Mean flow, eddy variability and energetics of the Subantarctic Front south of Australia ...

• Main Author: Phillips, HE
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: University Of Tasmania 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25959/23212382.v1; https://figshare.utas.edu.au/articles/thesis/Mean_flow_eddy_variability_and_energetics_of_the_Subantarctic_Front_south_of_Australia/23212382/1

This thesis describes the variability and mean flow of the Subantarctic Front (SAF) south of Australia using time series measurements of velocity and temperature from 1993 to 1995, and six hydrographic transects along WOCE line SR3 from Tasmania to Antarctica over the period 1991 to 1996. The SAF is the strongest jet of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) south of Australia. The time series of velocity and temperature are only the third such dataset collected in the ACC and provide insight into the dynamics of this massive current and into the heat and momentum balances of the Southern Ocean. The SAF was found to be an energetic, meandering jet with vertically coherent fluctuations. These fluctuations varied on a timescale of 20 days, and had a typical amplitude of 30 cm/s at 1150 dbar. The analysis used a coordinate frame that rotated daily to be in alignment with the direction of flow. This allowed the mesoscale variability of the SAF to be isolated from variability due to meandering of the front and ...