The OCEAN ICE mooring compilation: a standardised, pan-Antarctic database of ocean hydrography and current time series

Abstract. Continuous moored time series of temperature, salinity, pressure and current speed and direction are of great importance for understanding the continental shelf and under-ice-shelf dynamics and thermodynamics that govern water mass transformations and ice melting in and around Antarctic marginal seas. In these regions, icebergs and sea ice make ship-based mooring deployment and recovery challenging. Nevertheless, over decades, expeditions around the fringe of Antarctica sporadically deployed and recovered hundreds of moored instruments, including those facilitated through ice shelves boreholes. These datasets tend to be archived in a wide range of data centres, with, to our knowledge, no clear format standardisation. As a result, systematic analysis of historical mooring time series in the marginal seas is often challenging. Here we present the first version of a standardised pan-Antarctic moored hydrography and current time series compilation, with broad international contributions from data centres, research institutes and individual data owners. The mooring records in this compilation span over five decades, from the 1970s to the 2020s, providing an opportunity for a systematic study of the pan-Antarctic water mass transport and shelf connectivity. As a demonstration of the utility of this compilation, we present spectral analysis of the compiled current velocity time series, which unsurprisingly shows the dominating presence of tidal variability within most records. This component of the variability is fitted using multi-linear regression to tidal frequencies, and the tidal fit is removed from the original time series to leave de-tided variability. Given the limited record durations to months to years, de-tided variability is dominated by synoptic (3–10 d period), intraseasonal (10–80 d) and seasonal (∼6 months–1 year) signals. The spatial distribution of the kinetic energy integrated within frequency bands is presented and discussed within respective regional contexts, and future avenues of research are proposed. This data compilation is assembled under the endorsement of Ocean-Cryosphere Exchanges in ANtarctica: Impacts on Climate and the Earth System (OCEAN ICE) project (https://ocean-ice.eu/, last access: 23 October 2025) funded by the European Commission and UK Research and Innovation. It is available and regularly updated in NetCDF format with the SEANOE database at https://doi.org/10.17882/99922 (Zhou et al., 2024a).

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Journal
Earth system science data
Published
2025-10-28
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5693-2025
Primary Topic
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
Type
article
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article

The OCEAN ICE mooring compilation: a standardised, pan-Antarctic database of ocean hydrography and current time series

Michael P. Meredith, Markus Janout, Kathryn L. Gunn, Claudia F. Giulivi et al.
Earth system science data
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
article

The OCEAN ICE mooring compilation: a standardised, pan-Antarctic database of ocean hydrography and current time series

Michael P. Meredith, Markus Janout, Kathryn L. Gunn, Claudia F. Giulivi, Una Kim Miller, Irena Vaňková, Daisuke Hirano, Keith W. Nicholls, Giorgio Budillon, Julius Lauber, Svein Østerhus, Peter E. D. Davis, Stephen Dye, Won Sang Lee, Stephen R. Rintoul, Tiago S. Dotto, Craig L. Stevens, Alessandro Silvano, Elin Darelius, Adrian Jenkins, Christopher J. Zappa, Karen J. Heywood, E. Povl Abrahamsen, Pierre Dutrieux, Pasquale Castagno, Arnold L. Gordon, T. A. Scambos, Shenjie Zhou, Sukyoung Yun, Tore Hattermann, Christopher Auckland, Jennifer Graham, Leo Middleton, Anna Wåhlin, Tae‐Wan Kim, Chengyan Liu, Shigeru Aoki
article en

Abstract

Abstract. Continuous moored time series of temperature, salinity, pressure and current speed and direction are of great importance for understanding the continental shelf and under-ice-shelf dynamics and thermodynamics that govern water mass transformations and ice melting in and around Antarctic marginal seas. In these regions, icebergs and sea ice make ship-based mooring deployment and recovery challenging. Nevertheless, over decades, expeditions around the fringe of Antarctica sporadically deployed and recovered hundreds of moored instruments, including those facilitated through ice shelves boreholes. These datasets tend to be archived in a wide range of data centres, with, to our knowledge, no clear format standardisation. As a result, systematic analysis of historical mooring time series in the marginal seas is often challenging. Here we present the first version of a standardised pan-Antarctic moored hydrography and current time series compilation, with broad international contributions from data centres, research institutes and individual data owners. The mooring records in this compilation span over five decades, from the 1970s to the 2020s, providing an opportunity for a systematic study of the pan-Antarctic water mass transport and shelf connectivity. As a demonstration of the utility of this compilation, we present spectral analysis of the compiled current velocity time series, which unsurprisingly shows the dominating presence of tidal variability within most records. This component of the variability is fitted using multi-linear regression to tidal frequencies, and the tidal fit is removed from the original time series to leave de-tided variability. Given the limited record durations to months to years, de-tided variability is dominated by synoptic (3–10 d period), intraseasonal (10–80 d) and seasonal (∼6 months–1 year) signals. The spatial distribution of the kinetic energy integrated within frequency bands is presented and discussed within respective regional contexts, and future avenues of research are proposed. This data compilation is assembled under the endorsement of Ocean-Cryosphere Exchanges in ANtarctica: Impacts on Climate and the Earth System (OCEAN ICE) project (https://ocean-ice.eu/, last access: 23 October 2025) funded by the European Commission and UK Research and Innovation. It is available and regularly updated in NetCDF format with the SEANOE database at https://doi.org/10.17882/99922 (Zhou et al., 2024a).

Earth system science dataVol. 17(10)
University of East Anglia (GB), University of Messina (IT), Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE), University of Tasmania (AU), British Antarctic Survey (GB), Australian Antarctic Division (AU), Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (GB), Los Alamos National Laboratory (US), Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (US), University of Rhode Island (US), Parthenope University of Naples (IT), University of Colorado Boulder (US), National Oceanography Centre (GB), Hokkaido University (JP), Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (NO), Northumbria University (GB), National Institute of Polar Research (JP), Korea Polar Research Institute (KR), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN), University of Southampton (GB), Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) (CN), University of Bergen (NO), National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NZ), Columbia University (US), Norwegian Polar Institute (NO), University of Gothenburg (SE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 64%
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
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