New study from the southern Weddell Sea confirms that the flow of dense water down the continental slope can drive warm water up the slope and onto the continental shelf. The mechanism was identified in a numerical model a few years ago (by Morrison et al., 2020), but never in observations.

– The model study got us looking at the data with new eyes, explains Elin Darelius who led the study, and everything we saw agreed nicely with what the model says.

TiPACCs researchers Hartmut H. Hellmer and Svein Østerhus were involved in this work.

Link to the study: Darelius, E., Daae, K., Dundas, V. et al. Observational evidence for on-shelf heat transport driven by dense water export in the Weddell Sea. Nat Commun 14, 1022 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36580-3