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Submesoscale Ocean Fronts Act as Biological Hotspot for Southern Elephant Seal by Siegelman, Lia ;O’Toole, Malcolm ;Flexas, Mar ;Rivière, Pascal ;Klein, Patrice is a Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology article available to read on EtoBox.

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## Abstract The area west of the Kerguelen Islands (20–70°E/45–60°S) is characterized by a weak mesoscale activity except for a standing meander region of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) localized between 20 and 40°E. A unique bio-physical dataset at high-resolution collected by a southern elephant seal (__Mirounga leonina__) reveals a conspicuous increase in foraging activity at the standing meander site up to 5 times larger than during the rest of her three-month trip west of the Kerguelen Islands. Here, we propose a physical explanation for such high biological activity based on the study of small-scale fronts with scales of 5 to 20 km, also called submesoscales. The standing meander is associated with intensified frontal dynamics at submesoscale, not observed in the rest of the region. Results shed new light on the spatial distribution of submesoscale fronts in the under-sampled area west of the Kerguelen plateau and emphasize their importance for upper trophic levels. Despite that most elephant seals target foraging grounds east of the Kerguelen Plateau, our findings suggest that excursions to the west are not accidental, and may be explained by the recurrently elevate

Who reads Submesoscale Ocean Fronts Act as Biological Hotspot for Southern Elephant Seal?

Author

Siegelman, Lia ;O’Toole, Malcolm ;Flexas, Mar ;Rivière, Pascal ;Klein, Patrice

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC; London: Nature Publishing Group; [London]: Springer Nature; Nature Publishing Group; Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Inc.; Research Square; Springer Nature; Island Press (ISSN 2045-2322)

Published

2019

Language

EN

Field

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Life Sciences)