We have compared 60+ years of historical 🚢 and modern 🦭 ocean data in the Shackleton Ice Shelf (SIS) area, and, as it is often the case in climate science, news isn't great: the ocean is now hot 🌡️ and no, it hasn't always been like that.

RT @IMOS_AUS: OceanHackWeek 2024 offers five days of hands-on tutorials, data exploration, software development, presentations, collaborati….

📢LAST DAY to submit your AMSA abstract to the .@IMOS_AUS symposium: "Australia’s IMOS: reducing uncertainty & supporting ocean science through sustained, high-quality observations". Submit here 👉

RT @IMOS_AUS: Abstract submission has opened for the 2024 joint workshop of the Consortium for Ocean-Sea Ice Modelling in Australia (COSIMA….

📢AMSA abstract submissions have been extended to 27th March! @IMOS_AUS is hosting a symposium: "Australia’s IMOS: reducing uncertainty & supporting ocean science through sustained, high-quality observations" and we'd love to showcase your work. Submit 👉

RT @IMOS_AUS: 🌊 A billion signals that tell our oceans’ story. IMOS is celebrating the amazing milestone of collecting & delivering one bi….

RT @WMO: 🌡️  ERA5 data from @CopernicusECMWF.indicates that 17 November was the first day that average global temperature exceeded 2°C abov….

RT @clive_mcmahon: Seal Scientists Wearing Funky Hats Discover 2-Kilometer-Deep Canyon Under Antarctica | IFLScience ⁦@IMOS_AUS⁩, ⁦@ani_bos….

RT @JGROceans: The stability of East Antarctic ice shelves is challenging to assess due to sparse observations. Ribeiro et al., use profile….

RT @clive_mcmahon: A very cool job doing lots of field work with a great team ….

@AGU_OS I'd like to thank my co-authors Laura Herraiz-Borreguero, Steve Rintoul, Guy Williams, Mark Hindell,.@clive_mcmahon and Christophe Guinet, all reviewers, the editor and the @theAGU team. Remember there is still time if we remain hopeful, active and vocal about climate change.

This study determines that mCDW intrusions are not something that have always existed, but a phenomenon brought upon the East Antarctic margins in the 21st century. Read more here: at @AGU_OS .

What is good: East Antarctic ice shelves are believed to still be stable, as long as emissions don’t rise much more. This study shows that the threat is real, but models indicate we still can stop this process through real commitment in achieving our climate targets.

This is not good. As the ice shelves melt, the glaciers behind them melt faster. East Antarctica contains more ice mass than West Antarctica and thus, its potential contributions to sea level rise are also higher.

The intrusion of warm mCDW in 2011 led to basal melting of the SIS, potentially reducing DSW salinity and delaying DSW formation.

Prior to 1996, cold mCDW and Dense Shelf Water (DSW) dominated the SIS continental shelf. After 2010, warm mCDW became widespread, and DSW with salinity >34.5 disappeared.

Our study reveals incursions of mCDW reaching the SIS - increasing the number of regions with known warm mCDW intrusions in East Antarctica to 4.

With these data available, we wanted to know: is there any warm mCDW in the SIS region? If yes, has it always been there? Is it melting the local ice shelf?.

Investigating this can be tough, as the Antarctic margins are notoriously undersampled, particularly in the East. That is what makes the SIS so special: the SIS has enough historical data to make a collection that takes us back to the 60s.

The warm water in question is modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW). To understand the vulnerability of ice shelves, we need to understand warm mCDW intrusions. Where are they happening? When did they start?.

Relatively warm waters that are normally found offshore are coming onto the Antarctic continental shelves, threatening the stability of ice shelves. This 'intrusion' process is mostly reported in West Antarctica, but it's starting to be reported in the East.