Observations of a New Baroclinic Current along the Western Continental Slope of Bass Strait

• Main Authors: P. G. Baines, A R. J. Edwardsb
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1983
• Subjects: Antarctic; Newell; Antarc*; Australian Antarctic Division
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.568.5339; http://people.eng.unimelb.edu.au/pbaines/baines_x1983b.pdf

Recent observations reveal the existence ofa southward flowing baroclinic current over the continental slope of western Bass Strait. This current appears to be a permanent feature (though of variable strength), and some drifting-buoy observations suggest that it may extend to the southern tip of Tasmania. There have been very few subsurface observations in the Bass Strait area west of Kinglsland (Newell 1961). During 11-13 November 1980, with thecooperation of the Australian Antarctic Division, four expendable bathythermograph (XBT) sections with close sampling (- 10-km spacing) were taken ftomthe Nella Dan over the western continental slope (Fig. 1), as part of a program coordinated by the Victorian Institute of Marine Sciences. All four sections howed a pronounced depression of the isotherms shelfward, and a representative section AA'is shown in Fig. 2. Because of the spacing of the sections in time, this isotherm depression is clearly not tidal, although some internal tidal motion may have been present. If we assume that temperature is monotonically related to density, this implies a southward geostrophically balanced current along the slope.