Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal-borne instruments

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Roquet, Fabien, Wunsch, Carl, Forget, Gael, Heimbach, Patrick, Guinet, Christophe, Reverdin, Gilles, Charrassin, Jean-Benoit, Bailleul, Frédéric, Costa, Daniel P., Huckstädt, Luis A., Goetz, Kimberly T., Kovacs, Kit M., Lydersen, Christian, Biuw, Martin, Nøst, Ole A., Bornemann, Horst, Ploetz, Joachim, Bester, Marthán N., Mcintyre, Trevor, Muelbert, Mônica M. C., Hindell, Mark A., Mcmahon, Clive R., Williams, Guy Darvall, Harcourt, Robert G., Field, Iain C., Chafik, Léon, Nicholls, Keith W., Boehme, Lars, Fedak, Michael A.
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Échanges dans la couche de surface : des pôles aux tropiques (SURF), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL), 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)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL), Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IP Paris)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Interactions et Processus au sein de la couche de Surface Océanique (IPSO), Couplage physique-biogéochimie-carbone (PHYBIOCAR), Processus de couplage à Petite Echelle, Ecosystèmes et Prédateurs Supérieurs (PEPS), Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), FRAM Centre, Norwegian Polar Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology Pretoria, University of Pretoria South Africa
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: CCSD 2013
• Subjects: [SDE]Environmental Sciences; [SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean; Atmosphere; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-00961575; https://hal.science/hal-00961575v1/document; https://hal.science/hal-00961575v1/file/2013GL058304.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058304

International audience Over the last decade, several hundred seals have been equipped with conductivity-temperature-depth sensors in the Southern Ocean for both biological and physical oceanographic studies. A calibrated collection of seal-derived hydrographic data is now available, consisting of more than 165,000 profiles. The value of these hydrographic data within the existing Southern Ocean observing system is demonstrated herein by conducting two state estimation experiments, differing only in the use or not of seal data to constrain the system. Including seal-derived data substantially modifies the estimated surface mixedlayer properties and circulation patterns within and south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Agreement with independent satellite observations of sea ice concentration is improved, especially along the East Antarctic shelf. Instrumented animals efficiently reduce a critical observational gap, and their contribution to monitoring polar climate variability will continue to grow as data accuracy and spatial coverage increase.