Observing the Southern Ocean circulation in sea ice regions with profiling floats: position uncertainties and correlation statistics

Profiling biogeochemical floats in the Pacific and Atlantic sectors of the Southern Ocean, deployed since 2014 as part of the Southern Ocean Carbon and Climate Observations and Modeling (SOCCOM) experiment, have collected an unprecedented amount of near and under ice data, adding to a growing volume of under ice Southern Ocean profiling float data. Many floats sampling under ice, however, are unable to record location. Using subsampled profiling float trajectories in the Southern Ocean polar gyres with comparisons to particle releases in the Southern Ocean State Estimate (SOSE), we diagnosed the circulation and eddy variability to develop estimates for position uncertainty within and around fully sampled seasons in the sea ice region. Water masses were characterized using the method of optimum multi parameter analysis on data from the biogeochemical sensors on the SOCCOM floats and mean spatial and temporal correlation scales were calculated. These results are presented within the physical context of the mean seasonal Southern Ocean circulation and sea ice.