Antarctic Zone Flux Experiment (ANZFLUX) 1994

ANZFLUX was a focused study of the anomalously thin ice and high heat fluxes in the eastern Weddell Sea conducted from two ice camps deployed from the ice breaker N. B. Palmer in July and August 1994. Timeseries of microstructure profiles, velocity and Reynolds stress profiles measured by a 5 beam Broadband Acoustic Doppler Profiler, and in situ measurements have been used to measure heat fluxes and determine the physical processes contributing to the very high vertical momentum and heat fluxes in the region.

Very strong wind-forced ice motions from the frequent storm systems generated turbulent friction velocities exceeding 2cms^-1, providing sufficient turbulent kinetic energy to entrain heat fluxes of up to 400 Wm^-2 across the deep ocean mixed layer. The typically 120m deep mixed layer depth changed rapidly as the ice (and our observing systems) were moved over eddy features which shallowed the pycnocline to as shallow as 60m depth, greatly enhancing the turbulent coupling between the surface and the warm underlying water within the weakly salt stratified pycnocline.

Last Reviewed: February 2003
stanton@nps.edu
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