近日，美国加州大学欧文分校Mattia Poinelli团队报道了海洋亚中尺度可作为南极冰洞内海底融化的驱动因素。该研究于2025年11月18日发表在《自然—地球科学》杂志上。
位于西南极洲阿蒙森海海域的思韦茨冰川与松岛冰川，其冰损失总量占整个南极洲冰损失的三分之一以上。受复杂的海-气-冰相互作用影响，这两条冰川正处于加速退缩状态。冰下空腔——即冰川底部被海水填充、冰体以冰架形式漂浮的区域——尤其容易受到暖水入侵的影响。但由于其地理位置偏远，且缺乏能够解析小尺度冰-海相互作用的数值模型，相关研究仍严重不足。
研究组揭示：海洋亚中尺度特征（1-10公里规模）在开阔海域形成后，会向思韦茨冰川方向传播，侵入其冰下空腔并从底部融化冰川。通过运用200米分辨率的冰-海数值模型并结合冰下观测数据，研究组发现亚中尺度运动在阿蒙森海海域全年普遍存在。结果表明，该区域五分之一的冰下融化变异由亚中尺度过程贡献，并揭示了亚中尺度运动与冰下融化之间存在正反馈循环。根据这一循环机制，未来气候变暖将加剧海洋驱动的冰川融化，进而导致这类亚中尺度事件更加频繁发生，最终对冰架稳定性及全球海平面上升产生深远影响。
附：英文原文
Title: Ocean submesoscales as drivers of submarine melting within Antarctic ice cavities
Author: Poinelli, Mattia, Siegelman, Lia, Nakayama, Yoshihiro
Issue&Volume: 2025-11-18
Abstract: Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers—located in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica—are responsible for more than one-third of the total ice loss from Antarctica. These glaciers are experiencing accelerated retreat due to a combination of complex air–sea-ice processes. The ice cavities—the ocean-filled spaces beneath glaciers where the ice becomes afloat in the form of ice shelves—are particularly vulnerable to warm water intrusions but remain severely understudied due to their remote location and the lack of numerical models capable of resolving small-scale ice–ocean processes. Here we show that ocean submesoscale features (1–10km size) regularly form in the open ocean, propagate towards Thwaites Glacier, intrude its cavity and melt the ice from below. We use an ice–ocean numerical model at 200-m resolution and observations below the ice to reveal that submesoscale motions are ubiquitous year round in the Amundsen Sea Embayment. Results show that submesoscales account for one-fifth of the total submarine melt variance in the area and highlight a positive feedback loop between submesoscale motions and submarine melting. Following this loop, as future climate warming implies greater ocean-induced melting, these events will become increasingly frequent, with far-reaching implications for ice-shelf stability and global sea-level rise.
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-025-01831-z
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-025-01831-z