A framework for estimating anchor ice extent at potential fo
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TitleA framework for estimating anchor ice extent at potential formation sites in McMurdo Sound, AntarcticaAbstractA distinctive feature of polar regions is the formation of ice clusters attached to the seabed, known as 'Anchor ice'. Anchor ice plays an important role in mobilizing bed sediments, and serves ecological roles providing habitats, or as an agent of disturbance creating potentially fatal environments to benthic fauna. The sublittoral zone associated with the landward margin represents the most likely environment for anchor ice formation, where conditions conducive to the advection of supercooled water from sub-ice-shelf cavities are favourable. We develop a framework to estimate the areal extent of anchor ice formation assuming a northerly flow of 75 m deep supercooled water plumes from the Ross and McMurdo Ice Shelf cavities, Antarctica. In McMurdo Sound our results indicate that regions beneath the McMurdo Ice Shelf, extending along Brown Peninsula and White and Black Islands, are likely conducive to anchor ice formation. Anchor ice may also form along the Hut Point Peninsula and around Ross Island, and in pockets along the southern Victoria Land coast. The limitations of our approach include an imposed northerly flow of Ice Shelf Water, poorly constrained sub-ice-shelf bathymetry, and temporal variability in supercooled water depth production, particularly in the eastern Sound.AcknowledgementsWe thank the Polar Environments Research Theme at the University of Otago for providing seed funding to I.J.S. and S.M.M., as well as a bursary to A.G.P., to undertake some of the preliminary work. The CTD data used in this study were collected as part of projects funded by the Marsden Fund of New Zealand, the Foundation for Research Science and Technology, the University of Otago, and Industrial Research Ltd. We also thank Craig Purdie, Johno Leitch and the Scott Base 2003 winter-over crew for data collection, and Antarctica New Zealand and the US Antarctic Program for logistical assistance. We also thank the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand, for providing access to the 2009 CTD data, and GNS Science for providing access to a pre-release copy of its forthcoming Ross Sea bathymetry product. Finally, we thank Peter Holland, two anonymous reviewers, the chief editor and scientific editor for insightful comments and suggestions.
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1st AuthorMager, S.AuthorMager, S.Leonard, G.Pauling, A.Smith, I.Year2015JournalAnnals of GlaciologyVolume56Number69Pages394-404DOI10.3189/2015AoG69A711URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/recor.....1fd9d23c5deb2d7566c87a3eeKeywordsbathymetryice coreice sheetice shelfice-ocean interactionintertidal environmentsea icetemporal variationwater depth, AntarcticaEast AntarcticaMcMurdo Ice ShelfMcMurdo SoundRoss Ice ShelfVictoria LandWest Antarctica, rank5Author KeywordsAnchor iceIce/ocean interactionsSea iceSea-ice/ice-shelf interactions
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TypeArticleCitationMager, S., Leonard, G., Pauling, A. and Smith, I. (2015). A framework for estimating anchor ice extent at potential formation sites in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. Annals of Glaciology, 56(69): 394-404 doi:10.3189/2015AoG69A711 IdentifierMager2015Relevancerank5
Smith, I., A framework for estimating anchor ice extent at potential fo , [Mager2015]. Antarctica NZ, accessed 01/08/2026, https://adam.antarcticanz.govt.nz/nodes/view/63636, 10.3189/2015AoG69A711