Submesoscale Instabilities Beneath Ice Shelves

The instability and accelerated melting of the Antarctic ice-sheets is a forefront player in global climate change. Ice shelf melt rates are crucial for determining sea-level rise, volume mass loss and consequently Earth's albedo, the global deep-ocean ventilation and circulation, and the Southern ocean carbon cycle. Ocean-driven basal melting accounts for over 50\% of the mass loss from Antarctic ice shelves, yet the ocean processes that govern such melting are not well understood. Specifically, while mesoscale processes at the ocean-ice shelf interface have been studied, little is known of the influence of submesoscale processes on the melt rate, vertical distribution of the exported meltwater, and the stratification of the ambient ocean. This research explores the importance of submesoscale processes beneath ice shelves, and their representation in global circulation models. 

Dynamics of Eddies Generated by Sea Ice Leads

To come