Nineteen-year changes in surface salinity in the Southern Ocean south of Australia

In the Antarctic Zone, the summer SSS signature shows distinct biannual variations that are correlated with upstream sea-ice coverage in the preceding spring. There is no significant correlation between local precipitation changes and the SURVOSTRAL SSS time series. Rather, the integrated effects of upstream sea-ice melt dominate the interannual variations in SSS at the SURVOSTRAL line. Finally, a simple 2D Lagrangian particle analysis shows that in some years the surface waters circulate for a longer time in the northern part of the domain, where their freshwater content may be reduced by mixing with the surrounding waters.