| Summary: | Eddies within oceans act as vehicles, transporting smaller bodies of water, with certain oceanographic characteristics, from one place to another within a larger body of water. The South West Indian Ridge [SWIR] is a topographically complex bathymetric feature which amplifies the production of mesoscale eddies in and around the Antarctic Circumpolar Current [ACC]. Within the Southern Ocean [SO], a section of this ridge - the Andrew Bain Fracture Zone [ABFZ] - has been found to be the starting line of an eastward extending eddy corridor. Earlier research shows an area of diminishing mesoscale variability within this corridor which extends down from 45°S to approximately 60S. A recent study focused on a southward extending anticyclonic eddy corridor and proved its existence. The anticyclonic [warm core] eddies which are propagating south, not previously investigated through in situ means, were observed during the 2014 Marion Island Relief Cruise [MIRC2014] aboard the SA Agulhas II. Two anticyclonic mesoscale eddies [one juvenile and one mature] were bisected with transects of conductivity, temperature and depth stations and expendable bathythermograph deployments. This paper used the in situ data captured during the MIRC2014 to study the internal structure of the two eddies. The objectives of this study were also to examine both the recent and the historical trajectory characteristics of the southward advecting anticyclonic eddies, to confirm the origin of the two sampled eddies, and to assess the structural differences between the two anticyclonic eddies. This paper plots the behaviour of the anticyclonic mesoscale eddies found within the area of the southward eddy corridor, firstly using website available data collected over a two year period [May 2012 - May 2014] and then utilizing a previously compiled data set to plot the historical dynamics [October 1992 - April 2012]. The trajectories of the southward anticyclones during that time period were found to be predominantly southward, typically following the ...
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