View source for File:Figure 4.41 - Pictorial view of the ocean-ice system of the Ross Sea.png

Pictorial view of the ocean-ice system of the Ross Sea. Colours on the ice sheet indicate flow speed with speed increasing from yellow to green to blue to magenta (see Figure 1.6). Colour in the ocean represents the major currents: light blue and yellow are the surface flows of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and the opposing boundary current, respectively; red is CDW upwelling to reach the continental shelf and dark blue is the sinking Ice Shelf Water exiting from beneath the floating ice shelf. As CDW rises, some loses heat to the atmosphere (wavy vertical line) while the remainder circulated under the floating ice shelf causing basal melting. (illustration courtesy of National Geographic)