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Circulation and water masses in the greater Prydz Bay region were surveyed in the austral summer 2021 (January-March) during the ‘Trends in Euphausiids off Mawson, Predators and Oceanography’ (TEMPO) experiment, and are described in this paper. The Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front is found in the northern part of the survey area, generally near 63-64°S, whereas the Southern Boundary Front is located between 64 and 65.5°S. The westward flowing Antarctic Slope Front (ASF) is found in the southern part of the survey area near the continental slope on most transects. Highest concentrations of oxygen (> 300 µmol kg−1) are found in shelf waters at stations in Prydz Bay, south of 67°S along 75°E, whereas the lowest oxygen values are found in the Circumpolar Deep Water layer, with an average of roughly 215 µmol kg−1. North of the northern extension of the ASF, surface mixed layers are between 20 and 60 m deep. Mixed layers tend to deepen slightly in the northern part of the survey, generally increasing north of 64°S where the ocean has been ice-free the longest. We find evidence of upwelling of waters into the surface layers, based on temperature anomaly, particularly strong along 80°E. Enhanced variability of biogeochemical properties - nutrients, DIC, DO - in the AASW layer is driven by a combination of sea-ice and biological processes. Antarctic Bottom Water, defined as water with neutral density > 28.3 kg m-3, was sampled at all the offshore full-depth stations, with a colder/fresher variety along western transects and a warmer/saltier variety in the east. Newly formed Antarctic Bottom Water – the coldest, freshest, and most recently ventilated – is mostly found in the deep ocean along 65°E, in the base of the Daly Canyon.

The Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf (FRIS) is characterized by moderate basal melt rates due to the near-freezing waters that dominate the wide southern Weddell Sea continental shelf. We revisited the region in austral summer 2018 with detailed hydrographic and noble gas surveys along FRIS. The FRIS front was characterized by High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) in Ronne Depression, Ice Shelf Water (ISW) on its eastern flank, and an inflow of modified Warm Deep Water (mWDW) entering through Central Trough. Filchner Trough was dominated by Ronne HSSW-sourced ISW, likely forced by a recently intensified circulation beneath FRIS due to enhanced sea ice production in the Ronne polynya since 2015. Glacial meltwater fractions and tracer-based water mass dating indicate two separate ISW outflow cores, one hugging the Berkner slope after a two-year travel time, and the other located in the central Filchner Trough following a ∼six year-long transit through the FRIS cavity. Historical measurements indicate the presence of two distinct modes, in which water masses in Filchner Trough were dominated by either Ronne HSSW-derived ISW (Ronne-mode) or more locally derived Berkner-HSSW (Berkner-mode). While the dominance of these modes has alternated on interannual time scales, ocean densities in Filchner Trough have remained remarkably stable since the first surveys in 1980. Indeed, geostrophic velocities indicated outflowing ISW-cores along the trough's western flank and onto Berkner Bank, which suggests that Ronne-ISW preconditions Berkner-HSSW production. The negligible density difference between Berkner- and Ronne-mode waters indicates that each contributes cold dense shelf waters to protect FRIS against inflowing mWDW.

The ocean's ability to take up and store CO2 is a key factor for understanding past and future climate variability. However, qualitative and quantitative understanding of surface-to-interior pathways, and how the ocean circulation affects the CO2 uptake, is limited. Consequently, how changes in ocean circulation may influence carbon uptake and storage and therefore the future climate remains ambiguous. Here we quantify the roles played by ocean circulation and various water masses in the meridional redistribution of carbon. We do so by calculating streamfunctions defined in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and latitude coordinates, using output from a coupled biogeochemical-physical model. By further separating DIC into components originating from the solubility pump and a residual including the biological pump, air-sea disequilibrium, and anthropogenic CO2, we are able to distinguish the dominant pathways of how carbon enters particular water masses. With this new tool, we show that the largest meridional carbon transport occurs in a pole-to-equator transport in the subtropical gyres in the upper ocean. We are able to show that this pole-to-equator DIC transport and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC)-related DIC transport are mainly driven by the solubility pump. By contrast, the DIC transport associated with deep circulation, including that in Antarctic bottom water and Pacific deep water, is mostly driven by the biological pump. As these two pumps, as well as ocean circulation, are widely expected to be impacted by anthropogenic changes, these findings have implications for the future role of the ocean as a climate-buffering carbon reservoir.

