Effect of Wind Changes During the Last Glacial Maximum on the Circulation in the Southern Ocean

• Main Authors: Klinck, John M., Smith, David A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: ODU Digital Commons 1993
• Subjects: Antarctic Circumpolar Current; Ice core; Climate; Transport; Atlantic; Oceanography; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Antarc*; ice core
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/ccpo_pubs/172; https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1175&context=ccpo_pubs

Present-day surface wind stress climatology is manipulated to simulate wind conditions during the last glacial maximum. These estimated wind fields force a one-layer, wind-driven numerical model of the southern ocean to determine if a change in the strength of the surface wind stress can shift the location of the Antarctic Polar Front, which is part of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. A change in the forcing by a factor of 0.5-2.0 results in a change in the speed of the flow by an identical factor with no change in position. However, if the present-day wind climatology is shifted meridionally there is a change in both strength of the circulation and spatial pattern. A shift of the wind stress of more than 5-degrees of latitude is required to produce a shift in the location of the polar front.