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. R., Allison, L. C., Johnson, H. L., Marshall, D. P.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: American Geophysical Union 2011
Subjects:
Antarctic
The Antarctic
Antarc*
Online Access:https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/19972/
https://doi.org/10.1029/2011GL046849
Description
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.

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