Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-2tv5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-29T09:42:37.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Freeze-thaw dynamics and the implications for stratification and brine geochemistry in meltwater ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2009

B.R. Wait ,
R. Nokes  and
J.G. Webster-Brown
B.R. Wait*
Affiliation:
Gateway Antarctica, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
R. Nokes
Affiliation:
Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
J.G. Webster-Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand
*
Briar.Wait@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A high resolution record of water column temperatures was measured in a coastal meltwater pond on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The maximum temperature gradient measured through the water column was 35°C, with an annual temperature range of 52.1°C within the pond. For most of the year the pond shows reverse temperature stratification with the lowest temperatures measured at the surface of the pond, with the exception of brief periods of normal stratification over winter caused by regional warming events. During freezing, the freezing front propagated downwards from the pond surface, excluding major ions and releasing large amounts of latent heat, both of which had a dramatic effect on the thermal and compositional evolution of the pond. Thawing is dominated by changes in surface air temperatures and the differential absorption of solar radiation. A new conceptual model of the physical freeze-thaw process has been developed that explains the presence of an ‘ice plug’ during melting, which reduces wind-induced mixing, forms a physical barrier to chemical processes, and encourages thermal and chemical stratification. It may also explain the persistence of anoxic and hydrogen sulphide bearing basal brines in summer stratified ponds that are otherwise fully oxidized.

Keywords

hydrogen sulphidelatent heatmodelsouthern Ross Sea

Information

Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , June 2009 , pp. 243 - 254
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