The buttressing potential of ice shelves is modulated by changes in subshelf melting, in response to changing ocean conditions. We analyze the temporal variability in subshelf melting using an autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounder near the grounding line of the Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf in East Antarctica. When combined with additional oceanographic evidence of seasonal variations in the stratification and the amplification of diurnal tides around the shelf break topography (Gunnerus Bank), the results suggest an intricate mechanism in which topographic waves control the seasonal melt rate variability near the grounding line. This mechanism has not been considered before and has the potential to enhance local melt rates without advecting different water masses. As topographic waves seem to strengthen in a stratified ocean, the freshening of Antarctic surface water, predicted by observations and models, is likely to increase future basal melting in this area.

The Weddell Gyre (WG) is one of the main oceanographic features of the Southern Ocean south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current which plays an influential role in global ocean circulation as well as gas exchange with the atmosphere. We review the state-of-the art knowledge concerning the WG from an interdisciplinary perspective, uncovering critical aspects needed to understand this system's role in shaping the future evolution of oceanic heat and carbon uptake over the next decades. The main limitations in our knowledge are related to the conditions in this extreme and remote environment, where the polar night, very low air temperatures, and presence of sea ice year-round hamper field and remotely sensed measurements. We highlight the importance of winter and under-ice conditions in the southern WG, the role that new technology will play to overcome present-day sampling limitations, the importance of the WG connectivity to the low-latitude oceans and atmosphere, and the expected intensification of the WG circulation as the westerly winds intensify. Greater international cooperation is needed to define key sampling locations that can be visited by any research vessel in the region. Existing transects sampled since the 1980s along the Prime Meridian and along an East-West section at ~62°S should be maintained with regularity to provide answers to the relevant questions. This approach will provide long-term data to determine trends and will improve representation of processes for regional, Antarctic-wide, and global modeling efforts—thereby enhancing predictions of the WG in global ocean circulation and climate.

A climatically induced acceleration in ocean-driven melting of Antarctic ice shelves would have consequences for both the discharge of continental ice into the ocean and thus global sea level, and for the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water and the oceanic meridional overturning circulation. Using a novel gas-tight in situ water sampler, noble gas samples have been collected from six locations beneath the Filchner Ice Shelf, the first such samples from beneath an Antarctic ice shelf. Helium and neon are uniquely suited as tracers of glacial meltwater in the ocean. Basal meltwater fractions range from 3.6% near the ice shelf base to 0.5% near the sea floor, with distinct regional differences. We estimate an average basal melt rate for the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf of 177 ± 95 Gt/year, independently confirming previous results. We calculate that up to 2.7% of the meltwater has been refrozen, and we identify a local source of crustal helium.

We present a global ocean climatology of dissolved inorganic carbon δ13C (‰) corrected for the 13C-Suess effect, preindustrial δ13C. This was constructed by first using Olsen and Ninnemann's (2010) back-calculation method on data from 25 World Ocean Circulation Experiment cruises to reconstruct the preindustrial δ13C on sections spanning all major oceans. Next, we developed five multilinear regression equations, one for each major ocean basin, which were applied on the World Ocean Atlas data to construct the climatology. This reveals the natural δ13C distribution in the global ocean. Compared to the modern distribution, the preindustrial δ13C spans a larger range of values. The maxima, of up to 1.8‰, occurs in the subtropical gyres of all basins, in the upper and intermediate waters of the North Atlantic, as well as in mode waters with a Southern Ocean origin. Particularly strong gradients occur at intermediate depths, revealing a strong potential for using δ13C as a tracer for changes in water mass geometry at these levels. Further, we identify a much tighter relationship between δ13C and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) than between δ13C and phosphate. This arises because, in contrast to phosphate, AOU and δ13C are both partly reset when waters are ventilated in the Southern Ocean and underscore that δ13C is a highly robust proxy for past changes in ocean oxygen content and ocean ventilation. Our global preindustrial δ13C climatology is openly accessible and can be used, for example, for improved model evaluation and interpretation of sediment δ13C records.

Ice shelves around Antarctica are vulnerable to an increase in ocean-driven melting, with the melt rate depending on ocean temperature and the strength of flow inside the ice-shelf cavities. We present measurements of velocity, temperature, salinity, turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate, and thermal variance dissipation rate beneath Pine Island Glacier ice shelf, West Antarctica. These measurements were obtained by CTD, ADCP, and turbulence sensors mounted on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV). The highest turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate is found near the grounding line. The thermal variance dissipation rate increases closer to the ice-shelf base, with a maximum value found ∼0.5 m away from the ice. The measurements of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate near the ice are used to estimate basal melting of the ice shelf. The dissipation-rate-based melt rate estimates is sensitive to the stability correction parameter in the linear approximation of universal function of the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory for stratified boundary layers. We argue that our estimates of basal melting from dissipation rates are within a range of previous estimates of basal melting.

