Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is a crucial component of the global ocean conveyor belt, acting as a zonal link among the major ocean basins but, to some extent, limiting meridional exchange and tending to isolate the ocean south of it from momentum and heat income. In this work we investig...
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/3053 2023-05-15T14:01:21+02:00 Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean Trani, Marilisa Falco, Pierpaolo Zambianchi, Enrico 2011-12-30 application/pdf text/html application/epub+zip text/xml https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/pdf_1 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/html https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/6920 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/xml https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053 doi:10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research Polar Research; Vol 30 (2011) 1751-8369 Antarctic Circumpolar Current eddy fluxes Global Drifter Program data Lagrangian oceanography Helmholtz decomposition info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article 2011 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 2021-11-11T19:13:37Z The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is a crucial component of the global ocean conveyor belt, acting as a zonal link among the major ocean basins but, to some extent, limiting meridional exchange and tending to isolate the ocean south of it from momentum and heat income. In this work we investigate one of the most important mechanisms contributing to the poleward transfer of properties in the Southern Ocean, that is the eddy component of the dynamics. For this particular purpose, observations obtained from near-surface drifters have been used: they represent a very useful data set to analyse the eddy field because of their ability to catch a large number of scales of motion while providing a quasi-synoptic coverage of the investigated area. Estimates of the eddy heat and momentum fluxes are carried out using data taken from the Global Drifter Program databank; they refer to Surface Velocity Program drifter trajectories collected in the area south of 358S between 1995 and 2006. Eddy kinetic energies, variance ellipses, momentum and heat fluxes have been calculated using the pseudo-Eulerian method, showing patterns in good agreement with those present in the literature based on observational and model data, although there are some quantitative differences. The eddy fluxes have been separated into their rotational and divergent portions, the latter being responsible for the meridional transports. The associated zonal and depth-exponentially integrated meridional heat transport exhibits values spanning over a range between -0.4 PW and -1.1 PW in the ACC region, consistent with previous estimates.Keywords: Antarctic Circumpolar Current; eddy fluxes; Global Drifter Program data; Lagrangian oceanography; Helmholtz decomposition(Published: 30 December 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 11203, DOI:10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Polar Research Southern Ocean Polar Research (E-Journal) Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Polar Research 30 1 11203 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Polar Research (E-Journal) |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarctic Circumpolar Current eddy fluxes Global Drifter Program data Lagrangian oceanography Helmholtz decomposition |
spellingShingle |
Antarctic Circumpolar Current eddy fluxes Global Drifter Program data Lagrangian oceanography Helmholtz decomposition Trani, Marilisa Falco, Pierpaolo Zambianchi, Enrico Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean |
topic_facet |
Antarctic Circumpolar Current eddy fluxes Global Drifter Program data Lagrangian oceanography Helmholtz decomposition |
description |
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is a crucial component of the global ocean conveyor belt, acting as a zonal link among the major ocean basins but, to some extent, limiting meridional exchange and tending to isolate the ocean south of it from momentum and heat income. In this work we investigate one of the most important mechanisms contributing to the poleward transfer of properties in the Southern Ocean, that is the eddy component of the dynamics. For this particular purpose, observations obtained from near-surface drifters have been used: they represent a very useful data set to analyse the eddy field because of their ability to catch a large number of scales of motion while providing a quasi-synoptic coverage of the investigated area. Estimates of the eddy heat and momentum fluxes are carried out using data taken from the Global Drifter Program databank; they refer to Surface Velocity Program drifter trajectories collected in the area south of 358S between 1995 and 2006. Eddy kinetic energies, variance ellipses, momentum and heat fluxes have been calculated using the pseudo-Eulerian method, showing patterns in good agreement with those present in the literature based on observational and model data, although there are some quantitative differences. The eddy fluxes have been separated into their rotational and divergent portions, the latter being responsible for the meridional transports. The associated zonal and depth-exponentially integrated meridional heat transport exhibits values spanning over a range between -0.4 PW and -1.1 PW in the ACC region, consistent with previous estimates.Keywords: Antarctic Circumpolar Current; eddy fluxes; Global Drifter Program data; Lagrangian oceanography; Helmholtz decomposition(Published: 30 December 2011)Citation: Polar Research 2011, 30, 11203, DOI:10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Trani, Marilisa Falco, Pierpaolo Zambianchi, Enrico |
author_facet |
Trani, Marilisa Falco, Pierpaolo Zambianchi, Enrico |
author_sort |
Trani, Marilisa |
title |
Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean |
title_short |
Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean |
title_full |
Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Near-surface eddy dynamics in the Southern Ocean |
title_sort |
near-surface eddy dynamics in the southern ocean |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Research Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Polar Research Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol 30 (2011) 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/pdf_1 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/html https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/6920 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053/xml https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3053 doi:10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v30i0.11203 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
30 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
11203 |
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1766271096287395840 |