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| Coastal Current (Antarctic) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Coastal Current (Antarctic) |
| Location | Antarctic coastline |
| Type | Ocean current |
Coastal Current (Antarctic) The Coastal Current (Antarctic) is a nearshore, along-shelf oceanic flow that circulates around the perimeter of the Antarctic Continental Shelf, influencing Antarctic Peninsula, Amundsen Sea, Ross Sea, Weddell Sea, Southern Ocean, and adjacent coastal regions. It interacts with shelf-break fronts, polynyas, ice shelves, and coastal ecosystems, and plays a role in water mass modification linked to Antarctic Bottom Water, Circumpolar Deep Water, Modified Circumpolar Deep Water, Antarctic Intermediate Water, and regional gyres. The current's behavior affects international research priorities at institutions such as the British Antarctic Survey, Australian Antarctic Division, United States Antarctic Program, National Science Foundation (United States), and collaborations like the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.
The Coastal Current (Antarctic) flows along continental margins adjacent to features including the Transantarctic Mountains, Victoria Land, Prydz Bay, and the Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf, coupling atmosphere–ocean–ice systems studied by programs such as SOCCOM, ARGO (oceanography), and Southern Ocean Observing System. Its pathways are shaped by bathymetry near features like the Kerguelen Plateau influence and are examined alongside processes in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and regional currents described in literature from the Scott Polar Research Institute and Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The Coastal Current (Antarctic) is typically narrow, shallow relative to shelf size, and displays alongshore velocity maxima influenced by bottom topography near the South Sandwich Islands and shelf breaks near the Shackleton Ice Shelf. It carries water with salinity and temperature properties intermediate between Sea Ice-modified surface waters and deeper Circumpolar Deep Water intrusions, affecting density-driven layering relevant to studies at Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Current speeds vary from weak alongshore drift to jets influenced by wind forcing, tides, and eddies measured in campaigns by NOAA and International Whaling Commission-historical surveys.
Drivers include alongshore wind stress from systems such as the Antarctic Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode, buoyancy forcing from brine rejection during sea ice formation in polynyas like the McMurdo Sound and Ross Ice Shelf polynya, and pressure gradients set by cross-shelf density contrasts linked to meltwater from ice shelves such as Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier. The Coriolis effect in high latitudes, modified by continental slope geometry near the Balleny Islands and Elephant Island, produces coastal trapped wave dynamics analogous to mechanisms studied after events like Terra Nova Expedition observations.
Seasonal cycles are pronounced with austral summer melt and increased freshwater input from melt events at Getz Ice Shelf and seasonal sea ice retreat at the Amery Ice Shelf, modifying stratification and current intensity. Interannual variability is modulated by climate modes including El Niño–Southern Oscillation, Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and trends associated with anthropogenic warming addressed by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessments. Episodic events such as iceberg calving from the Larsen Ice Shelf and anomalous wind regimes linked to the Mawson Station observations can produce abrupt changes in coastal circulation.
The Coastal Current (Antarctic) transports nutrients, plankton, and particulate organic matter affecting primary production near marine ecosystems around South Georgia, Kerguelen Islands, and continental shelves studied by teams at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute and NIWA. It influences lifecycle connectivity of species like Antarctic krill, Antarctic silverfish, and seabirds such as Adélie Penguin and Emperor Penguin, and impacts higher trophic levels including Weddell seal and Antarctic minke whale. The current also mediates carbon export and remineralization processes relevant to the Southern Ocean carbon sink and biogeochemical cycles investigated by GEOTRACES and ocean time-series programs tied to International Geosphere–Biosphere Programme questions.
Interaction zones at grounding lines of ice shelves including Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf, Ross Ice Shelf, and outlet glaciers like Cook Glacier are critical for basal melting and meltwater plume formation. Coastal current pathways guide warm intrusions beneath ice tongues, influencing basal melt rates and buttressing capacities highlighted in studies by Paleoclimate reconstructions and IPCC scenarios. Sea ice formation and drift in areas such as Prydz Bay modify salinity through brine rejection, affecting coastal current stratification and feedbacks to polynya dynamics examined in work associated with SCAR.
Observational approaches combine autonomous platforms (Argo (oceanography), gliders, ice-tethered profilers), remote sensing from satellites like Landsat, MODIS, and CryoSat, moored arrays deployed by British Antarctic Survey and ANDRILL-linked projects, shipboard ADCP and CTD surveys by research vessels such as RV Polarstern and RV Nathaniel B. Palmer, and tracer experiments using chemical tracers studied in programs linked to GEOTRACES. Numerical models from groups at Princeton University, University of Tasmania, and National Center for Atmospheric Research simulate coastal current dynamics, assimilating observations from initiatives coordinated by International Arctic Science Committee and regional forecasting systems.