About cDrake
The goal of cDrake is to quantify the transport and understand
the dynamic balances of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in Drake Passage for four years (2007-2011).
- Use a transport line to determine horizontal and vertical structure of the time-varying transport.
- Use a local dynamics array to describe the mesoscale eddy field.
- Provide guidance for future monitoring arrays.
- Assess the skill of model simulations.
An array of Current Meters (CM) and Pressure-recording Inverted Echo Sounders (CPIES) was set out in Novermber 2007 from the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer. Data are collected annually by acoustic telemetry, leaving the instruments undisturbed until recovered at the end of the project.
The Southern Ocean is believed to be especially sensitive to climate change, responding to winds that have increased over the past thirty years, and warming significantly more than the global ocean over the past fifty years. The proposed observations will resolve the seasonal and interannual variability of the total ACC transport, as well as its vertical and lateral structure.