antarctic boundary of the Southern Ocean is one of the few remaining oceanographic frontiers. This region is dynamically unique, but is poorly constrained by observations — however, it seems likely to play a pivotal role in determining future climate change and sea level rise. In this talk, I will outline the dynamics that governs flow along the continental slope around Antarctica and controls poleward heat transport onto the continental shelf (implicated in basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves). A series of numerical simulations of the global ocean will be presented to investigate two key mechanisms that contribute the flow of heat onto the Antarctic continental shelf. The first of these mechanisms is the variation of onshore flow induced by regional variations in the strength of winds close to Antarctica. The second mechanism is the role of buoyancy forcing in forcing flow off (and thereby onto) the continental shelf. The ultimate goal of this work is to understand what controls temperature on the Antarctic continental shelf, and hence to better predict the future of the Antarctic ice sheet.
jbslod@locean-ipsl.upmc.fr