Ocean heat flux under Antarctic sea ice in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas: Two case studies

Abstract

We examine the role of ocean heat flux (OHF) in Antarctic sea-ice growth and melt using data from autonomous ice mass-balance buoys deployed on pack ice in the Bellingshausen Sea and on fast ice in the Amundsen Sea during the spring/summer (October-December 2007) and summer/autumn (February-March 2009) transitions, respectively. OHFs are derived using two methods that examine changes in (1) sub-ice ocean water properties (OHF 1) and (2) ice thickness (OHF 2), the latter only applying to thick snow-covered ice (i.e. a near-zero temperature gradient near the ice bottom). Good agreement is found between the time-averaged estimates of OHF 1 and OHF 2. Average OHF measured was 8 ± 2 W m -2 under the pack ice and 17 ± 2 W m -2 under the landfast ice. Some short-term OHF values (OHF 1) in both seas exceeded 55 Wm -2. The spring OHF variations in the Bellingshausen Sea were periodic and controlled by semi-diurnal ice velocity fluctuations. Larger temperature fluctuations in the summer Amundsen Sea, originating from incursions of warm deep water masses, contributed to the OHF being twice as high as in the Bellingshausen Sea and also accounted for the irregular OHF variability there.