Abstract
Since 2008, 26 glider missions have been undertaken along the continental shelf of southeastern Australia. Typically these missions have spanned the continental shelf on the inshore edge of the East Australian Current from 29.5–33.5°S. This comprehensive dataset of over 33,600 CTD profiles from the surface to within 10 m of the bottom in water depths ranging 25–200 m provides new and unprecedented high resolution observations of the properties of the continental shelf waters adjacent to a western boundary current, straddling the region where it separates from the coast. The region is both physically and biologically significant, and is also in a hotspot of ocean warming. We present gridded mean fields for temperature, salinity and density, but also dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a fluorescence indicative of phytoplankton biomass. This data will be invaluable for understanding shelf stratification, circulation, biophysical and bio-geochemical interactions, as well as for the validation of high-resolution ocean models or serving as teaching material.
Highlights
Background & SummaryCoastal oceans are very dynamic areas, influenced by coastal waters as well as by the open ocean
We present gridded mean fields for temperature, salinity and density, and dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll-a fluorescence indicative of phytoplankton biomass
Along the southeastern coast of Australia, the East Australian Current (EAC) and its eddy field dominates the meso-scale circulation. This has been well described in part due to an Australian climatology, the CSIRO Atlas of Regional Seas (CARS, refs 2,3)
Summary
Coastal oceans are very dynamic areas, influenced by coastal waters as well as by the open ocean. Estuarine outflow from rainfall in continental shelf regions drives strong horizontal and vertical salinity gradients, while local upwelling-favorable wind stress results in cold nutrient-rich water uplift for the growth of patchy phytoplankton blooms This range of forcings leads to submesoscale processes that require measurements at high spatial resolution Since the beginning of regular glider deployments, the density of high-resolution in situ observations has increased sufficiently to provide a representative mean state of the shelf waters with high cross-shelf resolution This glider dataset has been successfully used to map the influence of the EAC, its separation and the resulting uplift and upwelling on the southeastern Australian shelf[7] based on the measurement of temperature, salinity and depth-averaged velocities.
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