Formation of Antarctic bottom water in the Weddell Sea
Abstract
During the austral summers of 1968 and 1969, the USCGC Glacier penetrated the pack ice of the Weddell Sea to over 75°S in support of the International Weddell Sea Oceanographic Expedition (IWSOE). A total of 83 hydrographic stations were conducted during the two expeditions for analysis of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and nutrients. The data revealed a cold (-1.9°C) saline (>34.60‰) layer of water on the continental shelf below a depth of 200 meters in the southwestern Weddell Sea. We hypothesize that this water mass is formed by alteration of coastal current water as it flows along and beneath the vast ice shelves in the southern Weddell Sea. The altered coastal current water then mixes with warm deep water (>0.2°C, >34.67‰) along the continental slope in approximately 1∶2 to form antarctic bottom water (-0.4°C, 34.66‰). The mixing ratio is confirmed by using core values of preformed phosphate and preformed nitrate concentrations as conservative properties. Antarctic bottom water then flows out of the Weddell Sea between 50° and 15°W longitudes and 60° and 65°S latitudes. Bottom water (-0.26°C, 34.66‰) flows into the Weddell Sea from the east near the Coats Land coast and is entrained into the antarctic bottom water flowing out.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Geophysical Research
- Pub Date:
- March 1971
- DOI:
- 10.1029/JC076i009p02164
- Bibcode:
- 1971JGR....76.2164S
- Keywords:
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- Antarctic Ocean: Oceanography;
- Oceanography: Water Masses;
- Oceanography: Distributions and water masses;
- Information Related to Geographic Regions: Atlantic Ocean