APHA. 1999. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th ed.Washington, DC: American Public Health Association, 1325 pp.Google Scholar
Cozzetto, K., McKnight, D.M., Nylen, T. & Fountain, A. 2006. Experimental investigations into processes controlling stream and hyporhetic temperatures, Fryxell Basin, Antarctica. Advances in Water Resources, 29, 130–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Mora, S.J., Grout, A. & Shooter, D. 1990. The analysis of reduced sulphur gases in air and meltwaters by gas chromatography at Bratina Island, 78°S. New Zealand Antarctic Record, 10, 12–21.Google Scholar
de Mora, S.J., Whitehead, R.F. & Gregory, M. 1994. The chemical composition of glacial melt water ponds and streams on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 6, 17–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Mora, S.J., Lee, P.A., Grout, A., Schall, C. & Heumann, K.G. 1996. Aspects of the biogeochemistry of sulphur in glacial melt water ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 8, 15–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritsen, C.H. & Priscu, J.C. 1999. Seasonal change in the optical properties of the permanent ice cover on Lake Bonney, Antarctica: consequences for lake productivity and phytoplankton dynamics. Limnology and Oceanography, 44, 447–454.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, C.R., Mason, D.T. & Wood, B.J. 1972. Comparative study of the limnology of two small lakes on Ross Island, Antarctica. Antarctic Research Series, 20, l–50.Google Scholar
Hawes, I., Howard-Williams, C. & Pridmore, R. 1993. Environmental control of microbial biomass in the ponds on the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Archiv für Hydrobiologie, 127, 271–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawes, I., Howard-Williams, C., Schwarz, A.-M. & Downes, M.T. 1997. Environmental and microbial communities in a tidal lagoon at Bratina Island, McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. In Battaglia, B., Valencia, J. & Walton, D., eds. Antarctic communities: species, structure and survival. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 170–177.Google Scholar
Hawes, I., Smith, R., Howard-Williams, C. & Schwarz, A.-M. 1999. Environmental conditions during freezing, and response of microbial mates in ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 11, 198–208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Healy, M., Webster-Brown, J.G., Brown, K.L. & Lane, V. 2006. Chemistry and stratification of Antarctic meltwater ponds II: inland ponds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Victoria Land. Antarctic Science, 18, 525–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Williams, C. & Hawes, I. 2007. Ecological processes in Antarctic inland waters: interactions between physical processes and the nitrogen cycle. Antarctic Science, 19, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Williams, C., Pridmore, R., Broady, P.A. & Vincent, C.L. 1990. Environmental and biological variability in the McMurdo Ice Shelf ecosystem. In Kerry, K.R. & Hempel, G., eds. Antarctic ecosystems: ecological change and conservation. Berlin: Springer, 23–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Williams, C., Pridmore, R., Downes, M.T. & Vincent, W.F. 1989. Microbial biomass, photosynthesis and chlorophyll a related pigments in the ponds of the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 1, 125–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard-Williams, C., Vincent, C.L., Broady, P.A. & Vincent, W.F. 1986. Antarctic stream ecosystems: variability in environmental properties and algal community structure. Internationale revue der gesamten hydrobiologie, 71, 511–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iliescu, D., Baker, I. & Cullen, D. 2002. Preliminary microstructural and microchemical observations on pond and river accretion ice. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 35, 81–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kouraev, A.V., Semovski, S.V., Shimaraev, M.N., Mognard, N.M., Legresy, B. & Remy, F. 2007. The ice regime of Lake Baikal from historical and satellite data: relationship to air temperature, dynamical, and other factors. Limnology and Oceanography, 52, 1268–1286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marion, G.M. 1997. A theoretical evaluation of mineral stability in Don Juan Pond, Wright Valley, Victoria Land. Antarctic Science, 9, 92–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marion, G.M. & Grant, S.A. 1994. FREZCHEM: a chemical-thermodynamic model for aqueous solutions at sub-zero temperatures. Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory Special Report, No. 94–18, 21 pp.Google Scholar
Mortimer, C.H. & MacKereth, F.J.H. 1958. Convection and its consequences in ice-covered lakes. Verhein International Verein Limnologie, 13, 923–932.Google Scholar
Mueller, D.R. & Vincent, W.F. 2006. Microbial habitat dynamics and ablation control on the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf. Hydrological Processes, 20, 857–876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nylen, T.H., Fountain, A.G. & Doran, P.T. 2004. Climatology of katabatic winds in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research, 109, art. no. DO3114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rae, R., Howard-Williams, C., Hawes, I. & Vincent, W.F. 2000. Temperature dependence of photosynthetic recovery from solar damage in Antarctic phytoplankton. In Davidson, W., Howard-Williams, C. & Broady, P., eds. Antarctic ecosystems: models for wider ecological understanding. Christchurch: The Caxton Press, 332 pp.Google Scholar
Rogers, C.K., Lawrence, G.A. & Hamblin, P.F. 1995. Observations and numerical simulation of a shallow ice-covered mid-latitude lake. Limnology and Oceanography, 40, 376–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sattley, M.W. & Madigan, M.T. 2006. Isolation, characterisation, and ecology of cold-active, chemolithotrophic, sulfur-oxidising bacteria from perennially ice-covered Lake Fryxell, Antarctica. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 72, 5562–5568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, S., Moskal, W., de Mora, S.J., Howard-Williams, C. & Vincent, W.F. 1991. Limnological properties of Antarctic ponds during winter freezing. Antarctic Science, 3, 379–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Timperley, M. 1997. A simple temperature-based model for the chemistry of melt-water ponds in the Darwin Glacier area, 80°S. In Lyons, B., Howard-Williams, C. & Hawes, I., eds. Ecosystem processes in Antarctic ice free landscapes. Rotterdam: A.A. Balkema, 197–206.Google Scholar
Vincent, W.F. 1981. Production strategies in Antarctic inland waters: phytoplankton ecophysiology in a permanently ice-covered lake. Ecology, 62, 1215–1224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, W.F. 1988. Microbial ecosystems of Antarctica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 304 pp.Google Scholar
Vincent, W.F. & Howard-Williams, C. 1986. Antarctic stream ecosystems: physiological ecology of a blue-green algal epilithon. Freshwater Biology, 16, 219–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vincent, W.F., Rae, R., Laurion, I., Howard-Williams, C. & Priscu, J.C. 1998. Transparency of Antarctic ice-covered lakes to solar UV radiation. Limnology and Oceanography, 43, 618–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wait, B.R., Webster, J.G., Brown, K.L., Healy, M. & Hawes, I. 2006. Chemistry and stratification of Antarctic meltwater ponds I: Coastal ponds near Bratina Island, McMurdo Ice Shelf. Antarctic Science, 18, 515–524.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster, J.G., Brown, K.L. & Vincent, W.F. 1994. Geochemical processes affecting meltwater chemistry and the formation of saline ponds in the Victoria Valley and Bull Pass region, Antarctica. Hydrobiologia, 281, 171–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webster-Brown, J.G. & Webster, K.S. 2007. Trace metals in cyanobacterial mats, phytoplankton and sediments of the Lake Vanda region, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 19, 311–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wharton, R.A. Jr, McKay, C.P., Mancinelli, R.L. & Simmons, G.M. Jr 1987. Perennial N2 supersaturation in an Antarctic lake. Nature, 325, 343–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wharton, R.A. Jr, McKay, C.P., Simmons, G.M. Jr & Palmer, B.C. 1985. Cryoconite holes in glaciers. BioScience, 35, 499–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed