Supercooled water with temperatures below freezing point, was identified from hydrographic data obtained by Chinese and Australian expeditions to Prydz Bay, Antarctica, during the austral summer. The study shows that most supercooled waters occurred at depths of 63-271 m in the region north of the Amery Ice Shelf （AIS） front. The maximum supercooling was 0.16℃ below the in-situ freezing point. In temperature and salinity ranges of-2.14 - -1.96℃ and 34.39-34.46, respectively, the water was colder and fresher than peripheral shelf water. The supercooled water had less variability in the vertical profiles compared to shelf water. Based on analysis of their thermohaline features and spatial distribution, as well as the circulation pattern in Prydz Bay, we conclude that these supercooled waters originated from a cavity beneath the AIS and resulted from upwelling just outside of the AIS front. Water emerging from the ice shelf cools to an extremely low temperature （about -2.0℃） by additional cooling from the ice shelf, and becomes buoyant with the addition of melt water from the ice shelf base. When this water flows out of the ice shelf front, its upper boundary is removed, and thus it rises abruptly. Once the temperature of this water reaches below the freezing point, supercooling takes place. In summer, the seasonal pycnocline at -100 m water depth acts as a barrier to upwelling and supercooling. The upwelling of ice shelf outflow water illuminates a unique mid-depth convection of the polar ocean.
As a unique low-temperature water mass in Antarctic coastal region, the Ice Shelf Water (ISW) is an important component for the formation of the Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). In this paper, we present a criterion for ISW identification based on freezing point at the sea surface, and we study spatial distribution of ISW in front of the Amery Ice Shelf (AIS) and its flow path in Prydz Bay by analyzing hydrographic data from Australian cruises in 2001 and 2002, as well as Chinese cruises in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008, all being made in the austral summer. The relatively cold and fresh ISW occurred as several discrete water blocks with cold cores in front of the AIS, within the depth range of 100?600 m, under the seasonal thermocline. ISW had obvious temporal and spatial variations and the spatial distribution pattern changed greatly after 2005. Most of ISW was concentrated west of 73°E during 2001 to 2003 and 2006, but it was widespread to east in 2005 and 2008. In all observation years, a small amount of cold ISW always occurs at the west end of the AIS front section, where the coldest ISW in the whole section also occurred in 2001, 2003 and 2006. Considering general cyclonic circulation pattern under the AIS, the ISW flowing out from west end of the AIS front might have experienced the longest cooling period under ice shelf, so it would have the lowest temperature. Analysis of data from meridian sections in Prydz Bay in 2003 implied that ISW in the west could spread north to the continental break along the east flank of the Fram Bank near 70.5°E, mix with the upwelling Circumpolar Deep Water and possibly contribute to the formation of AABW.
