Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea-ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals

Polar regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, with thepotential for significant feedbacks between ocean circulation, seaice, and the ocean carbon cycle. However, the difficulty in obtainingin situ data means that our ability to detect and interpretchange is very limited, especially in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Main Authors: Charrassin, JB, Hindell, MA, Rintoul, SR, Roquet, F, Sokolov, S, Biuw, M, Costa, D, Boehme, L, Lovell, P, Coleman, R, Timmermann, R, Meijers, AJ, Meredith, M, Park, YH, Bailleul, F, Goebel, M, Tremblay, Y, Bost, CA, McMahon, CR, Field, IC, Fedak, MA, Guinet, C
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: National Academy of Sciences 2008
Subjects:
Earth Sciences
Oceanography
Physical Oceanography
Southern Ocean
Elephant Seals
Mirounga leonina
Sea ice
Online Access:http://www.pnas.org
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0800790105
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18695241
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/54600
Description
Summary:Polar regions are particularly sensitive to climate change, with thepotential for significant feedbacks between ocean circulation, seaice, and the ocean carbon cycle. However, the difficulty in obtainingin situ data means that our ability to detect and interpretchange is very limited, especially in the Southern Ocean, where theocean beneath the sea ice remains almost entirely unobserved andthe rate of sea-ice formation is poorly known. Here, we show thatsouthern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) equipped with oceanographicsensors can measure ocean structure and water masschanges in regions and seasons rarely observed with traditionaloceanographic platforms. In particular, seals provided a 30-foldincrease in hydrographic profiles from the sea-ice zone, allowingthe major fronts to be mapped south of 60S and sea-ice formationrates to be inferred from changes in upper ocean salinity. Sea-iceproduction rates peaked in early winter (AprilMay) during therapid northward expansion of the pack ice and declined by a factorof 2 to 3 between May and August, in agreement with a threedimensionalcoupled oceansea-ice model. By measuring the highlatitudeocean during winter, elephant seals fill a blind spot inour sampling coverage, enabling the establishment of a trulyglobal ocean-observing system.

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