ChinStrAP stands for Changes in Stratification at the Antarctic Peninsula. As well as the name of an Antarctic penguin, the project title highlights the need to better understand the physical processes that control property distributions and ocean circulation near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. This is a unique region of the ocean, where waters from the Antarctic margins are exchanged with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which can then spread to the three major ocean basins. We plan to use ocean gliders to explore variability in this region and how it influences eddy formation and air-sea exchange.
Gliders in Drake Passage!
Drake Passage is the small body of water that is sandwiched between the southern tip of South America and the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. This region plays an outsized role in the global ocean circulation as it is a meeting point of waters from different places with diverse properties. Turbulent fluid motions play a key role in how these different water masses mix as well as the frequency and location at which these waters reach the suface and exchange properties with the atmosphere. The ChinStrAP project will use ocean gliders to autonomously sample the southern boundary of Drake Passage to obtain high spatial and temporal measurements of these turbulent processes and to better understand how these impact larger scale ecosystem dynamics and climate. We invite you to follow us! Read more.
