ORCID
0000-0001-7519-9278 (Dinniman)
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.1029/2025JC022511
Publication Title
JGR Oceans
Volume
130
Issue
10
Pages
e2025JC022511
Abstract
The central Ross Sea slope (CRSS) is a critical region for water mass exchange, significantly influencing the physical and biological processes of the Ross Sea shelf and the global overturning circulation. This study utilizes a high-resolution ocean-ice shelf-sea ice coupled model to investigate the mechanisms driving this exchange, involving the onshore transport of circumpolar deep water (CDW) and the offshore transport of dense shelf water (DSW). Combining numerical simulations and mooring observations, this work reveals high-frequency oscillations with a periodicity of ∼32 hr in CDW transport induced by Topographic Rossby Waves and DSW transport induced by cyclonic eddies. These findings provide evidence for earlier theoretical work using idealized models that suggest such oscillations. Meanwhile, we found that the net cross-slope transport is dominated by low-frequency processes, the contributions of which are quantified using momentum diagnostics. The DSW outflow is driven by bottom Ekman transport linked to the strong Antarctic Slope Current (ASC), as significant as interfacial form stress in previous studies. Sea surface height gradient, resulting from the displacement of less dense water by the DSW in the bottom layer, can drive the onshore transport of CDW. While such DSW-CDW transport relation bears similarity to that proposed by previous work focusing on continental troughs, we found that on the slope, the CDW onshore transport is also modulated by the baroclinic pressure gradient resulting from density variations and by horizontal advection associated with the spatial variation of ASC. These findings enhance the accuracy of water mass exchange estimates across the CRSS.
Rights
© 2025 The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Data Availability
Article states: "The numerical simulation data and the visualization code supporting the findings of this study are available at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16354138."
Original Publication Citation
Chen, Y. J., Zhang, Z. R., Castagno, P., Han, X. X., Dinniman, M. S., Liu, Z. Q., & Wang, C. N. (2025). Dynamics of water mass exchange across the central Ross Sea slope. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 130(10), Article e2025JC022511. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC022511
Repository Citation
Chen, Yuanjie; Zhang, Zhaoru; Castagno, Pasquale; Han, Xianxian; Dinniman, Michael S.; Liu, Zhiqiang; and Wang, Chuning, "Dynamics of Water Mass Exchange Across the Central Ross Sea Slope" (2025). OES Faculty Publications. 558.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/oeas_fac_pubs/558
Supporting Information S1