Cosimo Solidoro

Abstract The Ross Ice Shelf floats above the southern sector of the Ross Sea and creates a cavity where critical ocean-ice interactions take place. Crucial processes occurring in this cavity include the formation of Ice Shelf Water, the coldest ocean water, and the intrusion of Antarctic Surface Water, the main driver of frontal and basal melting. During the winter, a polynya forms along the Ross Ice Shelf edge, producing a precursor to Antarctic Bottom Water known as High Salinity Shelf Water.

1 Introduction The Gulf is a shallow marginal semi-enclosed sea located in a subtropical hyper-arid region marked by intense evaporation ( ∼ 2 m yr-1) that far exceeds precipitation and runoff (0.2-0.5 m yr-1) (Reynolds, 1993). In consequence, the Gulf is characterized by extreme environmental conditions exemplified by wide annual fluctuations (12-36°C) in sea surface temperatures and the prevalence of large swaths of hypersaline waters with salinity exceeding 42 psu (Vaughan et al., 2019).