Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal-borne instruments

Roquet, Fabien; Wunsch, Carl; Forget, Gael; Heimbach, Patrick; Guinet, Christophe; Reverdin, Gilles; Charrassin, Jean-Benoit; Bailleul, Frederic; Costa, Daniel P.; Huckstadt, Luis A.; Goetz, Kimberly T.; Kovacs, Kit M.; Lydersen, Christian; Biuw, Martin; Nøst, Ole A.; Bornemann, Horst; Ploetz, Joachim; McIntyre, Trevor; Bester, Marthan N.; Muelbert, Monica C.; Hindell, Mark A.; McMahon, Clive R.; Williams, Guy; Harcourt, Robert; Field, Iain C.; Chafik, Leon; Nicholls, Keith W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2188-4509; Boehme, Lars; Fedak, Mike A.. 2013 Estimates of the Southern Ocean general circulation improved by animal-borne instruments. Geophysical Research Letters, 40 (23). 6176-6180. https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058304

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Abstract/Summary

Over the last decade, several hundred seals have been equipped with conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) sensors in the Southern Ocean for both biological and physical oceanographic studies. A calibrated collection of seal-derived hydrographic data is now available, consisting of more than 165,000 profiles. The value of these hydrographic data within the existing Southern Ocean observing system is demonstrated herein by conducting two state estimation experiments, differing only in the use or not of seal data to constrain the system. Including seal-derived data substantially modifies the estimated surface mixed-layer properties and circulation patterns within and south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Agreement with independent satellite observations of sea-ice concentration is improved, especially along the East Antarctic shelf. Instrumented animals efficiently reduce a critical observational gap, and their contribution to monitoring polar climate variability will continue to grow as data accuracy and spatial coverage increase

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058304
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Polar Oceans
ISSN:	00948276
Additional Keywords:	animal-borne sampling, Southern Ocean, state estimation, hydrography, elephant seal, sea-ice
Date made live:	26 Nov 2013 09:43 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/504008

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058304

Programmes:

BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Polar Oceans

ISSN:

00948276

Additional Keywords:

animal-borne sampling, Southern Ocean, state estimation, hydrography, elephant seal, sea-ice

Date made live:

26 Nov 2013 09:43 +0 (UTC)