Laura Herraiz-Borreguero, ACE-CRC

TUESDAY, 29 May, 12:00-1:00,
IMAS seminar room, Sandy Bay

Abstract:
The presence of Ice shelves exerts an important control on the rate at which ice sheets discharge grounded ice into the ocean and, consequently, indirectly affecting the rate of sea level rise. Poor understanding of the processes affecting the stability of ice shelves is one of the major uncertainties in projecting future sea level rise. Improved knowledge of ocean circulation beneath ice shelves is needed to better constrain their dynamics and sensitivity to ocean warming. The Amery Ice Shelf, the largest ice shelf of East Antarctica, has been the subject of a large research effort from Australian Antarctic Researchers during the past decades. The AMery Ice Shelf-Ocean processes Research (AMISOR) Project has allowed the deployement of a total of 6 moorings through boreholes sites into the ocean cavity of the Amery Ice Shelf spanning 10 years and, continuing. This talk gives a summary of the processes and circulation observed at the front and at two of the borehole sites, AM01 and AM04.

Biography:
Laura is a graduate of the UTAS-CSIRO QMS Program. Her PhD was on the circulation and variability of Subantarctic Mode Water with Steve Rintoul and Richard Coleman. She is currently a post-doc at ACE CRC studying the interaction of the Amery Ice Shelf with the ocean using data collected from the ocean beneath the ice shelf.