ALBERT

Description: The Weddell Sea plays an important role for the global oceans and climate by being one of the biggest production and export areas of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) enters the Weddell Gyre (WG) at its eastern boundary. Then called Warm Deep Water (WDW), it is a major contributor to the formation of deep and bottom waters due to ocean-ice shelf interactions in the southern and soutwestern Weddell Sea. Hydrographic data collected between 0 and 30°E on the RV Polarstern cruise ANT XX/2 reveals a two-core structure for the eastern inflow of warm water at roughly 20°E but not further downstream at the Greenwich meridian (GM). Model results and climatological fields suggest that the two cores represent two separate modes of warm inflow. One mode is driven by eddy mixing in the northeastern corner of the WG and the other one is an advective mode, forming the southern branch of the inflow which extends beyond 30°E before turning westward. Both pathways are likely to carry waters from different origins within the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), where more ventilated CDW is found at the Southern Boundary (SB) compared to the centre. The southern route shows considerable interannual variability in the model. A variable inflow of two types of CDW together with admixed recirculated and cooler waters from the Weddell Sea can potentially contribute to the observed variability and warming trend of WDW over the last decade at the GM.

Description: The region of the Filchner Outflow System (FOS) in the southeastern Weddell Sea is characterized by intensive and complex interactions of different water masses. Dense Ice Shelf Water (ISW) emerging from beneath the ice shelf cavities on the continental shelf, meets Modified Warm Deep Water (MWDW) originating from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current at the sill of the Filchner Trough. These hydrographic features convert the FOS into an oceanographic key region, which may also show enhanced biological productivity and corresponding aggregations of marine top predators. In this context, six adult Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) were instrumented with CTD-combined satellite relay data loggers in austral summer 2014. By means of these long-term data loggers we aimed at investigating the influence of environmental conditions on the seals’ foraging behaviour throughout seasons, focussing on the local oceanographic features. Weddell seals performed pelagic and demersal dives, mainly on the continental shelf, where they presumably exploited the abundant bentho-pelagic fish fauna. Diurnal and seasonal variations in light availability affected foraging activities. MWDW was associated with increased foraging effort. However, we observed differences in movements and habitat use between two different groups of Weddell seals. Seals tagged in the pack ice of the FOS focussed their foraging activities to the western and, partly, eastern flank of the Filchner Trough, which coincides with inflow pathways of MWDW. In contrast, Weddell seals tagged on the coastal fast ice exhibited typical central-place foraging and utilized resources close to their colony. High foraging effort in MWDW and high utilization of areas associated with an inflow of MWDW raise questions on the underlying biological features. This emphasizes the importance of further interdisciplinary ecological investigations in the near future, as the FOS may soon be impacted by predicted climatic changes.