The Antarctic

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

is a submerged piece of the Antarctic continent that underlies a portion of the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-small ...

— the ocean which surrounds Antarctica. The shelf is generally narrow and unusually deep, its edge lying at depths averaging 500 meters (the global mean is around 100 meters), with troughs extending as far as 2000 meters deep. It is home to a thriving

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

s and cold-water fish and crustaceans. This profound submersion is a result of ice sheet loading, thermal subsidence, and long-term erosion due to climatic variations over the past 34 million years. Several countries have issued proclamations claiming ownership over parts of the shelf, including

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

(since 1947),

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

(since 1953),

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Effect on Antarctic Ice Sheet

It has been shown that there is an amplification in the impact made on the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) given changes in the Antarctic continental shelf. For example, increasing AIS volume directly increases Antarctic continental shelf erosion. This is known as

glacial erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...

. Increased erosion of the continental shelf makes the AIS more sensitive to ocean forcing — the sum of forces that amplify the ocean's ability to affect climate and surface conditions. These dynamics are very well understood for the Miocene to Pleistocene eras. However, understanding continental margin changes sufficiently to further understand AIS dynamics and how the ice sheet reacted subsequently to atmospheric and oceanic condition changes in the modern day is important in producing accurate models for current and future climate change.

References

Geography of the Southern Ocean Continental shelves {{Geology-stub