In recent years the interaction between the ocean and the cryosphere in the marginal seas of the Southern Ocean has become a major focus in climate research. Questions such as "Why does the Antarctic sea ice cover not shrink like in the Arctic?" or "How far does warm ocean water advance into Antarctica's ice shelf cavities? What are the consequences for ice shelf stability and global sea level?" have attracted scientific and public attention. Recent advances in observational technology, data coverage, and modeling provide scientists with new opportunities to understand the mechanisms involving ice-ocean interaction in the far South much better. Processes on the Antarctic continental shelf have been identified as a missing link between the cryosphere and the deep open ocean and need to be captured in large-scale and global model simulations.

This session calls for studies of the Southern Ocean's marginal seas including the Antarctic continental shelf and ice shelf cavities. The interaction between ice shelves and sea ice with the open ocean is of major interest, for example the spreading and modification of water masses including those shaped by glacial meltwater input and sea ice formation. This includes work on all scales, from local via basin-scale to circumpolar. Studies based on in-situ observations and remote sensing as well as regional to global models are welcome. We particularly invite cross-disciplinary topics involving physical and biological oceanography, glaciology or biogeochemistry.

Invited speaker:
Elin Darelius (University of Bergen , Norway) on current research in the Filchner Trough area, a key region of ice-ocean interaction and ongoing change.