Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water
The export of waters from the Weddell Gyre to lower latitudes is an integral component of the southern subpolar contribution to the three-dimensional oceanic circulation. Here we use more than 20 years of repeat hydrographic data on the continental slope on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsul...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
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Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/1/Meijers_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 |
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:514915 2023-05-15T13:49:33+02:00 Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water Meijers, A.J.S. Meredith, M.P. Abrahamsen, E.P. Maqueda, M.A.M. Jones, D.C. Naveira Garabato, A.C. 2016-10 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/1/Meijers_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 en eng Wiley https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/1/Meijers_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf Meijers, A.J.S. orcid:0000-0003-3876-7736 Meredith, M.P. orcid:0000-0002-7342-7756 Abrahamsen, E.P. orcid:0000-0001-5924-5350 Maqueda, M.A.M.; Jones, D.C. orcid:0000-0002-8701-4506 Naveira Garabato, A.C. 2016 Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121 (10). 7530-7546. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757> Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 2023-02-04T19:43:48Z The export of waters from the Weddell Gyre to lower latitudes is an integral component of the southern subpolar contribution to the three-dimensional oceanic circulation. Here we use more than 20 years of repeat hydrographic data on the continental slope on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 5 years of bottom lander data on the slope at 1000 m to show the intermittent presence of a relatively cold, fresh, westward flowing current. This is often bottom-intensified between 600 and 2000 dbar with velocities of over 20 cm s−1, transporting an average of 1.5 ± 1.5 Sv. By comparison with hydrography on the continental slope within the Weddell Sea and modeled tracer release experiments we show that this slope current is an extension of the Antarctic Slope Current that has crossed the South Scotia Ridge west of Orkney Plateau. On monthly to interannual time scales the density of the slope current is negatively correlated (r > 0.6 with a significance of over 95%) with eastward wind stress over the northern Weddell Sea, but lagging it by 6–13 months. This relationship holds in both the high temporal resolution bottom lander time series and the 20+ year annual hydrographic occupations and agrees with Weddell Sea export variability observed further east. We compare several alternative hypotheses for this wind stress/export relationship and find that it is most consistent with wind-driven acceleration of the gyre boundary current, possibly modulated by eddy dynamics, and represents a mechanism by which climatic perturbations can be rapidly transmitted as fluctuations in the supply of intermediate-level waters to lower latitudes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell South Scotia Ridge ENVELOPE(-46.500,-46.500,-60.000,-60.000) Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 121 10 7530 7546 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
description |
The export of waters from the Weddell Gyre to lower latitudes is an integral component of the southern subpolar contribution to the three-dimensional oceanic circulation. Here we use more than 20 years of repeat hydrographic data on the continental slope on the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and 5 years of bottom lander data on the slope at 1000 m to show the intermittent presence of a relatively cold, fresh, westward flowing current. This is often bottom-intensified between 600 and 2000 dbar with velocities of over 20 cm s−1, transporting an average of 1.5 ± 1.5 Sv. By comparison with hydrography on the continental slope within the Weddell Sea and modeled tracer release experiments we show that this slope current is an extension of the Antarctic Slope Current that has crossed the South Scotia Ridge west of Orkney Plateau. On monthly to interannual time scales the density of the slope current is negatively correlated (r > 0.6 with a significance of over 95%) with eastward wind stress over the northern Weddell Sea, but lagging it by 6–13 months. This relationship holds in both the high temporal resolution bottom lander time series and the 20+ year annual hydrographic occupations and agrees with Weddell Sea export variability observed further east. We compare several alternative hypotheses for this wind stress/export relationship and find that it is most consistent with wind-driven acceleration of the gyre boundary current, possibly modulated by eddy dynamics, and represents a mechanism by which climatic perturbations can be rapidly transmitted as fluctuations in the supply of intermediate-level waters to lower latitudes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Meijers, A.J.S. Meredith, M.P. Abrahamsen, E.P. Maqueda, M.A.M. Jones, D.C. Naveira Garabato, A.C. |
spellingShingle |
Meijers, A.J.S. Meredith, M.P. Abrahamsen, E.P. Maqueda, M.A.M. Jones, D.C. Naveira Garabato, A.C. Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water |
author_facet |
Meijers, A.J.S. Meredith, M.P. Abrahamsen, E.P. Maqueda, M.A.M. Jones, D.C. Naveira Garabato, A.C. |
author_sort |
Meijers, A.J.S. |
title |
Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water |
title_short |
Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water |
title_full |
Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water |
title_fullStr |
Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water |
title_full_unstemmed |
Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water |
title_sort |
wind-driven export of weddell sea slope water |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/1/Meijers_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-46.500,-46.500,-60.000,-60.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell South Scotia Ridge |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea Weddell South Scotia Ridge |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/514915/1/Meijers_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Oceans.pdf Meijers, A.J.S. orcid:0000-0003-3876-7736 Meredith, M.P. orcid:0000-0002-7342-7756 Abrahamsen, E.P. orcid:0000-0001-5924-5350 Maqueda, M.A.M.; Jones, D.C. orcid:0000-0002-8701-4506 Naveira Garabato, A.C. 2016 Wind-driven export of Weddell Sea slope water. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 121 (10). 7530-7546. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JC011757 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans |
container_volume |
121 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
7530 |
op_container_end_page |
7546 |
_version_ |
1766251573387722752 |