The DOI matches its Crossref record; 449 of the 450 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Antarctic Landfast Sea Ice: A Review of Its Physics, Biogeochemistry and Ecology
Open accessAbstract
Antarctic landfast sea ice (fast ice) is stationary sea ice that is attached to the coast, grounded icebergs, ice shelves, or other protrusions on the continental shelf. Fast ice forms in narrow (generally up to 200 km wide) bands, and ranges in thickness from centimeters to tens of meters. In most regions, it forms in autumn, persists through the winter and melts in spring/summer, but can remain throughout the summer in particular locations, becoming multi‐year ice. Despite its relatively limited extent (comprising between about 4% and 13% of overall sea ice), its presence, variability and seasonality are drivers of a wide range of physical, biological and biogeochemical processes, with both local and far‐ranging ramifications for the Earth system. Antarctic fast ice has, until quite recently, been overlooked in studies, likely due to insufficient knowledge of its distribution, leading to its reputation as a “missing piece of the Antarctic puzzle.” This review presents a synthesis of current knowledge of the physical, biogeochemical and biological aspects of fast ice, based on the sub‐domains of: fast ice growth, properties and seasonality; remote‐sensing and distribution; interactions with the atmosphere and the ocean; biogeochemical interactions; its role in primary production; and fast ice as a habitat for grazers. Finally, we consider the potential state of Antarctic fast ice at the end of the 21st Century, underpinned by Coupled Model Intercomparison Project model projections. This review also gives recommendations for targeted future work to increase our understanding of this critically‐important element of the global cryosphere.
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Self-citationEmerging evidence of abrupt changes in the Antarctic environment
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Metadata
- Authors
- Fraser, A. D., Wongpan, P., Langhorne, P. J., Klekociuk, A. R., Kusahara, K., Lannuzel, D., Massom, R. A., Meiners, K. M., Swadling, K. M., Atwater, D. P., Brett, G. M., Corkill, M., Dalman, L. A., Fiddes, S., Granata, A., Guglielmo, L., Heil, P., Leonard, G. H., Mahoney, A. R., McMinn, A., van der Merwe, P., Weldrick, C. K., & Wienecke, B.
- Affiliations
- University of Tasmania (AU)
- University of Otago (NZ)
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JP)
- University of Canterbury (NZ)
- University of Messina (IT)
- Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (IT)
- University of Alaska Fairbanks (US)
- Australian Antarctic Division (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Fraser, A. D.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Reviews of Geophysics
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2023-06
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 0096-1043 (ISSN-L)
- 8755-1209
- 1944-9208
- OpenAlex
- W4381848418
- Cited by
- 102
- References
- 450
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 40 · 2024: 29 · 2023: 8
- FWCI
- 11.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Reviews of Geophysics (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- National Computational Infrastructure
- Australian Government (ASCI000002)
- Australian Research Council (SR200100008, ASCI000002, FT190100688)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19K12301)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Polar Research and Ecology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Cryospheric studies and observations
- Keywords
- Antarctic fast ice, fast ice, sea ice formation, sea ice seasonality, multi-year ice, sea ice biogeochemistry, primary production, sea ice ecology, sea ice-atmosphere interaction, sea ice-ocean interaction, remote sensing of sea ice, climate change projections, cryosphere
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