Measurements of total alkalinity (AT) and pH were made in the Ross Sea in January–February 2008 in order to characterize the carbonate system in the Ross Sea and to evaluate the variability associated with different water masses. The main water masses of the Ross Sea, Antarctic Surface Water, High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW), Deep Ice Shelf Water, Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) and Antarctic Bottom Water, were identified on the basis of the physical and chemical data. In particular, the AT ranged between 2275 and 2374 µmol kg−1 with the lowest values in the surface waters (2275–2346 µmol kg−1), where the influence of the sea-ice melting and of the variability of the physical properties was significant. In the deep layers of the water column, the AT maxima were measured in correspondence to the preferential pathways of the spreading HSSW. The pH had variable values in the surface layer (7.890–8.033) with the highest values in Terra Nova Bay and Ross Sea polynyas. A low pH (7.969±0.025) traced the intrusion of the CDW in the Ross Sea shelf area. All samples revealed waters that were oversaturated with respect to both calcite and aragonite, but near corrosive levels of aragonite saturation state (Ω ca. 1.1–1.2) were associated with the entrainment of CDW over the slope. Aragonite undersaturation is of particular concern for the zooplankton species comprising to calcifying organisms such as pteropods. The partial pressure of CO2 at the sea surface was undersaturated with respect to the atmospheric value, particularly in Terra Nova Bay and the Ross Sea polynyas, but a large variability in the sea–air CO2 fluxes was observed associated with different responses in the strength of the biological and physical processes. Keywords: Total alkalinity; pH; saturation state; Terra Nova Bay polynya; Ross Sea.

Abstract Solar heated, fresh Antarctic Surface Water (ASW) is a permanent feature along the Eastern Weddell Sea (EWS) coast in summer down to a depth of roughly 200 m. Recently, ASW has been observed beneath the Fimbul Ice Shelf, suggesting that it might play an important role in basal melting. We propose that wind-driven coastal downwelling is the main mechanism that spreads ASW beneath the ice shelf in this sector of Antarctica. We validate this hypothesis with observations, scaling analyses, and numerical modeling, along three principle lines: (i) data analyses of about 1500 salinity profiles collected by instrumented seals indicate that the observed freshening of the coastal water column is likely explained by the on-shore Ekman transport and subsequent downwelling of ASW; (ii) an analytical model of the coastal momentum balance indicates that wind-driven downwelling is capable of depressing the buoyant surface water to a depth similar to the ice shelf draft; and (iii) simulations from both idealized and regional eddy-resolving numerical ice shelf/ocean models support our proposition. Our main conclusion is that wind-driven spreading of ASW beneath the ice shelf occurs when downwelling exceeds the depth of the ice shelf base. Furthermore, our study adds to the understanding of the oceanic processes at the Antarctic Slope Front in the EWS, with possible implications for other sectors of Antarctica.

We describe the upper ocean thermal structure and surface nutrient concentrations between New Zealand and Antarctica along five transects that cross the Subantarctic Front, the Polar Front and the southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current front. The surface water thermal structure is coupled with variations in surface nutrient concentrations, making water masses identifiable by both temperature and nutrient ranges. In particular, a strong latitudinal gradient in orthosilicate concentration is centred at the Polar Front. On the earlier sections, which extend south-west from the Campbell Plateau, orthosilicate increases sharply southward from 10-15 to 50-55µmol l-1, between 58°S and 60°S, while surface temperature drops from 7°C to 2°C. Nitrate increases more regularly toward the south, with concentrations ranging from 10-12µmol l-1 at 54°S to 25-30µmol l-1 at 66°S. The same features are observed during the later transects between New Zealand and the Ross Sea, but the sharp silica and surface temperature gradients are shifted between 60°S and 64°S. Both temporal and spatial factors may influence the observed variability. The January transect suggests an uptake of silica, orthophosphate and nitrate between 63°S and 70°S over the intervening month, with an average depletion near 37%, 44% and 29%, respectively. An N/P apparent drawdown ratio of 8.8±4.1 and an Si/N apparent drawdown ratio >1 suggests this depletion results from a seasonal diatom bloom. A southward movement of the oceanic fronts between New Zealand and the Ross Sea relative to prior measurements is consistent with reports of recent warming and changes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Keywords: Southern Ocean, nutrients, silica belt, Antarctic Circumpolar Current, expendable bathythermograph.

