| Summary: | The Agulhas Current is the major western boundary current of the Southern Hemisphere [Lutjeharms, 2006] and a key component of the global ocean "conveyor" circulation controlling the return flow to the Atlantic Ocean [Gordon, 1986]. As such, it is increasingly recognized as a key player in ocean thermohaline circulation, with importance for the meridional overturning circulation (MOC) of the Atlantic Ocean. Unusual dynamics pervade the motion of this warm-water current-as it moves west around the southern tip of Africa, it is retroflected back east by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Not all waters are captured by this sudden diversion of course-parts of the Agulhas Current leak away into the South Atlantic Ocean (Figure 1).
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