Satellite observations of upper-ocean currents in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica

Authors

Michael van Woert, NOAA/NESDIS/ORA, 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD 20746, US.A.
Walter Meier, National Ice Center, FOB4 Room 2301,4251 Suitland Road, Washington, DC20395, US.A.
Cheng-Zhi Zou, National Ice Center, FOB4 Room 2301,4251 Suitland Road, Washington, DC20395, US.A.
Andy Archer, ~aytheoZnc hnical Services Company, 61 Inverness Drive East, Suite 300, Englewood, CO 80112, US.A.
Andrea Pellegrini, ENEA AMB-GEM-CLIM via Anguillarese
Paola Grigioni, ENEA AMB-GEM-CLIM via Anguillarese
Cheryl Bertoia, National Ice Center, FOB4 Room 2301,4251 Suitland Road, Washington, DC20395, US.A.

Date of this Version

2001

Comments

Published in Annals of Glaciology 33 2001.

Abstract

Ship and iceberg drifts, along with data from modern satellite-tracked drifting buoys, portray generally northward flow in the southwest Ross Sea. Less is known, however, about the ocean variability in this region. Here we use Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) imagery to describe a cyclonically rotating gyre in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica (75° S, 165° E). The image sequence is taken from an exceptionally clear, calm, period during winter 1998. Surface currents, derived from tracking drifting ice with a maximum cross-correlation algorithm, were found to be ~20 to 30 cm s^-1. Based on scaling arguments, the observed currents appear to be best explained as an oceanic response to a rapidly changing, offshore, katabatic wind jet.