• Academic publication

Spatial structure of low salinity submesoscale features and their interactions with a coastal current

Jhugroo K, O’Callaghan J, Stevens CL, Macdonald HS, Elliott F and Hadfield MG (2020)
Frontiers of Marine Science

Highlights
  • Ocean glider observations have identified that low-salinity submesoscale features (river 'whirls and swirls') can travel further into the ocean than previously thought - in some cases up to 100km. This is a first for a New Zealand shelf sea (the Greater Cook Strait)
  • Without new tools or technology, like glider observations, we would not have been able to know this
  • Almost three-quarters of the low salinity features detected by the gliders did not have surface temperature signature
  • Therefore, traditional methods of using satellites in space to track the whirls and swirls isn't always possible because there isn't a temperature signature 
  • These whirls and swirls stay close to the surface of the water, increasing stable stratification in the upper water column.
Keywords

land-sea interaction, primary production, glider observations, low-salinity submesoscale features