Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals
Polar regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, with the potential for significant feedbacks between ocean circulation, sea ice, and the ocean carbon cycle. However, the difficulty in obtaining in situ data means that our ability to detect and interpret change is very limited, especially...
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Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2575336 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18695241 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2575336 2023-05-15T16:05:36+02:00 Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals Charrassin, J.-B. Hindell, M. Rintoul, S. R. Roquet, F. Sokolov, S. Biuw, M. Costa, D. Boehme, L. Lovell, P. Coleman, R. Timmermann, R. Meijers, A. Meredith, M. Park, Y.-H. Bailleul, F. Goebel, M. Tremblay, Y. Bost, C.-A. McMahon, C. R. Field, I. C. Fedak, M. A. Guinet, C. 2008-08-19 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2575336 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18695241 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 en eng National Academy of Sciences http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2575336 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18695241 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 © 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. Physical Sciences Text 2008 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 2013-09-02T07:24:08Z Polar regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, with the potential for significant feedbacks between ocean circulation, sea ice, and the ocean carbon cycle. However, the difficulty in obtaining in situ data means that our ability to detect and interpret change is very limited, especially in the Southern Ocean, where the ocean beneath the sea ice remains almost entirely unobserved and the rate of sea-ice formation is poorly known. Here, we show that southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) equipped with oceanographic sensors can measure ocean structure and water mass changes in regions and seasons rarely observed with traditional oceanographic platforms. In particular, seals provided a 30-fold increase in hydrographic profiles from the sea-ice zone, allowing the major fronts to be mapped south of 60°S and sea-ice formation rates to be inferred from changes in upper ocean salinity. Sea-ice production rates peaked in early winter (April–May) during the rapid northward expansion of the pack ice and declined by a factor of 2 to 3 between May and August, in agreement with a three-dimensional coupled ocean–sea-ice model. By measuring the high-latitude ocean during winter, elephant seals fill a “blind spot” in our sampling coverage, enabling the establishment of a truly global ocean-observing system. Text Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean PubMed Central (PMC) Southern Ocean Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 33 11634 11639 |
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Open Polar |
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PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences Charrassin, J.-B. Hindell, M. Rintoul, S. R. Roquet, F. Sokolov, S. Biuw, M. Costa, D. Boehme, L. Lovell, P. Coleman, R. Timmermann, R. Meijers, A. Meredith, M. Park, Y.-H. Bailleul, F. Goebel, M. Tremblay, Y. Bost, C.-A. McMahon, C. R. Field, I. C. Fedak, M. A. Guinet, C. Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences |
description |
Polar regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, with the potential for significant feedbacks between ocean circulation, sea ice, and the ocean carbon cycle. However, the difficulty in obtaining in situ data means that our ability to detect and interpret change is very limited, especially in the Southern Ocean, where the ocean beneath the sea ice remains almost entirely unobserved and the rate of sea-ice formation is poorly known. Here, we show that southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) equipped with oceanographic sensors can measure ocean structure and water mass changes in regions and seasons rarely observed with traditional oceanographic platforms. In particular, seals provided a 30-fold increase in hydrographic profiles from the sea-ice zone, allowing the major fronts to be mapped south of 60°S and sea-ice formation rates to be inferred from changes in upper ocean salinity. Sea-ice production rates peaked in early winter (April–May) during the rapid northward expansion of the pack ice and declined by a factor of 2 to 3 between May and August, in agreement with a three-dimensional coupled ocean–sea-ice model. By measuring the high-latitude ocean during winter, elephant seals fill a “blind spot” in our sampling coverage, enabling the establishment of a truly global ocean-observing system. |
format |
Text |
author |
Charrassin, J.-B. Hindell, M. Rintoul, S. R. Roquet, F. Sokolov, S. Biuw, M. Costa, D. Boehme, L. Lovell, P. Coleman, R. Timmermann, R. Meijers, A. Meredith, M. Park, Y.-H. Bailleul, F. Goebel, M. Tremblay, Y. Bost, C.-A. McMahon, C. R. Field, I. C. Fedak, M. A. Guinet, C. |
author_facet |
Charrassin, J.-B. Hindell, M. Rintoul, S. R. Roquet, F. Sokolov, S. Biuw, M. Costa, D. Boehme, L. Lovell, P. Coleman, R. Timmermann, R. Meijers, A. Meredith, M. Park, Y.-H. Bailleul, F. Goebel, M. Tremblay, Y. Bost, C.-A. McMahon, C. R. Field, I. C. Fedak, M. A. Guinet, C. |
author_sort |
Charrassin, J.-B. |
title |
Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
title_short |
Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
title_full |
Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
title_fullStr |
Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
title_sort |
southern ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2575336 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18695241 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 |
geographic |
Southern Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Southern Ocean |
genre |
Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Elephant Seals Mirounga leonina Sea ice Southern Elephant Seals Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2575336 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18695241 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 |
op_rights |
© 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
105 |
container_issue |
33 |
container_start_page |
11634 |
op_container_end_page |
11639 |
_version_ |
1766401490271862784 |