Impact of climate change on large scale coastal currents of South Africa

• Main Author: Meyer, A
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: CSIR 2010
• Subjects: Climate change; Coastal areas; CSIR Conference 2010; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10204/4294

CSIR 3rd Biennial Conference 2010. Science Real and Relevant. CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa, 30 August – 01 September 2010 The increase in equatorial temperatures and the presence of an ozone hole over Antarctica have caused an increase in the pole-to-equator pressure gradient with a concomitant intensification of the high-latitude westerlies (Cai et al., 2006). The transfer of momentum from the westerlies to the underlying Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC ) (Figure 1) has lead to a steady increase in ACC velocity. Since this current is in contact with the southern boundaries of the Southern Hemisphere subtropical gyre systems, a spinning up and southward shift of these basin scale gyres have been observed.