year-round observations of the weddell sea from argo floats ethan campbell intern department of...
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Year-round observations of the Weddell Sea from Argo floats
Ethan Campbell intern
Department of GeosciencesPrinceton University
Princeton, NJ
Prof. Stephen Riser mentor
School of OceanographyUniversity of Washington
Seattle, WA
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) and Weddell Sea
Weddell Sea
Stevens & Chiswell (2013) / Te Ara
Past observations of the Weddell Sea• Extremely sparse (only 3000 ship-borne profiles since 1912)• Almost all during austral summer
Robertson et al. (2002)
for scale, New Jersey:
Argo float observations
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, UK
Argo floats in the Weddell Sea
A rare occurrence during mid-winter
A rare occurrence during mid-winter
Maud Rise
• Massive seamount– 100 km in diameter (width of
New Jersey)– Extends from 5000 m to
1600 m depth• Impinging flow splits– “Halo” of circulation around
column– Warm water forced to upwell
• Persistent low sea ice concentration
Holland (2001)
A small polynya west of Maud Rise
Warm pool west of Maud Rise
Heat and salt budgets of the Weddell Sea mixed layer + sea ice thickness
Wong & Riser (2011), from Martinson (1990)
change in mixed layer depth
change in mixed layer salinity
inferred thermodynamic ice thickness
Acknowledgements
• Princeton Environmental Institute for funding• UW School of Oceanography:– Special thanks to Prof. Stephen Riser– Annie Wong– Robert Drucker– Dana Swift– Rick Rupan & the Argo lab
• Princeton Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences:– Prof. Jorge Sarmiento– Hannah Zanowski