Bottom water

animation, dance: Lisa Roberts
Sydney 2009

data: Ian Allison
Peephole through the ice: the AMISOR project

Cold Bottom Water
moves downwards and outwards,
spiralling eastwards
away from Antarctica.

Drawn from Figure 1: Schematic representation
the 2-D circulation under an ice shelf.
Peephole through the ice: the AMISOR project

Salt rejected by winter sea ice growth
forms dense, high salinity water,
which sinks and flows under the ice shelf.
This causes melt when it comes into contact
with deep ice.
The freshened plume rises
under the base of the shelf
and can either refreeze as marine ice
or mix with warm salty
Circumpolar Deep Water
to form Antarctic Bottom Water.

Ian Allison
Glaciology Programme Leader
Australian Antarctic Division

Peephole through the ice: the AMISOR project

Antarctic bottom water
is a dense bottom-water mass,
formed in the Weddell and Ross Seas,
which moves in an easterly direction
around Antarctica.

MICHAEL ALLABY. "Antarctic bottom water."
A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004.
Encyclopedia.com. 24 Apr. 2009 .