The baroclinic transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current south of Africa

Type Article
Date 2005-12
Language English
Author(s) Legeais Jean-Francois6, 7, Speich Sabrina1, 7, Arhan Michel7, Ansorge I2, Fahrbach E3, Garzoli S4, Klepikov A5
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Bretagne Occidentale, CNRS, Inst Francais Rech Exploitat Mer, Lab Phys Oceans, F-29238 Brest 3, France.
2 : Univ Cape Town, Dept Oceanog, ZA-7701 Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
3 : Alfred Wegener Inst Polar & Marine Res, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.
4 : NOAA, Atlantic Oceanog & Marine Lab, Phys Oceanog Div, Miami, FL 33149 USA.
5 : Arctic & Antarctic Res Inst, St Petersburg 199397, Russia.
Source Geophysical Research Letters (0094-8276) (AGU), 2005-12 , Vol. 32 , N. 24/L24602 , P. 1-5
DOI 10.1029/2005GL023271
WOS© Times Cited 13
Keyword(s) Water masses, Geostrophic current, Antarctic circumpolar Current, Baroclinic transport
Abstract Five hydrographic transects at nominal longitudes 0 degrees E and 30 degrees E, and fourteen expendable bathythermograph (XBT) sections near the former longitude are used to study the baroclinic transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) between Africa and Antarctica. The bottom-referenced geostrophic transport between the Subtropical Front and the ACC Southern Boundary is 147 +/- 10 Sv. Estimating the transport from the XBTs using a technique previously employed south of Australia proves delicate because of an irregular bathymetry and water mass variations. It nevertheless confirms ACC transports around 150 Sv. Gathering these and other estimates from the Atlantic sector suggests that, while North Atlantic Deep Water is injected in the current west of 35 degrees W, a partially compensating loss of Deep Circumpolar Water occurs east of this longitude. Another transport increase from 0 degrees E to 30 degrees E might reflect southward transfer across the Subtropical Front south of the Agulhas retroflection.
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