A new way to look at mesoscale zooplankton distribution: An application at the Antartic Polar Front

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
• Main Authors: Vélez-Belchí, P. (Pedro), Allen, J., Strass, V.H. (Volker H.)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Centro Oceanográfico de Canarias 2002
• Subjects: Antarctic; The Antarctic; Austral; Antarctic Ocean; Antarc*; antartic*
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10508/7084; https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-0645(02)00117-0

During the austral summer of 1996 an intensive multidisciplinary survey was carried out in the Antarctic Polar Front. In this paper, we examine the relationship between hydrographic features and the acoustic backscatter signal from a vessel-mounted acoustic Doppler current profiler. We introduce two new analysis methods: mapping of depth-integrated scattering cross section and a model of the vertical zooplankton distribution through idealised population dynamics. Three distinct layers are characterised by a different balance between diel migration behaviour and direct/indirect forcing by mesoscale physical processes in the ocean. 2