Pelagic regionalisation approach in the wider Weddell Sea (Antarctica) with link to ArcGIS map package

• Main Authors: Pehlke, Hendrik, Teschke, Katharina
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2019
• Subjects: AWI_FuncEco; Development of a CCAMLR Marine Protected Area in the Antarctic Weddell Sea; File content; File format; File name; File size; Functional Ecology @ AWI; Model; Uniform resource locator/link to file; Wider_Weddell_Sea_Antarctica_pelagic_regionalisati; WSMPA; Antarctic; Antarctic Peninsula; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Weddell; Weddell Sea; Antarc*; Antarctica; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.899595; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.899595

Here we provide an ArcGIS map package on the pelagic regionalisation in the wider Weddell Sea (Antarctica), which were created in the context of the development of a marine protected area (MPA) in the Weddell Sea. For the pelagic regionalisation following parameters were incorporated: (i) ice coverage from AMSR-E sea ice maps, (ii) bathymetric data from the International Bathymetric Chart of the Southern Ocean (IBCSO), and (iii) seawater temperature and salinity data from the Finite Element Sea Ice - Ocean Model (FESOM) provided by R. Timmermann (AWI). To classify different pelagic areas we have applied K-means clustering algorithm and 'clusGap' function from R package 'cluster'. Coastal polynyas mainly occurred east and west of the Prime Meridian (between 20°W to 30°E) as well as around the tip of Antarctic Peninsula, whereas the inner Weddell Sea was characterised by perennial ice-coverage. The largest area proportion of the wider Weddell Sea were classified by above average large water depths and relative high probabilities of ice-free days. More information on the spatial analysis is given in working paper WG-EMM-16/03 submitted to the CCAMLR Working Group on Ecosystem Monitoring and Management (available at https://www.ccamlr.org/en/wg-emm-16).