Research on submesoscale eddy and front near the South Shetland Islands (Antarctic Peninsula) using seismic oceanography data

• Main Authors: Shun, Yang, Haibin, Song, Kun, Zhang
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Polar Research Institute of China - PRIC 2022
• Subjects: Oceans; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; South Shetland Islands; Advances in Polar Science; Antarc*; Ice Shelves; Polar Science
• Online Access: http://library.arcticportal.org/2779/; http://library.arcticportal.org/2779/1/9--APS-2021-0004.pdf

The submesoscale processes, including submesoscale eddies and fronts, have a strong vertical velocity, can thus make important supplements to the nutrients in the upper ocean. Using legacy multichannel seismic data AP25 of cruise EW9101 acquired northeast of the South Shetland Islands (Antarctic Peninsula) in February 1991, we identified an oceanic submesoscale eddy with the horizontal scale of ~4 km and a steep shelf break front that has variable dip angles from 5o to 10o. The submesoscale eddy is an anticyclonic eddy, which carries warm core water, can accelerate ice shelves melting. The upwelling induced by shelf break front may play an important role in transporting nutrients to the sea surface. The seismic images with very high lateral resolution may provide a new insight to understand the submesoscale and even small-scale oceanic phenomena in the interior.