Spatial circulation patterns over Palmer Deep canyon and the effects on Adélie Penguin foraging

Project CONVERGE, funded by the National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, is deploying a coordinated ocean observing network to better understand ecological connections along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). Partners from Rutgers University, the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF), Oregon State University, the University of Delaware, and the Polar Oceans Research Group deployed a multiplatform-observing network that includes gliders, animal telemetry, active acoustics for zooplankton distributions, and CODAR High Frequency Radar (HFR). The three-site network was deployed in November of 2014 and provided hourly surface current maps through the following austral summer. This study targets data collected between January and February 2015. Here we focus on Palmer Deep eddy and the tidal currents as they transition from diurnal to semi-diurnal regimes throughout the study period. These data are helping us better understand the links between alternating tidal regimes and the foraging behavior of the local Adélie penguin populations. This analysis has further implications for future research as the region goes through dramatic climate change.