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Frontiers of Earth Science

ISSN 2095-0195

ISSN 2095-0209(Online)

CN 11-5982/P

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2018 Impact Factor: 1.205

Front. Earth Sci.    2016, Vol. 10 Issue (3) : 479-486    https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-016-0561-8
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Satellite remote sensing of the island mass effect on the Sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Ocean
Babula JENA()
ESSO-National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Headland Sada, Goa 403804, India
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Abstract

The presence of the Kerguelen Plateau and surrounding bathymetric features has a strong influence on the persistently eastward flowing Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), resulting in enhancement of surface chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) in the downstream section of the plateau along the polar front (PF). The phenomenon is reported in this paper as the island mass effect (IME). Analysis of climatological Chl-a datasets from Aqua-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Aqua-MODIS) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) shows distinct bloomy plumes (Chl-a>0.5 mg/m3) during austral spring-summer spreading as far as ~1800 km offshore up to 98°E along the downstream of the north Kerguelen Plateau (NKP). Similar IME phenomena is apparent over the south Kerguelen Plateau (SKP) with the phytoplankton bloom extending up to 96.7°E, along the southern boundary of ACC. The IME phenomena are pronounced only during austral spring-summer period with the availability of light and sedimentary source of iron from shallow plateau to sea surface that fertilizes the mixed layer. The NKP bloom peaks with a maximum areal extent of 1.315 million km2 during December, and the SKP bloom peaks during January with a time lag of one month. The blooms exist for at least 4 months of a year and are significant both as the base of regional food web and for regulating the biogeochemical cycle in the Southern Ocean. Even though the surface water above the Kerguelen Plateau is rich in Chl-a, an exception of an oligotrophic condition dominated between NKP and SKP due to apparent intrusion of iron limited low phytoplankton regime waters from the Enderby basin through the north-eastward Fawn Trough Current.

Keywords island mass effect      Antarctic Circumpolar Current      Aqua-MODIS      SeaWiFS     
Corresponding Author(s): Babula JENA   
Just Accepted Date: 26 February 2016   Online First Date: 11 April 2016    Issue Date: 20 June 2016
 Cite this article:   
Babula JENA. Satellite remote sensing of the island mass effect on the Sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Plateau, Southern Ocean[J]. Front. Earth Sci., 2016, 10(3): 479-486.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/10.1007/s11707-016-0561-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fesci/EN/Y2016/V10/I3/479
Fig.1  (a) Map showing one arc-minute bathymetry of the Kerguelen Plateau and surrounding region, (b) An unsupervised classification based on the ISODATA algorithm is performed using Aqua-MODIS chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) composite image (2002?2013) for studying the general Chl-a pattern around the Kerguelen Plateau. The long-term mean dynamic topography (MDT) isolines (black solid lines) and ARGO floats (dots) were overlaid to understand the circulation pattern. The region is very dynamic after the eastward Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) interacts with the Kerguelen Plateau and surrounding bathymetric features, resulting in phytoplankton blooms in the downstream section of Plateau along the polar front (PF). (SAF: Subantarctic front, sACCf: Southern Antarctic circumpolar current front, sbACC: Southern boundary of ACC, DWB: Deep western boundary current, MDT: Mean dynamic topography, AA basin: Australia-Antarctic Basin, EB: Elan Bank, PET: Port Elizabeth Trough, NKP: North Kerguelen Plateau, SKP: South Kerguelen Plateau).
Fig.2  High spatial resolution (~1 km) Aqua-MODIS ascending pass during 25th February 2013 (9:50 hrs UTC) showing the phytoplankton blooms off the Kerguelen Island.
Fig.3  Aqua-MODIS derived monthly Chl-a composite (2002?2013) showing the evolution of phytoplankton blooms off the Kerguelen Plateau and coastal Antarctica.
Fig.4  Variability of monthly areal extent of phytoplankton blooms around the Kerguelen Plateau. The areal extent estimated using Aqua-MODIS monthly composite images (2002?2013) matches well with SeaWiFS (1998?2010), thus supporting the validity of observations. The northern Kerguelen Plateau (NKP) bloom peaks with a maximum areal extent of 1.315 million km2 during December, and the southern Kerguelen Plateau (SKP) bloom peaks through a time lag of one month (January).
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