Hydrographic conditions in the Elephant Island plateau region during December 1996

Based on historic data as provided by the World Ocean Atlas 1994, the general climatic background for temperature, salinity and silicate is given for the area between the Fa1kland (Malvinas) Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula Region. A data set sampled during December 1996 in the Elephant Island Plateau Region by RV POLARSTERN, is compared to the climatic background data, and to more recent data as collected by German research vessels in this region. By means of a new interactive software water mass boundaries are outlined which reveal the approximate location of the Weddell-Scotia Confluence. Vertical distribution of oceanographic parameters temperature, salinity and density is discussed. Geopotential anomaly charts, referenced to 0/300 dbar reveal the general flow as given by the geostrophic part of the circulation. Compared to krill abundance data, the thermal and the dynamic fields indicate some correlation in the distribution of biotic, and abiotic parameters. Analysis of time series data at a station site to the north of Elephant Island, point at slow seasonal oscillations of the water mass boundary between the Weddell Sea waters and the Southeast Pacific Surface waters, the Weddell-Scotia Confluence.
The paper reiterates a recommendation as given in a previous SC-CAMLR paper by the same author, to do a co-operative analysis of data sampled throughout the years in the Elephant Island Plateau Region. With the new modem software as described in this paper, handling of large data bases becomes very easy.