Ocean Heat Flux in the Central Weddell Sea during Winter

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Abstract
Seasonal sea ice, which plays a pivotal role in air–sea interaction in the Weddell Sea (a region of large deep-water formation with potential impact on climate), depends critically on heat flux from the deep ocean. During the austral winter of 1994, an intensive process-oriented field program named the Antarctic Zone Flux Experiment measured upper-ocean turbulent fluxes during two short manned ice-drift station experiments near the Maud Rise seamount region of the Weddell Sea. Unmanned data buoys left at the site of the first manned drift provided a season-long time series of ice motion, mixed layer temperature and salinity, plus a (truncated) high-resolution record of temperature within the ice column. Direct turbulence flux measurements made in the ocean boundary layer during the manned drift stations were extended to the ice–ocean interface with a “mixing length” model and were used to evaluate parameters in bulk expressions for interfacial stress (a “Rossby similarity” drag law) and ocean-to-... Abstract Seasonal sea ice, which plays a pivotal role in air–sea interaction in the Weddell Sea (a region of large deep-water formation with potential impact on climate), depends critically on heat flux from the deep ocean. During the austral winter of 1994, an intensive process-oriented field program named the Antarctic Zone Flux Experiment measured upper-ocean turbulent fluxes during two short manned ice-drift station experiments near the Maud Rise seamount region of the Weddell Sea. Unmanned data buoys left at the site of the first manned drift provided a season-long time series of ice motion, mixed layer temperature and salinity, plus a (truncated) high-resolution record of temperature within the ice column. Direct turbulence flux measurements made in the ocean boundary layer during the manned drift stations were extended to the ice–ocean interface with a “mixing length” model and were used to evaluate parameters in bulk expressions for interfacial stress (a “Rossby similarity” drag law) and ocean-to-...

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