Seasonal Circulation, Transport, and Connectivity of the Gerlache and Bransfield Straits Based on 20 Years of SADCP Measurements

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Author(s)Puyal‐Astals, Laia
Author(s)Veny, Marta
Author(s)Moffat, Carlos
Author(s)Aguiar‐González, Borja
Date Accessioned2026-02-27T22:02:08Z
Date Available2026-02-27T22:02:08Z
Publication Date2026-02-18
DescriptionThis article was originally published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. The version of record is available at: https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC023210 ©2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐Non Commercial‐NoDerivs License, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
AbstractWe use shipboard ADCP data (1999–2018) and a box-integration approach to study the spatial and seasonal variability that regulates water mass exchanges between the Bellingshausen and Weddell Seas in the northwest Antarctic Peninsula. This system comprises three major currents: the Gerlache Strait Current (GSC), the Bransfield Current (BC), and the Antarctic Coastal Current (AACC). The GSC exhibits the clearest seasonality, with significant weakening in autumn (0.10 Sv; 5.2 cm s−1) relative to stronger transport in spring and winter (∼0.30 Sv; ∼19.8 cm s−1), regulated by wind-stress seasonality. Along the western Gerlache margin, flow through Croker Passage shifts southwestward from 0.13 Sv in spring to 0.23 Sv in winter. Large standard deviations indicate strong interannual variability. This pattern suggests that along-stream reversals and across-stream wind-stress intensification modulate the flow. Within the Bransfield Strait, the BC forms a robust northeastward jet year-round, peaking in summer and spring (∼37 cm s−1; ∼0.99 Sv), while the AACC flows southwestward along the Antarctic Peninsula margin (−0.45 to −0.59 Sv). High standard deviations in both indicate strong interannual variability but no significant seasonal differences. These results reveal a seasonally structured circulation rather than a simple GSC-to-BC connection, providing the first statistically supported evidence that wind forcing is a key modulator of GSC variability across the system. The present work provides a robust physical framework for interpreting oceanographic connectivity and shelf-slope exchanges across the western Antarctic Peninsula, while underscoring the need for higher-resolution and in situ observations to resolve the role of intermittent pathways and climate variability.
SponsorThis work has been supported by the Spanish government (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) through the project COUPLING II (PID2023-148583NB-C21). We sincerely thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments, which substantially improved the discussion and overall robustness of the results. C.M. was supported by the Palmer-LTER program (NSF OPP Grant 2224611). We acknowledge the scientists, technical staff, and ship crew of the R/V Nathaniel B. Palmer and R/V Laurence M. Gould was involved in the collection and processing of the shipboard ADCP data used in this study. In particular, we thank Eric Firing (University of Hawaii) and Teresa Chereskin (Scripps Institution of Oceanography) for the acquisition and initial processing of the SADCP data using UHDAS and CODAS. We also acknowledge the Joint Archive for Shipboard ADCP (JASADCP) for archiving and providing access to the shipboard ADCP data. L.P.A., M.V.L. and B.A.G. used ChatGPT (GPT-4, developed by OpenAI) to assist with language refinement and phrasing during manuscript preparation. The final version was thoroughly reviewed and verified by the authors.
CitationPuyal‐Astals, L., Veny, M., Moffat, C., & Aguiar‐González, B. (2026). Seasonal circulation, transport, and connectivity of the Gerlache and Bransfield Straits based on 20 years of SADCP measurements. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 131, e2025JC023210. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JC023210
ISSN2169-9291
URLhttps://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/36942
Languageen_US
PublisherJournal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
dc.rightsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
TitleSeasonal Circulation, Transport, and Connectivity of the Gerlache and Bransfield Straits Based on 20 Years of SADCP Measurements
TypeArticle
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