Slope currents around the Kerguelen Islands from demersal longline fishing records

International audience The Kerguelen Plateau constitutes a natural obstacle for the eastward progress of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, especially around the Kerguelen Islands. However, there is little quantitative knowledge of the current field around the islands due to lack of long-term curren...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Park, y.-H., Gasco, N., Duhamel, Guy
Other Authors: Département Milieux et Peuplements Aquatiques, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN), Biologie des organismes marins et écosystèmes (BOME), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2008
Subjects:
slope currents
longline fisheries
Kerguelen
[SDV.EE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology
environment
[SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology
Antarctic
Kerguelen Islands
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Patagonian Toothfish
Online Access:https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00440192
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL033660
Description
Summary:International audience The Kerguelen Plateau constitutes a natural obstacle for the eastward progress of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, especially around the Kerguelen Islands. However, there is little quantitative knowledge of the current field around the islands due to lack of long-term current measurements. We performed a systematic analysis of a total of 28917 points of fishing gear drifts from setting and recovery positions of demersal longlines deployed between 2002 and 2007 for Patagonian Toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fisheries in Kerguelen waters. This enabled the construction of a realistic field of depth-averaged time-mean slope currents along the 1000 m isobath all around the Kerguelen Islands. The strongest depth-mean velocities of 25 cm s−1 are associated with the Polar Front, which rounds the islands from the south and flows northward along the inner continental slope immediately east of the islands, strongly supporting previous hydrographic evidence. These results demonstrate the potential for hitherto unexploited historic longline drift data from demersal fishing grounds to provide valuable quantitative information on the regional circulation

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