Modelling tides in the southern Weddell Sea: updated model with new bathymetry from ROPEX
نویسنده
چکیده
A significant fraction of the total oceanic kinetic energy in the southern and western Weddell Sea is supplied by tidal currents [Robertson et al., 1998: denoted “RPE-98”]. The region of strong tides includes the ocean cavity under the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelves (FRIS), and the adjacent broad southern continental shelf and upper slope. The spatial distribution of tidal energy was estimated using a finite-difference barotropic ocean model as a prelude to investigating the effect of tides on other processes of general climate and glaciological interest. Tides have been shown to play a significant role in the formation of dense, High-Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW), Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW), and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). HSSW formation is enhanced by the working of the winter sea-ice pack by tidal shear and strain, and by the increase in mean open water percentage due to periodic tide-forced ice divergence (see, e.g., Foldvik and Gammelsrød [1988]). WSBW and AABW are formed by the mixing of dense shelf water types with Warm (or “Weddell”) Deep Water Modified Warm Deep Water (WDW and MWDW) at the shelf/slope front: mixing rates increase near locations where baroclinic tides and other internal gravity waves are generated, very often near the shelf break.
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