Lagrangian subsurface isopycnal eddy diffusivities are calculated from numerical floats released in several regions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) of the 0.1° Parallel Ocean Program. Lagrangian diffusivities are horizontally highly variable with no consistent latitudinal dependence. Elevated values are found in some areas in the core of the ACC, near topographic features, and close to the Brazil-Malvinas Confluence Zone and Agulhas Retroflection. Cross-stream eddy diffusivities are depth invariant in the model ACC. An increase of Lagrangian eddy length scales with depth is masked by the strong decrease with depth of eddy velocities. The cross-stream diffusivities average 750 ± 250 m2 s−1 around the Polar Frontal Zone. The results imply that parameterizations that (only) use eddy kinetic energy to parameterize the diffusivities are incomplete. We suggest that dominant correlations of Lagrangian eddy diffusivities with eddy kinetic energy found in previous studies may have been due to the use of too short time lags in the integration of the velocity autocovariance used to infer the diffusivities. We find evidence that strong mean flow inhibits cross-stream mixing within the ACC, but there are also areas where cross-stream diffusivities are large in spite of strong mean flows, for example, in regions close to topographic obstacles such as the Kerguelen Plateau.

We investigated deep water changes in the Southern Ocean during the last glacial inception, in relationship to surface hydrology and global climatology, to better understand the mechanisms of the establishment of a glacial ocean circulation. Changes in benthic foraminiferal δ13C from three high-resolution cores are compared and indicate decoupled intermediate and deep water changes in the Southern Ocean. From the comparison with records from the North Atlantic, South Atlantic, and the Southern Ocean, we show that the early southern deep water δ13C drop observed at the MIS 5.5–5.4 transition occurred before any significant reduction of North Atlantic Deep Water ventilation. We propose that this drop is linked to the northward expansion of poorly ventilated Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) mass in the Southern Ocean. Associated with an early cooling in the high southern latitudes, the westerly winds and surface oceanic fronts would migrate equatorward, thus weakening the upwelling of Circumpolar Deep Waters. Reduced heat brought to Antarctic surface waters would enhance sea ice formation during winters and the deep convection of cold and poorly ventilated AABW.

Interactions between the Southern Ocean and the Weddell Sea ice shelves are important both to the Antarctic Ice Sheet and to the production of globally significant water masses. Here we review the interaction between the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf and the shelf sea in which it floats. The continental shelf processes leading to the production of Weddell Sea deep and bottom waters from the original off-shelf source waters are discussed, and a new view is offered of the initial production of High-Salinity Shelf Water. Data from ship-based measurements at the ice front, from glaciological methods, and from measurements made within the sub–ice shelf cavity itself are used to describe the pattern of flows beneath the ice shelf. We also consider the variability observed within the cavity from tidal to interannual time scales and finish with a discussion of future research priorities in the region.

We present oceanographic data from beneath the northern Ronne Ice Shelf. The data were collected during the austral summer of 2002–2003 from four sites located near the ice front in the Ronne Depression. They consist of conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles and time series from moored instruments that vary in length from 9 to 20 weeks. A strong, tidally modulated inflow of relatively fresh water was found at the eastern margin of the Ronne Depression. This low-density inflow powers high basal melt rates that are responsible for a substantially thinned area of ice shelf. A northward flow of Ice Shelf Water along the western margin of the depression (the Antarctic Peninsula coast) was inferred from the CTD data. From the new CTD and current meter data, and from published results from cruises along the ice front, we suggest that the flows at the margins of the Ronne Depression establish east-west density gradients that drive an anticyclonic circulation within the depression. The barotropic component of the circulation forms a gyre of strength 5 × 105 m3 s−1 and occupies a bowl in the field of water column thickness in the northern portion of the depression. All water masses sampled had temperatures below the surface freezing point and are therefore classified as Ice Shelf Water. The relatively complex nature of the oceanographic regime in the Ronne Depression is overlain by a seasonal variability that is hinted at by the available time series, probably explaining the apparent absence of inflowing HSSW at the time of the measurements.

