Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds
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 wat...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
FID GEO
2020
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5048 https://e-docs.geo-leo.de/handle/11858/9394 |
id |
ftdatacite:10.23689/fidgeo-5048 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdatacite:10.23689/fidgeo-5048 2023-05-15T13:44:15+02:00 Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell 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 https://dx.doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5048 https://e-docs.geo-leo.de/handle/11858/9394 en eng FID GEO Text Article article-journal ScholarlyArticle 2020 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5048 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z 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, toward 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/northeastern 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. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Sea ice Weddell Sea DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Austral The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
English |
description |
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, toward 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/northeastern 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 |
Text |
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 the Weddell 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 the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds |
title_short |
Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds |
title_full |
Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds |
title_fullStr |
Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds |
title_full_unstemmed |
Coherent Seasonal Acceleration of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System Driven by Upstream Winds |
title_sort |
coherent seasonal acceleration of the weddell sea boundary current system driven by upstream winds |
publisher |
FID GEO |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5048 https://e-docs.geo-leo.de/handle/11858/9394 |
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_doi |
https://doi.org/10.23689/fidgeo-5048 |
_version_ |
1766199461681299456 |