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Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal-borne instruments

Citation

Roquet, F and Wunsch, C and Forget, G and Heimbach, P and Guinet, C and Reverdin, G and Charrassin, J-B and Bailleul, F and Costa, DP and Huckstadt, LA and Goetz, KT and Kovacs, KM and Lydersen, C and Biuw, M and Nost, OA and Bornemann, H and Ploetz, J and Bester, MN and McIntyre, T and Muelbert, MC and Hindell, MA and McMahon, CR and Williams, GD and Harcourt, R and Field, IC and Chafik, L and Nicholls, KW and Boehme, L and Fedak, MA, Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal-borne instruments, Geophysical Research Letters, 40, (23) pp. 6176-6180. ISSN 0094-8276 (2013) [Refereed Article]


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Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/

DOI: doi:10.1002/2013GL058304

Abstract

Over the last decade, several hundred seals have been equipped with conductivity-temperature-depth sensors in the Southern Ocean for both biological and physical oceanographic studies. A calibrated collection of seal-derived hydrographic data is now available, consisting of more than 165,000 profiles. The value of these hydrographic data within the existing Southern Ocean observing system is demonstrated herein by conducting two state estimation experiments, differing only in the use or not of seal data to constrain the system. Including seal-derived data substantially modifies the estimated surface mixed-layer properties and circulation patterns within and south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Agreement with independent satellite observations of sea ice concentration is improved, especially along the East Antarctic shelf. Instrumented animals efficiently reduce a critical observational gap, and their contribution to monitoring polar climate variability will continue to grow as data accuracy and spatial coverage increase.

Item Details

Item Type:Refereed Article
Keywords:animal-borne sampling, Southern Ocean, state estimation, hydrography
Research Division:Earth Sciences
Research Group:Oceanography
Research Field:Physical oceanography
Objective Division:Environmental Management
Objective Group:Management of Antarctic and Southern Ocean environments
Objective Field:Antarctic and Southern Ocean oceanic processes
UTAS Author:Hindell, MA (Professor Mark Hindell)
UTAS Author:McMahon, CR (Dr Clive McMahon)
UTAS Author:Williams, GD (Mr Guy Williams)
ID Code:88772
Year Published:2013
Web of Science® Times Cited:98
Deposited By:CRC-Antarctic Climate & Ecosystems
Deposited On:2014-02-14
Last Modified:2017-10-31
Downloads:613 View Download Statistics

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