The baroclinic transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current south of Africa

Abstract:Five hydrographic transects at nominal longitudes 0°E and 30°E, and fourteen expendablebathythermograph (XBT) sections near the former longitude are used to study the baroclinictransport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) between Africa and Antarctica. Thebottom-referenced geostroph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Legeais, J.-F., Speich, S., Arhan, M., Ansorge, I., Fahrbach, Eberhard, Garzoli, S., Klepikov, A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2005
Subjects:
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Antarctica
North Atlantic Deep Water
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/13854/
https://doi.org/10.1029/2005GL023271
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.24217
Description
Summary:Abstract:Five hydrographic transects at nominal longitudes 0°E and 30°E, and fourteen expendablebathythermograph (XBT) sections near the former longitude are used to study the baroclinictransport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) between Africa and Antarctica. Thebottom-referenced geostrophic transport between the Subtropical Front and the ACC SouthernBoundary is 147±10 Sv. Estimating the transport from the XBTs using a technique previouslyemployed south of Australia proves delicate because of an irregular bathymetry and watermass variations. It nevertheless confirms ACC transports around 150 Sv. Gathering these andother estimates from the Atlantic sector suggests that, while North Atlantic Deep Water isinjected in the current west of 35°W, a partially compensating loss of Deep CircumpolarWater occurs east of this longitude. Another transport increase from 0°E to 30°E might reflectsouthward transfer across the Subtropical Front south of the Agulhas retroflection.

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