New estimates for the heat flux across the Polar Front: Spatial and temporal variability in recent years

Abstract

Two different methodologies are applied in order to quantify the eddy contribution to the heat flux across the Polar Front, between January 2006 and December 2009. First, the eddy fluxes are indirectly estimated through a heat balance based on geostrophic fluxes obtained from the Argo climatological temperature and salinity. Second, a parametric model based on sea level anomaly data from a merged satellite product is used to obtain a direct estimate of the eddy heat flux and its temporal and spatial variability. The results obtained through the heat balance (-80.5 ± 16.45 x 1013 W) and the parameterization (-56.2 ± 4.18 x 1013 W) are within the range established by previous studies. The eddy heat flux is observed to be concentrated in a few narrow regions, with a particularly large contribution from the Atlantic sector. A trend of intensification of the southward heat flux is observed in the study period (-0.44 x 1013 W year-1), compatible with recent modelling and observational studies. © 2013 Antarctic Science Ltd.