Food falls in the deep northwestern Weddell Sea

Freshening of the northwestern Weddell Sea

Spatial Variability of SeaIce Properties in the Northwestern Weddell Sea

Arrays of sea-ice cores were taken at 0.25-, 2-, and 20-m spacing from three floes of presumably 2 years' age in the northwestern Weddell Sea. Texture, salinity, chlorophyll a, and nutrient concentrations were determined in order to study the small-scale variability of these properties. Their vertical distribution patterns are similar between core samples from a specific floe. Mean salinity exh...

On the freshening of the northwestern Weddell Sea continental shelf

We analyzed hydrographic data from the northwestern Weddell Sea continental shelf of the three austral winters 1989, 1997, and 2006 and two summers following the last winter cruise. During summer a thermal front exists at ∼64 S separating cold southern waters from warm northern waters that have similar characteristics as the deep waters of the central basin of the Bransfield Strait. In winter, ...

Frontal structure and transport in the northwestern Weddell Sea

Hydrographic data from the Antarctic Drifter Experiment: Links to Isobaths and Ecosystems (ADELIE) project are analyzed to determine the frontal structure and transport along a section across the continental shelf and slope in the northwestern Weddell Sea. The flow is dominated by three barotropic northward flowing currents: the Antarctic Coastal Current, the Antarctic Slope Front and theWeddel...

Fish Food in the Deep Sea: Revisiting the Role of Large Food-Falls

The carcasses of large pelagic vertebrates that sink to the seafloor represent a bounty of food to the deep-sea benthos, but natural food-falls have been rarely observed. Here were report on the first observations of three large 'fish-falls' on the deep-sea floor: a whale shark (Rhincodon typus) and three mobulid rays (genus Mobula). These observations come from industrial remotely operated veh...