Fronts, meanders and eddies in Drake Passage during the ANT-XXIII/3 cruise in January-February 2006: A satellite perspective

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography
• Main Authors: Barré, Nicolas, Provost, Christine, Renault, Alice, Sennéchael, Nathalie
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2011
• Subjects: [PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-GEO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDU.STU.GP]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geophysics [physics.geo-ph]; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Antarc*; Antarctic; Drake Passage
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00758309; https://doi.org/10.1016/J.DSR2.2011.01.003

International audience We used satellite altimetric data to provide a context for the results of the ANT-XXIII/3 cruise in January-February 2006 both in time (16 years) and space (the whole of Drake Passage). The repeat of the hydrographical section within 3 weeks permitted different comparisons between the in-situ datasets and the satellite data products. Comparisons suggested that the multi-satellite product improved the temporal resolution on a Jason-1 track.A detailed analysis of the four absolute dynamic topography maps contemporaneous with the ANT-XXIII/3 cruise permitted identification of the location of the frontal branches of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, of the major meanders and eddies. This spatial context proved particularly valuable for the interpretation of the in-situ data (see companion papers of Provost et al., 2011; Renault et al., 2011; Sudre et al., 2011).The altimetric time-series documented the long-term trends in sea-surface height, the recurrence of major frontal meanders and eddies and the statistical links between them. Negative trends in the Yaghan Basin indicated that both the Subantarctic Front and the Polar Front have shifted to the north of their climatological location. This northward shift in the Yaghan Basin contrasts with the large-scale southward shift in the Polar Front current core described in the literature, and is probably related to the local bottom topography in Drake Passage.Sea-level anomaly patterns observed during the cruise were related to statistical modes of the corresponding variations in Drake Passage. For example, the southward meander of the Subantarctic Front at the entrance to Drake Passage was part of a dipole comprising an adjacent Polar Front meander and occurred with a close to annual periodicity.A census of eddies in the Ona Basin revealed that the spatial distribution of anticyclonic eddies was consistent with generation from a meander of the Polar and Southern ACC Fronts over the Ona Seafloor Depression, while cyclonic eddies mostly ...