Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
CR1.3 | The past, present and future of the Amundsen Sea Embayment - insights from observations and modelling
EDI
The past, present and future of the Amundsen Sea Embayment - insights from observations and modelling
Convener: Jowan BarnesECSECS | Co-conveners: Lisa HerbertECSECS, Peter WashamECSECS, Tasha SnowECSECS, Peter Davis
The Amundsen Sea sector in West Antarctica contains several rapidly changing glaciers which flow directly into the ocean and appear to be responding to increased ocean forcing. Additionally, this region hosts some of the most biologically productive surface waters in the Southern Ocean, concentrated in sea ice-free polynyas. Thwaites and Pine Island, the two largest glaciers in the region, hold enough ice between them to raise global sea levels by over a metre. The smaller glaciers flowing out into the Dotson and Crosson ice shelves have exhibited some of the fastest retreat rates in Antarctica. The resulting ice margin retreat and increased meltwater input is likely to impact the physical, chemical, and biological dynamics of the adjacent Amundsen Sea Embayment. Increased understanding of how the systems of this region interact is key to improving predictions of the evolution of this area and how it will affect global sea levels, local ecosystems, and regional carbon cycling in the future. Discovering evidence of past states, observing present day behaviour, and modelling future evolution are all important parts of this effort. This interdisciplinary session brings together research from all fields of ocean-cryosphere science in the Amundsen Sea region to help build a more complete understanding of the interwoven systems driving change. We invite submissions from all subfields within cryospheric science from both modelling and observational perspectives.