Remote forcing of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current by diapycnal mixing

We show that diapycnal mixing can drive a significant Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) volume transport, even when the mixing is located remotely in northern-hemisphere ocean basins. In the case of remote forcing, the globally-averaged diapycnal mixing coefficient is the important parameter. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Munday, D, Allison, L, Johnson, H, Marshall, D
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL046849
https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:b9cdaeb6-1241-4752-851c-bda4882e6e4a
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Summary:We show that diapycnal mixing can drive a significant Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) volume transport, even when the mixing is located remotely in northern-hemisphere ocean basins. In the case of remote forcing, the globally-averaged diapycnal mixing coefficient is the important parameter. This result is anticipated from theoretical arguments and demonstrated in a global ocean circulation model. The impact of enhanced diapycnal mixing on the ACC during glacial periods is discussed. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

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