Oceanography of the Ross Sea Antarctica, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1999
Antarctica

The era of the exploration of the World Ocean is not yet over: some areas still lack an adequate number of observations. The relationships between the physical, chemical and biological processes, which sustain the life on this planet, are not yet fully understood. In short, knowledge of the oceans is still far from satisfactory. This book covers an important period in the study of one of the last investigated areas of the World Ocean: the Ross Sea, Antarctica. During the 1990s, long-term experiments were conducted in this area as part of the Climatic Long-term Interaction for the Mass balance in Antarctica (CLIMA) project of the Italian National Programme for Antarctic Research (PNRA), providing a wealth of oceanographic information. This book is an outcome of the CLIMA field obser­ vations and international collaborations with the most important programmes in the Ross Sea-Southern Ocean area. It contributes to the st!ldies of the spatial and temporal variability of Ross Sea water masses and circulation and their relation­ ship with the Southern Ocean circulation. A comprehensive review of historical data is offered, and new data sets are analysed. The studies presented in this book show that much progress has been achieved during the last decade, but large gaps in our understanding of the physical processes in the Ross Sea are still to be filled. However, these studies contribute significantly to the investigation of some specific aspects regarding the circula­ tion of the main water masses.

General Aspects - Thermohaline Data and Ocean Circulation on the Ross Sea Continental Shelf. - Mapping the Thickness of Pancake Ice Using Ocean Wave Dispersion in SAR Imagery. The Southern Ocean and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - Observations of the Dynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Pacific Sector of the Southern Ocean - Altimeter Data Analysis of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current - Upper Ocean Thermal Structure and Fronts Between New Zealand and Ross Sea (Austral. Summer 1994-95 and 1995-96) - The Large-scale Thermohaline Structure of the Ross Sea Water Masses and Dynamics on the Ross Sea Continental Shelf - Temporal Variability of Currents in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) - Reconstructing the General Circulation of the Ross Sea (Antarctica) Using a Robust Diagnostic Model - A Wind and Boundary Driven Circulation Model of the Ross Sea - The Wintertime Expansion and Contraction of the Terra Nova Bay Polynya - Current, Temperature and Salinity Observation in Terra Nova Bay Polynya Area Particle Fluxes and Organic Matter - Particle Fluxes at the Edge of the Ross Ice Shelf: The Role of Physical Forcing - Actual Sedimentation on the Antarctic Continental Shelf (Southern part of the Ross Sea) - Partticle Fluxes and Sediment Characteristics at Three Selected Sites in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) - General Characteristics of Density-Turbidity Currents in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) - Vertical Distribution and Biochemical Composition of Pico- and Micro-particulate Organic Matter in the Ross Sea (Antarctica) Meteorological Processes - On the Heat Energy Fluxes in the Non-stationary Surface Boundary Layer at the Hells Gate, Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica - Meteorological Conditions During Snowfall at Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica