Notes on Southern Ocean hydrography, sea-ice and bottom water formation
Abstract The Southern Ocean circulation and sea-ice distribution is briefly described. The formation of extremely cold bottom water in the Weddell Sea and its relation to the floating Ronne-Filchner Ice Shelves is discussed. It is shown that a concentrated swift eroding bottom current with anomalous low δ 18 O ratio transports the cold and dense ice Shelf Water from the shelf towards large depths. Comments are made on possible implications of this process for the large-scale deep-water circulation and for the interpretation of sediment cores.