Impactos de eventos El Niño-oscilação sul na concentração de gelo marinho em áreas de operações da Marinha do Brasil na Antártica

Abstract

From the Antarctica’s discovery in the 19 th century until the present time, the sea ice concentration’s behavior has proved to be a problem to the navigation, the exploration and even the survey in the oceans and seas involving the antarctic continent. The research developed up to the present days identified important teleconnections among large-scale phenomena, like the El Niño Southern Oscilation, and the sea ice cover in Antarctica. This thesis has the intention to enhance the knowledge related to the antarctic environment by examinating the impacts of El Niño Southern Oscilation`s events on the sea iceconcentration, in the specific areas where the Brazilian Navy ships operate. The results of this study allowed to conclude the warm phase of this phenomenon (El Niño) is related to the positive anomalies on the sea ice concentration in the OPERANTAR`s areas of interest, which can impact the planning and execution of this mission. During the beginning of the operation, in October and November, the sea-ice concentration anomalies can difficult not only the access to the King George Island, but also the development of activities and surveys in Weddell Sea and Gerlach and Antarctic straits. By the end of the OPERANTAR, during March, these sea-ice anomalies may cause the need to anticipate or even finish activities in the Antarctic Peninsula and vicinities, especially in the Weddell Sea and Bransfield Strait.