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Abstract:
During the second half of 2022 and the first several months on 2023, a Saildrone collected high-resolution ( ~ 5-km sampling) measurements of ocean and atmosphere pCO2, ocean pH, dissolved oxygen, and other important physical, biological, and chemical paramters between roughly 13.5°E and 82°E and between the Sub Tropical Front (STF) and the Subantarctic Front (SAF). The mission track spanned from the Agulhas Return Current south of South Africa to the northern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current downstream of the Kerguelen Plateau. The primary goal of the mission was to collect data within cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies to quantify CO2 fluxes to better understand physical processes (upwelling and downwelling) that that can contribute to carbon cycling in addition to the biological pump.
Although the Saildrone did not observe during the majority of the Austral Winter as originally intended due to mechanical and operational issues, we still managed to target approximately 15 mesoscale eddies between September 1, 2022 and January 26, 2023 and collect useful measurements within each eddy. Here, we present a preliminary look at calculated surface biogeochemical properties (O2, pCO2, DIC) and C02 fluxes from the quick-look data (transmitted via satellite link), separated into cyclonic/anti-cyclonic/no-eddy conditions and examine if there are statistically significant differences. While some direct measurements of wind speed are available in the early part of the mission, damage to the anemometer resulted in having to incorporate satellite-observed winds for the C02 flux calculation in the latter part of the record.
