Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales
The boundary current system in the Weddell Sea is composed of surface and gravity currents, which flow along the Antarctic margin’s, south of the Atlantic basin. These currents are central for the meridional transfer of heat and bio-geochemical properties between the Weddell Sea and the world ocean....
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Universität Bremen
2021
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ftsubbremen:oai:media.suub.uni-bremen.de:Publications/elib/5706 2023-05-15T13:42:31+02:00 Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales Dynamik des Wedell Meer Küstenströmungen System auf saisonalen Zeitskalen Le Paih, Nicolas Kanzow, Torsten Rhein, Monika 2021-07-06 application/pdf https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/5706 https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/1385 https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib57062 eng eng Universität Bremen Fachbereich 01: Physik/Elektrotechnik (FB 01) https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/5706 http://dx.doi.org/10.26092/elib/1385 doi:10.26092/elib/1385 urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib57062 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC BY 4.0 (Attribution) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Oceanography Weddell Sea Boundary current Seasonality Long-term observations Conceptual model 530 530 Physics ddc:530 Dissertation doctoralThesis 2021 ftsubbremen https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/1385 2022-11-09T07:10:23Z The boundary current system in the Weddell Sea is composed of surface and gravity currents, which flow along the Antarctic margin’s, south of the Atlantic basin. These currents are central for the meridional transfer of heat and bio-geochemical properties between the Weddell Sea and the world ocean. They contribute to the transport of relatively warm water towards the Weddell Sea continental shelves, a major site where cold and dense shelf water forms, and the export of dense shelf water towards lower latitudes, feeding the lower branch of the meridional overturning circulation. Yet, the link between warm water inflow and export of dense shelf water still needs to be made on seasonal-time scales. The goal of my PhD is to provide the first coherent description of the seasonal evolution of the boundary current system along the continental slope. Combining oceanographic data, I find a synchronised seasonality of the barotropic flow along the Weddell Sea’s continental slope. The seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow significantly contributes to the transport of dense shelf waters and correlates with the surface stress in the eastern side of the Weddell Sea. This finding suggests that the winds in the eastern Weddell Sea remotely contribute to the transport of dense shelf waters in the western Weddell Sea. How- ever, the mechanisms controlling the relationship between the surface stress and the barotropic flow remains unclear. Even though oceanographic data are generally insufficient to quantitatively compare the baroclinic variability along the continental slope, I observe a weakening of the baroclinic seasonality between the eastern and the western part of the continental slope. A conceptual model developed for this study supports an along-slope dampening of the baroclinic signals associated with (1) the presence of a density gradient between the dense shelf water on the south- and western continental shelves and the water masses on the continental slope and, (2) the widening of the continental slope between ... Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis Antarc* Antarctic Weddell Sea Media SuUB Bremen (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen) Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Media SuUB Bremen (Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Bremen) |
op_collection_id |
ftsubbremen |
language |
English |
topic |
Oceanography Weddell Sea Boundary current Seasonality Long-term observations Conceptual model 530 530 Physics ddc:530 |
spellingShingle |
Oceanography Weddell Sea Boundary current Seasonality Long-term observations Conceptual model 530 530 Physics ddc:530 Le Paih, Nicolas Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales |
topic_facet |
Oceanography Weddell Sea Boundary current Seasonality Long-term observations Conceptual model 530 530 Physics ddc:530 |
description |
The boundary current system in the Weddell Sea is composed of surface and gravity currents, which flow along the Antarctic margin’s, south of the Atlantic basin. These currents are central for the meridional transfer of heat and bio-geochemical properties between the Weddell Sea and the world ocean. They contribute to the transport of relatively warm water towards the Weddell Sea continental shelves, a major site where cold and dense shelf water forms, and the export of dense shelf water towards lower latitudes, feeding the lower branch of the meridional overturning circulation. Yet, the link between warm water inflow and export of dense shelf water still needs to be made on seasonal-time scales. The goal of my PhD is to provide the first coherent description of the seasonal evolution of the boundary current system along the continental slope. Combining oceanographic data, I find a synchronised seasonality of the barotropic flow along the Weddell Sea’s continental slope. The seasonal acceleration of the barotropic flow significantly contributes to the transport of dense shelf waters and correlates with the surface stress in the eastern side of the Weddell Sea. This finding suggests that the winds in the eastern Weddell Sea remotely contribute to the transport of dense shelf waters in the western Weddell Sea. How- ever, the mechanisms controlling the relationship between the surface stress and the barotropic flow remains unclear. Even though oceanographic data are generally insufficient to quantitatively compare the baroclinic variability along the continental slope, I observe a weakening of the baroclinic seasonality between the eastern and the western part of the continental slope. A conceptual model developed for this study supports an along-slope dampening of the baroclinic signals associated with (1) the presence of a density gradient between the dense shelf water on the south- and western continental shelves and the water masses on the continental slope and, (2) the widening of the continental slope between ... |
author2 |
Kanzow, Torsten Rhein, Monika |
format |
Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis |
author |
Le Paih, Nicolas |
author_facet |
Le Paih, Nicolas |
author_sort |
Le Paih, Nicolas |
title |
Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales |
title_short |
Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales |
title_full |
Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales |
title_fullStr |
Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Dynamics of the Weddell Sea Boundary Current System (BCS) on seasonal time-scales |
title_sort |
dynamics of the weddell sea boundary current system (bcs) on seasonal time-scales |
publisher |
Universität Bremen |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/5706 https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/1385 https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib57062 |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Weddell Weddell Sea |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Weddell Sea |
op_relation |
https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/5706 http://dx.doi.org/10.26092/elib/1385 doi:10.26092/elib/1385 urn:nbn:de:gbv:46-elib57062 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC BY 4.0 (Attribution) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26092/elib/1385 |
_version_ |
1766168793767215104 |