South Atlantic heat transport at 11°S

• Main Authors: Speer, K. G., Holfort, Jürgen, Reynaud, T., Siedler, Gerold
• Other Authors: Wefer, G., Berger, W. H., Webb, D. J.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: English
• Published: Springer 1996
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*; North Atlantic Deep Water; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/6959/; https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/6959/1/Speer.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-80353-6_6

Hydrographic data along 11°S occupied in 1983 by the R.V. OCEANUS are used together with various wind climatologies to estimate the annual average transport of heat at this latitude. Some motivation for expecting fairly well-defined estimates at this latitude compared to others comes from the absence of a strong western boundary current. Results include flow in four layers representing the thermocline, Antarctic Intermediate Water, North Atlantic Deep Water, and Antarctic Bottom Water, using zero velocity reference level choices based on property distributions. The annual average heat transport is estimated to be 0.6 ± 0.17 x 1015 W. Previous estimates of the transport at 8–16°S range from 0.2 PW to greater than 1 PW. Interannual variability from the wind field alone leads to interannual heat transport variability of about 0.05 PW. Comparisons with other recent studies at 45–30°S and 11°N are made.