Intense anticyclones at the global Argentine Basin array of the Ocean Observatory Initiative

• Published in: Ocean Science
• Main Authors: Artana, Camila, Provost, Christine
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), 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)-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)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-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)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: CCSD 2023
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Antarctic; Argentine; The Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-04188268; https://insu.hal.science/insu-04188268v1/document; https://insu.hal.science/insu-04188268v1/file/os-19-953-2023.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/os-19-953-2023

International audience We analyzed physical oceanic parameters gathered by a mooring array at mesoscale spatial sampling deployed in the Argentine Basin within the Ocean Observatory Initiative, a National Science Foundation major research facility. The array was maintained at 42 ∘ S and 42 ∘ W, a historically sparsely sampled region with small ocean variability, over 34 months from March 2015 to January 2018. The data documented four anticyclonic extreme-structure events in 2016. The four anticyclonic structures had different characteristics (size, vertical extension, origin, lifetime and Rossby number). They all featured near-inertial waves (NIWs) trapped at depth and low Richardson values well below the mixed layer. Low Richardson values suggest favorable conditions for mixing. The anticyclonic features likely act as mixing structures at the pycnocline, bringing heat and salt from the South Atlantic Central Water to the Antarctic Intermediate Waters. The intense structures were unique in the 29-year-long satellite altimetry record at the mooring site. The Argentine Basin is populated with many anticyclones, and mixing associated with trapped NIWs probably plays an important role in setting up the upper-water-mass characteristics in the basin.