Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds

Abstract The Weddell Sea is of global importance in the formation of dense bottom waters associated with sea-ice formation and ocean-ice sheet interaction occurring on the shelf areas. In this context, the Weddell Sea boundary current system (BCS) presents a major conduit for transporting relatively...

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Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
Main Authors: Le Paih, Nicolas, Hattermann, Tore, Boebel, Olaf, Kanzow, Torsten, Lüpkes, Christof, Rohardt, Gerd, Strass, Volker, Herbette, Steven
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: wiley 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/53091/
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JC016316
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.6aed0840-d4db-4822-bd39-bf6d542945ce
id ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:53091
record_format openpolar
spelling ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:53091 2023-05-15T13:45:22+02:00 Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds Le Paih, Nicolas Hattermann, Tore Boebel, Olaf Kanzow, Torsten Lüpkes, Christof Rohardt, Gerd Strass, Volker Herbette, Steven 2020-09-25 https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/53091/ https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JC016316 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.6aed0840-d4db-4822-bd39-bf6d542945ce unknown wiley Le Paih, N. , Hattermann, T. , Boebel, O. orcid:0000-0002-2259-0035 , Kanzow, T. orcid:0000-0002-5786-3435 , Lüpkes, C. orcid:0000-0001-6518-0717 , Rohardt, G. orcid:0000-0003-0479-7638 , Strass, V. orcid:0000-0002-7539-1400 and Herbette, S. (2020) Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 125 (10), e2020JC016316 . doi:10.1029/2020JC016316 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016316> , hdl:10013/epic.6aed0840-d4db-4822-bd39-bf6d542945ce EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, wiley, 125(10), pp. e2020JC016316 Article isiRev info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2020 ftawi https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016316 2021-12-24T15:45:56Z Abstract The Weddell Sea is of global importance in the formation of dense bottom waters associated with sea-ice formation and ocean-ice sheet interaction occurring on the shelf areas. In this context, the Weddell Sea boundary current system (BCS) presents a major conduit for transporting relatively warm water to the Weddell Sea ice shelves and for exporting some modified form of Wedell Sea deep and bottom waters into the open ocean. This study investigates the downstream evolution of the structure and the seasonality of the BCS along the Weddell Sea continental slope, combining ocean data collected for the past two decades at three study locations. The interannual-mean geostrophic flow, which follows planetary potential vorticity contours, shifts from being surface-intensified to bottom intensified along-stream. The shift occurs due to the densification of water masses and the decreasing surface stress that occurs westward, towards the Antarctic Peninsula. A coherent along-slope seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow exists, with maximum speed in austral autumn and minimum speed in austral summer. The barotropic flow significantly contributes to the seasonal variability in bottom velocity along the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our analysis suggests that the winds on the eastern/north-eastern side of the gyre determines the seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow. In turn, they might control the export of Weddell Sea Bottom Water on seasonal time-scales. The processes controlling the baroclinic seasonality of the flow need further investigation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Sea ice Weddell Sea Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125 10
institution Open Polar
collection Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center)
op_collection_id ftawi
language unknown
description Abstract The Weddell Sea is of global importance in the formation of dense bottom waters associated with sea-ice formation and ocean-ice sheet interaction occurring on the shelf areas. In this context, the Weddell Sea boundary current system (BCS) presents a major conduit for transporting relatively warm water to the Weddell Sea ice shelves and for exporting some modified form of Wedell Sea deep and bottom waters into the open ocean. This study investigates the downstream evolution of the structure and the seasonality of the BCS along the Weddell Sea continental slope, combining ocean data collected for the past two decades at three study locations. The interannual-mean geostrophic flow, which follows planetary potential vorticity contours, shifts from being surface-intensified to bottom intensified along-stream. The shift occurs due to the densification of water masses and the decreasing surface stress that occurs westward, towards the Antarctic Peninsula. A coherent along-slope seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow exists, with maximum speed in austral autumn and minimum speed in austral summer. The barotropic flow significantly contributes to the seasonal variability in bottom velocity along the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our analysis suggests that the winds on the eastern/north-eastern side of the gyre determines the seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow. In turn, they might control the export of Weddell Sea Bottom Water on seasonal time-scales. The processes controlling the baroclinic seasonality of the flow need further investigation.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Le Paih, Nicolas
Hattermann, Tore
Boebel, Olaf
Kanzow, Torsten
Lüpkes, Christof
Rohardt, Gerd
Strass, Volker
Herbette, Steven
spellingShingle Le Paih, Nicolas
Hattermann, Tore
Boebel, Olaf
Kanzow, Torsten
Lüpkes, Christof
Rohardt, Gerd
Strass, Volker
Herbette, Steven
Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
author_facet Le Paih, Nicolas
Hattermann, Tore
Boebel, Olaf
Kanzow, Torsten
Lüpkes, Christof
Rohardt, Gerd
Strass, Volker
Herbette, Steven
author_sort Le Paih, Nicolas
title Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
title_short Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
title_full Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
title_fullStr Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
title_full_unstemmed Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
title_sort coherent seasonal acceleration of theweddell sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds
publisher wiley
publishDate 2020
url https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/53091/
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JC016316
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.6aed0840-d4db-4822-bd39-bf6d542945ce
geographic Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Austral
The Antarctic
Weddell
Weddell Sea
geographic_facet Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Austral
The Antarctic
Weddell
Weddell Sea
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelves
Sea ice
Weddell Sea
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelves
Sea ice
Weddell Sea
op_source EPIC3Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, wiley, 125(10), pp. e2020JC016316
op_relation Le Paih, N. , Hattermann, T. , Boebel, O. orcid:0000-0002-2259-0035 , Kanzow, T. orcid:0000-0002-5786-3435 , Lüpkes, C. orcid:0000-0001-6518-0717 , Rohardt, G. orcid:0000-0003-0479-7638 , Strass, V. orcid:0000-0002-7539-1400 and Herbette, S. (2020) Coherent seasonal acceleration of theWeddell Sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds , Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 125 (10), e2020JC016316 . doi:10.1029/2020JC016316 <https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016316> , hdl:10013/epic.6aed0840-d4db-4822-bd39-bf6d542945ce
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016316
container_title Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
container_volume 125
container_issue 10
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