Abstract

As an alternative method to collect oceanographic data in the polar oceans, especially during winter when traditional methods are very difficult to be used, sea mammals can be tagged with Satellite Relay Data Loggers with CTD capabilities (SRDL–CTD). Using data from nine southern elephant seals (SES; Mirounga leonina) tagged during a field campaign of the MEOP–BR project (the Brazilian Counterpart to the Marine Mammal Exploration of the Oceans Pole to Pole), this work presents a temporal analysis of the water masses and the sea ice formation rate at the western part of the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) during 2008. We found that the seasonal and local processes controlling the surface and intermediate layers of the ocean produced differences in the water mass composition and the sea ice formation rates in our study region. Sea ice formation rates ranged from less than 1 cm/day in deep sea waters off the northern part of the AP to 14 cm/day at the vicinity of ice shelves such as the Abbot and Wilkins ice shelves, further south in the AP. Maximum sea ice formation rates, as expected, occurred during autumn to winter. After the successive collapse events of the Wilkins Ice Shelf (WIS) in 2008, the sea ice formation rate endured significant reductions even when sea ice concentrations were high in the region. These reductions, observed by SES in the vicinity of WIS can be associated with freshwater input derived from shelf collapses. The presence of the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) over the continental shelf west of the AP affected the sea ice formation rate by both contributing to the observed low sea ice coverage and to the acceleration of the ice shelf melting. Another process that demonstrated influence on the formation of sea ice was the advection of more saline waters in the oceanic layer considered here for the application of salt balance equation. This advection resulted in unrealistic sea ice formation rates in regions where there was no sea ice cover. The data and results presented here can be used to feed and to validate climate ocean–atmosphere coupled models. The data can be combined with other (more traditional) meteorological and oceanographic data in order to provide a better understanding of both oceanic and ocean–atmosphere coupled processes yet not very well known in our study region.

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