Jets, mixing, and topography in the Southern Ocean ...

• Main Author: Boland, Emma Joan Douglas
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2013
• Subjects: Physical Oceanography; Fluid Dynamics; Southern Ocean; Jets; Mixing; Antarc*; Antarctic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.16124; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/245073

The Southern Ocean holds a unique place in our planet. It is home to the world’s longest and strongest ocean current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (or ACC), which is formed of jets (alternating velocity structures), thought to be significant surface transport barriers. The dynamical processes (particularly mixing processes) in the Southern Ocean are crucial to driving the global overturning circulation, which is in turn responsible for the global transport of heat, CO2, and nutrients. Despite the evident importance of the Southern Ocean to current and future climate, the important dynamical processes that occur there are poorly understood. This thesis attempts to contribute towards the understanding of some of the open questions in Southern Ocean dynamics. In particular, we investigate the effect that topography might have on the jets that form the ACC, with regards to their formation and in particular, their transport properties. Through a quasi-geostrophic model we investigate the properties of jets ...