Results from the Antarctic CircUmpolar Current dynamics Analysis (ACCUA) project

• Main Authors: P. Falco, B. Buongiorno Nardelli, COTRONEO, Yuri, DE RUGGIERO, PAOLA, D. Iudicone, S. Pierini, G. Spezie, E. Zambianchi
• Other Authors: P. Falco, B. Buongiorno Nardelli, Y. Cotroneo, P. de Ruggiero, D.Iudicone, S. Pierini, G. Spezie, E.Zambianchi, Falco, P., Buongiorno Nardelli, B., Cotroneo, Yuri, DE RUGGIERO, Paola, Iudicone, D., Pierini, S., Spezie, G., Zambianchi, E.
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Antarctic; New Zealand; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11367/65165; http://www.iapso-iamas-iaga2017.com/index.php

The ACCUA project (funded in the framework of the Italian Antarctic Research Programme, PNRA) was aimed at analyzing and interpreting oceanographic data gathered in previous PNRA Antarctic expeditions through a combination of innovative data analysis methods (based on in situ observations and satellite data) and the use of an ocean circulation model of a wide sector of the Southern Ocean. The main achieved results are: - the identification of the ACC frontal variability from in situ and satellite altimeter data; - the observation-based reconstruction of the temperature and salinity fields and associated estimates of the upper mixed layer depth in the Southern Ocean; - the reconstruction of the 3D circulation along the New Zealand - Antarctica transect; - the identification and analysis of the intrinsic component of the ACC variability based on numerical simulations with stationary forcing; - the analysis of the mesoscale dynamics and its impact on the large scale circulation. In this presentation these results are summarized and their interrelationships are discussed.