Footprint of sustained poleward warm water flow within East Antarctic submarine canyons.

The intrusion of relatively warm water onto the continental shelf is widely recognized as a threat to Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers grounded below sea level, as enhanced ocean heat increases their basal melt. While the circulation of warm water has been documented on the East Antarctic continental shelf, the modes of warm water transport from the deep ocean onto the shelf are still uncertain. This makes predicting the future responses of major East Antarctic marine-grounded glaciers, such as Totten and Ninnis glaciers, particularly challenging.

Finite-element numerical simulations of seismic attenuation in finely layered rocks.

P-wave conversion to slow diffusion (Biot) modes at mesoscopic (small-scale) inhomogeneities in porous media is believed to be the most important attenuation mechanisms at seismic frequencies. This study considers three periodic thin layers saturated with gas, oil, and water, respectively, a realistic scenario in hydrocarbon reservoirs, and perform finite-element numerical simulations to obtain the wave velocities and quality factors along the direction perpendicular to layering. The results are validated by comparison to the Norris-Cavallini analytical solution, constituting a cross-check for both theory and numerical simulations.