Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry
We investigate statistical properties of surface currents as well as coherent mesoscale eddies in the seasonally ice-covered Southern Ocean. Based on a recent regional Sea Level Anomaly satellite altimetry data set, we compute Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE) and detect mesoscale eddies. EKE is about one o...
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American Geophysical Union
2023
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ftcaltechauth:oai:authors.library.caltech.edu:w64kd-da268 2024-10-20T14:11:37+00:00 Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry Auger, Matthis Sallée, Jeanâ€Baptiste Thompson, Andrew F. Pauthenet, Etienne Prandi, Pierre 2023-04 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc019363 unknown American Geophysical Union https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc019363 eprintid:122044 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Other Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, 128(4), Art. No. e2022JC019363, (2023-04) Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Geochemistry and Petrology Geophysics Oceanography info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2023 ftcaltechauth https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc019363 2024-09-25T18:46:43Z We investigate statistical properties of surface currents as well as coherent mesoscale eddies in the seasonally ice-covered Southern Ocean. Based on a recent regional Sea Level Anomaly satellite altimetry data set, we compute Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE) and detect mesoscale eddies. EKE is about one order of magnitude higher in the northern sector of the subpolar basin and over the continental slope, as compared to the middle of the subpolar gyres. An eddy detection methodology reveals that eddies are distributed evenly in the subpolar Southern Ocean, and their amplitude follows the spatial pattern of EKE. In addition to regional circulation variations, sea ice concentration arises as an important driver of eddy properties. Eddies have low amplitude and density in the pack ice, in particular in the middle of the gyres where the background circulation is unfavorable for instabilities. In contrast, the northern part of the Marginal Ice Zone is favorable for mesoscale eddies, especially cyclonic. There, eddies are stronger and their density is higher than in any other region of the ice-covered or ice-free subpolar Southern Ocean. This region is expected to be a site of frontogenesis due to sea ice melt and upwelling generated from interactions between the wind and the sea ice. While many mesoscale eddies will fall below detection level due to the small Rossby radius at high latitudes, these results contribute to understanding the interactions between mesoscale eddies, sea ice, and the background circulation in the subpolar region. © 2023. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. M.A. and J.-B.S. have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N°821001. M.A. was funded through a CNES/CLS scholarship. Data Availability Statement. The Sea Level Anomaly data used in this study are ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Southern Ocean Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) Southern Ocean Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 128 4 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Caltech Authors (California Institute of Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftcaltechauth |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Geochemistry and Petrology Geophysics Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Geochemistry and Petrology Geophysics Oceanography Auger, Matthis Sallée, Jeanâ€Baptiste Thompson, Andrew F. Pauthenet, Etienne Prandi, Pierre Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry |
topic_facet |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Space and Planetary Science Geochemistry and Petrology Geophysics Oceanography |
description |
We investigate statistical properties of surface currents as well as coherent mesoscale eddies in the seasonally ice-covered Southern Ocean. Based on a recent regional Sea Level Anomaly satellite altimetry data set, we compute Eddy Kinetic Energy (EKE) and detect mesoscale eddies. EKE is about one order of magnitude higher in the northern sector of the subpolar basin and over the continental slope, as compared to the middle of the subpolar gyres. An eddy detection methodology reveals that eddies are distributed evenly in the subpolar Southern Ocean, and their amplitude follows the spatial pattern of EKE. In addition to regional circulation variations, sea ice concentration arises as an important driver of eddy properties. Eddies have low amplitude and density in the pack ice, in particular in the middle of the gyres where the background circulation is unfavorable for instabilities. In contrast, the northern part of the Marginal Ice Zone is favorable for mesoscale eddies, especially cyclonic. There, eddies are stronger and their density is higher than in any other region of the ice-covered or ice-free subpolar Southern Ocean. This region is expected to be a site of frontogenesis due to sea ice melt and upwelling generated from interactions between the wind and the sea ice. While many mesoscale eddies will fall below detection level due to the small Rossby radius at high latitudes, these results contribute to understanding the interactions between mesoscale eddies, sea ice, and the background circulation in the subpolar region. © 2023. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. M.A. and J.-B.S. have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement N°821001. M.A. was funded through a CNES/CLS scholarship. Data Availability Statement. The Sea Level Anomaly data used in this study are ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Auger, Matthis Sallée, Jeanâ€Baptiste Thompson, Andrew F. Pauthenet, Etienne Prandi, Pierre |
author_facet |
Auger, Matthis Sallée, Jeanâ€Baptiste Thompson, Andrew F. Pauthenet, Etienne Prandi, Pierre |
author_sort |
Auger, Matthis |
title |
Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry |
title_short |
Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry |
title_full |
Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry |
title_fullStr |
Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry |
title_full_unstemmed |
Southern Ocean Iceâ€Covered Eddy Properties From Satellite Altimetry |
title_sort |
southern ocean iceâ€covered eddy properties from satellite altimetry |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc019363 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Journal of Geophysical Research. Oceans, 128(4), Art. No. e2022JC019363, (2023-04) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc019363 eprintid:122044 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Other |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/2022jc019363 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
128 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1813452183057727488 |