An observation of the banded structure of the Antarctic Coastal Current at the prime meridian

Observations of three bands of westward flow and two countercurrents, spanning roughly 50 km from the ice-shelf edge in front of the Fimbul Ice Shelf(prime meridian) in Antarctica, are presented. A comparison with a numerical model and the proximity of two of these current cores to the ice shelf sug...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Núñez-Riboni, Ismael, Fahrbach, Eberhard
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 2010
Subjects:
Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctica
Fimbul Ice Shelf
Ice Shelf
Polar Research
Sea ice
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/25496/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/25496/1/Polar_Research-Ismael.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.38641
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.38641.d001
Description
Summary:Observations of three bands of westward flow and two countercurrents, spanning roughly 50 km from the ice-shelf edge in front of the Fimbul Ice Shelf(prime meridian) in Antarctica, are presented. A comparison with a numerical model and the proximity of two of these current cores to the ice shelf suggest that they split from the Antarctic Coastal Current because of the influence of sea ice on the surface drag. A comparison with previous studies suggests that the other core is the current associated with the Antarctic Slope Front. Because the Fimbul ice shelf overhangs the continental shelf, the Antarctic Coastal Current displaces offshore, getting close to the Antarctic Slope Front. The obtained structure is derived from conductivity–temperature–depth geostrophic velocities from February 2005, referenced with detided acoustic Doppler current profiler velocities.

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