Deep Water. Interannual Variability of Antarctic Hydrographic Structure and Frontal Zones along Meridional Sections between Syowa Station and Southern Africa
Six years of quasi-meridional crossings of the Antarctic Ocean from Antarctica to southern Africa between 4°W and 16°E longitude are analyzed, with emphasis on temperature and salinity distributions. Data are sparse, but (particularly in the south-ern part of the sections) adequate to show significa...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
1999
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.615.9898 http://www.terrapub.co.jp/journals/JO/pdf/5601/56010001.pdf |
| Summary: | Six years of quasi-meridional crossings of the Antarctic Ocean from Antarctica to southern Africa between 4°W and 16°E longitude are analyzed, with emphasis on temperature and salinity distributions. Data are sparse, but (particularly in the south-ern part of the sections) adequate to show significant variations in the latitude/depth distributions and T-S characteristics of the principal water masses. In particular, the cross-sectional area occupied by Warm Deep Water (Weddell Deep Water) dropped by about one third in 1968. Positions of major features associated with the Antarctic Divergence varied by up to 5 degrees of latitude. The surface temperature gradient often observed at the Antarctic Divergence appears to be the surface expression of a shallow (possibly seasonal) thermocline which sometimes slopes upward to intersect the sea surface. There is a clear need for more closely spaced and consistently planned data from Antarctic cruises, particularly those on which physical oceanography is an ancillary activity. As a bare minimum, much more closely spaced surface tempera-ture (and if possible also salinity) measurements would be useful. (1982/1983). The Fuji has since been replaced by the |
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