First resolution of flow through the Hunter Channel in the South Atlantic

• Published in: Earth and Planetary Science Letters
• Main Authors: Speer, Kevin, Zenk, Walter, Siedler, Gerold, Pätzold, Jürgen, Heidland, Clemens
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 1992
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/15391/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/15391/1/Speer.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1016/0012-821X(92)90226-L

Dense Antarctic Bottom Water formed around the continent of Antarctica spreads northward in the Atlantic underneath North Atlantic Deep Water, gradually mixing and upwelling into it. This Antarctic Water forms a significant element of the meridional circulation in both directions: northward as bottom water and southward as deep water. It is important to determine the strength of each component to assess its role in ocean circulation. Such measurements are useful when made in constricted pathways because any flow is more clearly defined. A new set of fine-resolution hydrograhic measurements in the Hunter Channel of the South Atlantic Ocean has been obtained, which allow the geostrophic bottom flow there to be estimated for the first time. The northward flow through the Hunter Channel of water cooler than 2-degrees-C is thus estimated to be 0.7 X 10(6) m3 s-1.