Abstract:
The physical structure of the Southern Ocean plays a crucial role in the global ocean and climate system by connecting the major oceans and redistributing ocean properties [1, 2, 3]. Nevertheless, many areas of the Southern Ocean have remained relatively poorly sampled [4]. Physical oceanographers often rely on ship-based measurements to track the distribution and movement of water masses. However, these data are scarce in the Southern Ocean and are mostly based on the summer season when ships sail for logistic purposes. A significant enhancement on this situation is Argo, which is a broad-scale global array of temperature/salinity profiling floats that has continuously sampled the global upper ocean since the 2000s [5]. The Argo array has grown to be a major component of the ocean observing system and has been invaluable to the Southern Ocean science community. However, the profilers do have their limitations in the harsh Antarctic environment - for example, there are very few Argo profilers south of 60S due to the presence of sea ice [6]. An important addition to data collection methods is therefore conductivity-temperature depth satellite relay data loggers (CTD-SRDLs) deployed as animal borne platforms to sample vertical temperature and salinity profiles [6]. These loggers provide novel observations of the Southern Ocean, particularly in areas where data collection would otherwise not be possible, and provide valuable research opportunities for physical and biological oceanographers alike . While studies have already used both Argo and CTD-SRDL data [e.g. 7], little is known about how well the two data sets complement each other in both spatial and temporal extent, and how comparable they are in data quality.
Therefore, this study examines data from animal-borne sensors and Argo observations to assess the comparative value of the different data sources to increasing our understanding of the ocean dynamics in the Southern Ocean. This, in turn, will help to increase our confidence that seals can be used to comprehensively sample regions previously restricted to ship-based observations. The first component of the study will encompass a spatial and temporal comparison of the two data sources in the Southern Ocean. Second, properties obtained with both data sources including the characteristics, position and structure of fronts in the South African sector of the Southern Ocean will be analysed and compared. Understanding the structure and location of Southern Ocean fronts is of considerable importance due to their influence on climate and ecosystem processes [7]. Marine mammals are potentially a valuable resource to sample ocean features such as fronts. In this way, the addition of marine mammals to the global array of ocean profilers would provide a powerful and cost-effective means to drastically improve the ocean-observing system [8].
