Antarctic Circumpolar Current Eddies Survey and Simulations

The ACCESS project aims to realize a description of the physical and biological properties of cold core eddies detaching from the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) through: 1) The collection of unprecedented high resolution in situ data inside an ACC eddy using unmanned marine vehicles; 2) The use of remotely sensed sea surface temperature and chlorophyll concentration observations associated to altimetry data and a dedicated eddy detection and tracking algorithm; 3) The analysis of output of high-resolution ocean model simulations to study the evolution of the eddies and their internal dynamics. The results of this research activities will then provide the basis for a new estimation of heat, salt and biological properties fluxes related to ACC eddies, reducing the scarceness of direct observations in the Southern Ocean which are extremely rare and often characterized by a low spatial resolution.

The Phys group will contribute to ACCESS by deploying 24 SVP drifters and six Argo-floats DO in the period 2023-2024.