We have investigated the intermediate water mass of the central Weddell Gyre using TCO2 and oxygen data of FS Polarstern cruises in 1992, 1996 and 1998. This water mass, designated as Central Intermediate Water (CIW), is enriched in CO2 and depleted in O-2 relative to its source water due to biological degradation. CO2 enrichment and O-2 depletion were quantified by calculating the difference between the concentrations in the CIW and those in the, more southern source water, the Circumpolar Deep Water, which derives from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Inventories of enrichment and depletion were determined over the whole depth range of CIW, i.e. about 200800 m. The O-2 depletion inventory was greater than that of TCO2 enrichment which is in line with a biological origin of the signal. Spatial and interannual variation appeared to be small. Because subsurface remineralization in the central Weddell Gyre is largely restricted to the CIW, the export production estimate from previous work has been applied to compute the renewal time of CIW from these inventories. A renewal time of only three years was found. TCO2- and O-2-based computations were consistent, the former showing larger variation, though. From renewal time and volume of the CIW, a transport velocity (renewal rate) of 6-7 Sv was obtained. Of this, about I Sv is upwelled into the surface layer. The remaining 5-6 Sv CIW must be exported to the north, which is opposite to previous views. Results of water mass age and transport rate have thus been obtained using a method based on biogeochemical parameters. As the CIW cannot be identified by temperature and salinity, nor with transient tracers because it is hardly ventilated, this is the only way to obtain such results. As part of the CIW export, a large amount of remineralized CO2 enters the abyssal oceans where it is sequestered for long periods of time. The CIW is a principal and highly efficient player in the biological pump mechanism of the Southern Ocean.

The stabilities of two different circulation regimes in the North Atlantic, 1) the present thermohaline circulation and 2) a weaker thermohaline circulation, are compared using the Hamburg Large Scale Geostrophic (LSG) ocean circulation model. The latter circulation regime is obtained by restoring the LSG model toward an on average 48C warmer air surface temperature corresponding to a doubled atmospheric content of CO 2 . The stabilities of these stationary states are investigated by imposing various amounts of stochastic noise on the surface freshwater flux. The simulations show more variability on secular timescales for the present than for the warm climate. Since the modeled static stabilities for the two climates are relatively similar, the different rates of variability are probably connected to other mechanisms. In the present climate at high latitudes the two buoyancy fluxes due to heat and freshwater are of similar magnitudes but with opposite signs; thus switches between convective and nonconvective periods at secular timescales are possible. In the warm climate the buoyancy flux due to heat dominates. This compensates the effect of the noisy freshwater forcing and thus reduces the potential for secular oscillations. The stronger coupling between the Atlantic and the Southern Ocean for the present relative to the warm climate could also contribute to this difference. Furthermore, the simulations show that the variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current transport for the present climate exceeds that of the warm climate. For increasing stochastic noise the present circulation approaches that of the warm circulation. The authors apply a mixture of heat flux and temperature restoring for the surface boundary condition. Comparison with similar works, which apply a pure restoring for surface temperature, shows that the ocean circulation is much less sensitive to forced stochastic freshwater anomalies with the type of boundary condition used herein. A box model is used to illustrate the effects of the surface temperature parameterizations and the different buoyancy forcing for the present and warm climate.

The ocean response to surface temperature transients is simulated with the use of the Hamburg large-scale geostrophic (LSG) ocean general circulation model (OGCM). The transition, from the present to a climate corresponding to a doubling of the atmospheric CO2 content, is compared with the reversed transition. For the Atlantic, the time scale for the deep ocean to adjust to the temperature changes was similar for both transitions. In the Pacific, the time scale is shorter for the present to warm transition than for the reverse case, a result of increased production of Antarctic bottom water (AABW) during the warm climate. While the transition from cold to warm climate shows no secular variability, the reversed transition generates considerable variability on time scales of 300–400 years. For the warm climate, oscillations with periods of 45 years are found in the Southern Ocean. Results of principal oscillation pattern (POP) analysis indicate that these oscillations are due to interaction between convection in the Southern Ocean and advected salinity anomalies in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and the Southern Pacific Ocean.

Oxygen 18 and helium isotope data from stations located in the Filchner Depression, on the continental slope of the southern Weddell Sea, and in the central Weddell Sea are presented and discussed. The 18O and 4He signals imprinted on the water circulating under the Filchner/Ronne Ice Shelf (Ice Shelf Water, or ISW) due to melting of glacial ice at the base of the ice shelf are traced across the sill separating the Filchner Depression from the Weddell Sea. Low δ18O values are correlated with high 4He concentrations in the ISW found in the Filchner Depression (minimum δ18O values: −0.8‰; maximum 4He concentrations: about 4.7×10−8 cm3 STP g−1). The fraction of glacial meltwater contained in the ISW found in the Filchner Depression is estimated to about 6 to 7‰. The 18O and helium isotope data from the overflowing shelf water component observed on the continental slope confirm the hypothesis that ISW contributes significantly to the Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW). On the basis of a inultiparameter water mass analysis it is discussed which fraction of the WSBW originates from ISW and which other shelf waters potentially could contribute to WSBW.