Potential temperature, oxygen and circulation of bottom water

• Main Author: Arnold L. Gordon
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1966
• Subjects: Argentine; Drake Passage; Pacific; Ross Sea; Scotia Sea; Shag Rocks; South Sandwich Trench; Southern Ocean; Weddell; Weddell Sea
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.452.9653; http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/~agordon/publications/Gordon_AntBottomWater_DSR66.pdf

Abstract--The circulation of bottom and near-bottom water can be determined in a qualitative manner by inspecting parameter distributions. Bottom potentia! temperature and oxygen (which show a definite relation in the t~-Oz diagram) are very useful for this purpose in the portion of the Southern Ocean dealt with in this paper (20°W westward to 170°W and south of 50°S). Observations u ed are deeper than 3000 m and within 300 m of the bottom. There are two areas of cold water (< 0.0°C): the more extreme manating from the Weddell Sea and the other from the Ross Sea. The Weddell Sea Bottom Water flows to the east of the South Sandwich Trench into the Argentine Basin, though some water does enter the trench and flows north-ward. The bottom waters of the Scotia Sea come from between the 3000-3200 mlevel of the Weddell Sea through a passage at 39°W in the South Orkney Ridge. A tongue of this water flows into the southern Drake Passage, confining to the northern Drake Passage the warmer bottom water from the Pacific Ocean. This warmer bottom water forms a rapid easterly current which enters the South Atlantic west of Shag Rocks. The cold Scotia Sea bottom water does not penetrate he Pacific Ocean but is topographically or dynamically restrained. Circulation in the eastern Scotia Sea is weak to moderate.