Relatively warm ocean waters melt the ice shelves of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in the Amundsen and Bellingshausen Seas, with consequences for global sea level rise and ocean circulation. Indeed, melt-induced ice shelves thinning weakens the buttressing of WAIS glaciers and increases the draw-dawn of ice into the ocean, contributing approximately 10% of the observed sea level rise between 2005 and 2010. In addition, the fresh water released by local melt propagates downstream in the Ross Sea, which may lead to a change in the characteristics of Antarctic Bottom Water and thus influence the global thermohaline circulation. This presentation will explore past and recent observations made in part by autonomous underwater vehicles under the Pine Island ice shelf in the Amundsen Sea and under the Nansen ice shelf in Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea. In light of these observations, a rich set of glacial and oceanic processes operating in, near and under ice shelves will be discussed.

Dr. Pierre Dutrieux specializes in ice-sheet/ocean/atmosphere interactions, with particular experience in the use of autonomous instrumentation under ice shelves. He is an Assistant Research Professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. He received a M.Sc. in Oceanology, Meteorology and Environment from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France; a M.Sc. in Engineering from École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées in Paris; and a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Hawaii.

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