Ubiquity and seasonality of deep submesoscales in the Southern Ocean revealed by elephant seals

Ubiquity and seasonality of deep submesoscales in the Southern Ocean revealed by elephant seals | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Ubiquity and seasonality of deep submesoscales in the Southern Ocean revealed by elephant seals Lia Siegelman, Baptiste Picard, Christophe Guinet This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6727291/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ocean submesoscale fronts with a size of 1-20 km have been extensively documented within the surface mixed layer but little is known about their existence below it. Here, we analyze a historical record of 133 598 dives performed by instrumented Southern Elephant Seals from 2014 to 2020 in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean with a sub-km resolution. Results show that submesoscale motions are intensified below the mixed layer and are present year-round from the surface down to depths of at least 500 m. They exhibit a seasonal cycle with an austral spring (Sep-Oct-Nov) intensification and a weakening in fall (Mar-Apr-May). Results also show that deep submesoscales follow the seasonality of surface eddy kinetic energy derived from altimetry, suggesting that they are generated by mesoscale eddies (with a size > 50 km). Since submesoscales are known to be associated with strong vertical velocities, these results suggest that vertical exchanges of heat and nutrient at depth may be more important than commonly assumed. Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences/Physical oceanography Earth and environmental sciences/Climate sciences/Ocean sciences Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SESSI.pdf Ubiquity and seasonality of deep submesoscales in the Southern Ocean revealed by elephant seals Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6727291","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":467671853,"identity":"331f8e1a-2c45-40c7-8e17-07654afbca2f","order_by":0,"name":"Lia Siegelman","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgbGBiBlAcTMB0AEECfg18IG0SIBYiYQqwUMQFp4DIjUwn+48eGXColo/tk93yR+/LFm4GfPMcCvRSKx2VjmjETujDtnt0n2tqUzSPa8IaSFsU1ask0it+FG7jZpxobDDAY3CNnCf7D9t+Q/idz5N3KeSTP8OcxgT1ALQ2Ib48cGidwNN3LYpBnYgLZIEOEXaYZjErkbb6QZWwL9wiNx5lkBXi38/McffvxRY5M770bywxvAEJPjb0/egFcLCDDzIHF4cCpDBow/iFI2CkbBKBgFIxYAAIFzRIOsldl7AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3330-082X","institution":"University of California San Diego","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lia","middleName":"","lastName":"Siegelman","suffix":""},{"id":467671854,"identity":"93d0a13c-084d-41e0-9cdc-815f5a307fb1","order_by":1,"name":"Baptiste Picard","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS,","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Baptiste","middleName":"","lastName":"Picard","suffix":""},{"id":467671855,"identity":"28717b60-fb6a-4403-ba3c-84730916da55","order_by":2,"name":"Christophe Guinet","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2481-6947","institution":"Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christophe","middleName":"","lastName":"Guinet","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-22 18:20:39","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6727291/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6727291/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":91425840,"identity":"a3c8387f-2089-4fa0-9a0a-ca6b26aa2c80","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-16 11:09:59","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":8404756,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"SESSA.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6727291/v1_covered_e2b0fb56-c583-425f-874d-f049d7fa39d1.pdf"},{"id":84362348,"identity":"212a0cdf-96a6-4ba8-b37b-0cbda9842409","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-11 05:03:55","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":22241111,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Ubiquity and seasonality of deep submesoscales in the Southern Ocean revealed by elephant seals","description":"","filename":"SESSI.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6727291/v1/2ddc3265c3f1100e6c24b333.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Ubiquity and seasonality of deep submesoscales in the Southern Ocean revealed by elephant seals","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6727291/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6727291/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Ocean submesoscale fronts with a size of 1-20 km have been extensively documented within the surface mixed layer but little is known about their existence below it. 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