Ice shelves around Antarctica have been melting more quickly in recent years, largely due to warming waters eroding their undersides. These waters circulate around Antarctica through currents that are not fully understood due to the continent's vast size and remote location. Improving the mapping of these currents would enhance the knowledge of Antarctica's ice cover in the future.
In 2013, the Marine Mammals Exploring the Oceans Pole to Pole (MEOP) project utilized seals equipped with sensors to gather data on temperature and salinity in the Bellingshausen Sea off West Antarctica. Flexas et al. combined this data with information from a 2020 autonomous undersea glider to conduct a more comprehensive study of the region's hydrographic conditions, including temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen levels.
Their findings revealed that meltwater discharged from the Bellingshausen Sea, an area that has received less research attention, significantly influences ice shelves across West Antarctica. They also identified a submarine valley named Seal Trough, discovered with the help of instrument-carrying seals.
The researchers identified two main sources of meltwater moving through the sea: one from the Venable Ice Shelf via Belgica Trough, and another from the Abbot Ice Shelf further west via Seal Trough. Both streams contribute to the Antarctic Coastal Current (AACC) and potentially impact ice shelves in other Antarctic regions. Their data also showed that the Bellingshausen Sea and the AACC extend farther west than previously understood, reaching Seal Trough and the Amundsen Sea, respectively.
According to the authors, future research should delve deeper into how water from ice shelves influences the Bellingshausen Sea, and efforts should update with concurrent data on water flows, given the seven-year gap between their current datasets.
