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Local climatology of fast ice in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2018

Stacy Kim ,
Ben Saenz ,
Jeff Scanniello ,
Kendra Daly  and
David Ainley
Stacy Kim*
Affiliation:
Moss Landing Marine Labs, 8272 Moss Landing Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
Ben Saenz
Affiliation:
Resource Management Associates, 756 Picasso Ave G, Davis, CA 95618, USA
Jeff Scanniello
Affiliation:
United States Antarctic Program, 7400 S. Tucson Way, Centennial, CO 90112, USA
Kendra Daly
Affiliation:
University of South Florida - Saint Petersburg, 140 7th Ave S, MSL 220C, St Petersburg, FL 33701, USA
David Ainley
Affiliation:
HT Harvey and Associates, 983 University Ave, Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Fast ice plays important physical and ecological roles: as a barrier to wind, waves and radiation, as both barrier and safe resting place for air-breathing animals, and as substrate for microbial communities. While sea ice has been monitored for decades using satellite imagery, high-resolution imagery sufficient to distinguish fast ice from mobile pack ice extends only back to c. 2000. Fast ice trends may differ from previously identified changes in regional sea ice distributions. To investigate effects of climate and human activities on fast ice dynamics in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, the sea and fast ice seasonal events (1978–2015), ice thicknesses and temperatures (1986–2014), wind velocities (1973–2015) and dates that an icebreaker annually opens a channel to McMurdo Station (1956–2015) are reported. A significant relationship exists between sea ice concentration and fast ice extent in the Sound. While fast/sea ice retreat dates have not changed, fast/sea ice reaches a minimum later and begins to advance earlier, in partial agreement with changes in Ross Sea regional pack ice dynamics. Fast ice minimum extent within McMurdo Sound is significantly correlated with icebreaker arrival date as well as wind velocity. The potential impacts of changes in fast ice climatology on the local marine ecosystem are discussed.

Keywords

coastal food websice–ocean interactionslong-term trendsRoss Seasea iceSouthern Ocean
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , April 2018 , pp. 125 - 142
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2018 

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