Abstract
Abstract. The Weddell Gyre plays a crucial role in the modification of climate by advecting heat poleward to the Antarctic ice shelves and by regulating the density of water masses that feed the lowest limb of the global ocean overturning circulation. However, our understanding of Weddell Gyre water mass properties is limited to regions of data availability, primarily along the Prime Meridian. The aim of this paper is to provide a data set of the upper water column properties of the entire Weddell Gyre. Objective mapping was applied to Argo float data in order to produce spatially gridded, time-composite maps of temperature and salinity for fixed pressure levels ranging from 50 to 2000 dbar, as well as temperature, salinity and pressure at the level of the sub-surface temperature maximum. While the data are currently too limited to incorporate time into the gridded structure, the data are extensive enough to produce maps of the entire region across three time-composite periods (2001–2005, 2006–2009 and 2010–2013), which can be used to determine how representative conclusions drawn from data collected along general RV transect lines are on a gyre scale perspective. The work presented here represents the technical prerequisite for addressing climatological research questions in forthcoming studies. The data sets are available in netCDF format at doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.842876.
Highlights
The Weddell Gyre provides an important link between the upper ocean and the ocean interior through the formation of Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) and Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW)
We describe the method followed in order to objectively map the irregular Argo float profile data onto regularly gridded fields, excluding regions beyond the Weddell Gyre boundaries (50 to 80◦ S; 70◦ W to 40◦ E; the northern boundary is based on the position of the Weddell Front for the pressure surface maps: Sect. 3.1)
The following section presents the main features of the gridded fields of data through mapped surfaces at the Tmax and of the isobaric surface at 800 dbar, which is the depth at which the Argo floats drift, a level generally understood to be fully within the source water mass of Warm Deep Water (WDW) (Fahrbach et al, 2011)
Summary
The Weddell Gyre provides an important link between the upper ocean and the ocean interior through the formation of Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW) and Weddell Sea Bottom Water (WSBW). The Weddell Gyre potentially plays a key role in a changing climate through its role in regulating the storage of heat in the deep ocean (Fahrbach et al, 2011). CDW becomes known as Warm Deep Water (WDW) and can be identified by its sub-surface potential temperature maximum of 0.6–1 ◦C (Fahrbach et al, 2011). WDW undergoes water mass transformation to form the underlying water masses This process is controlled by (1) the transport and mixing of source waters into the gyre (Leach et al, 2011); (2) changes within the Weddell Gyre and on the adjacent shelves through influences from sea ice and ice shelves; and (3) the transport of modified water masses with the gyre outflow (Foster et al, 1987; Fahrbach et al, 1994, 1995, 2011).
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