Observed variability of water properties and transports on the World Ocean Circulation Experiment SR1b section across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2002 ◽  
Vol 107 (C10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc A. García
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
Water Properties ◽  
The World ◽  
World Ocean Circulation Experiment ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

scholarly journals Connecting flow–topography interactions, vorticity balance, baroclinic instability and transport in the Southern Ocean: the case of an idealized storm track

Ocean Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1207-1223
Author(s):  
Julien Jouanno ◽  
Xavier Capet
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
Storm Track ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Global Circulation Models ◽  
The World ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. The dynamical balance of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and its implications on the functioning of the world ocean are not fully understood and poorly represented in global circulation models. In this study, the sensitivities of an idealized Southern Ocean (SO) storm track are explored with a set of eddy-rich numerical simulations. The classical partition between barotropic and baroclinic modes is sensitive to current–topography interactions in the mesoscale range 10–100 km, as comparisons between simulations with rough or smooth bathymetry reveal. Configurations with a rough bottom have weak barotropic motions, ubiquitous bottom form stress/pressure torque, no wind-driven gyre in the lee of topographic ridges, less efficient baroclinic turbulence and, thus, larger circumpolar transport rates. The difference in circumpolar transport produced by topographic roughness depends on the strength with which (external) thermohaline forcings by the rest of the world ocean constrain the stratification at the northern edge of the SO. The study highlights the need for a more comprehensive treatment of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) interactions with the ocean floor, including realistic fields of bottom form stress and pressure torque. It also sheds some light on the behavior of idealized storm tracks recently modeled: (i) the saturation mechanism, whereby the circumpolar transport does not depend on wind intensity, is a robust and generic attribute of ACC-like circumpolar flows; (ii) the adjustment toward saturation can take place over widely different timescales (from months to years) depending on the possibility (or not) for barotropic Rossby waves to propagate signals of wind change and accelerate/decelerate SO wind-driven gyres. The real SO having both gyres and ACC saturation timescales typical of our “no gyre” simulations may be in an intermediate regime in which mesoscale topography away from major ridges provides partial and localized support for bottom form stress/pressure torque.

scholarly journals The World Ocean Circulation Experiment

Nature ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 314 (6011) ◽  
pp. 501-511 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Woods
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
The World ◽  
World Ocean Circulation Experiment

scholarly journals WOCE Pacific Ocean Radiocarbon Program

Radiocarbon ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Key
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
The World ◽  
World Ocean Circulation Experiment ◽  
The Mean

Fieldwork for the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) radiocarbon program was recently completed. Ca. 9000 samples were collected for analysis using both conventional β-counting techniques and the newer AMS technique. The mean uncertainty for the β analyses is 3‰; for AMS analyses, ca. 4.5‰.

scholarly journals Southern Ocean overturning across streamlines in an eddying simulation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Ocean Science ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 491-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Treguier ◽  
M. H. England ◽  
S. R. Rintoul ◽  
G. Madec ◽  
J. Le Sommer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Meridional Circulation ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Residual Circulation ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Buoyancy Forcing ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Surface Buoyancy ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract. An eddying global model is used to study the characteristics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) in a streamline-following framework. Previous model-based estimates of the meridional circulation were calculated using zonal averages: this method leads to a counter-intuitive poleward circulation of the less dense waters, and underestimates the eddy effects. We show that on the contrary, the upper ocean circulation across streamlines agrees with the theoretical view: an equatorward mean flow partially cancelled by a poleward eddy mass flux. Two model simulations, in which the buoyancy forcing above the ACC changes from positive to negative, suggest that the relationship between the residual meridional circulation and the surface buoyancy flux is not as straightforward as assumed by the simplest theoretical models: the sign of the residual circulation cannot be inferred from the surface buoyancy forcing only. Among the other processes that likely play a part in setting the meridional circulation, our model results emphasize the complex three-dimensional structure of the ACC (probably not well accounted for in streamline-averaged, two-dimensional models) and the distinct role of temperature and salinity in the definition of the density field. Heat and salt transports by the time-mean flow are important even across time-mean streamlines. Heat and salt are balanced in the ACC, the model drift being small, but the nonlinearity of the equation of state cannot be ignored in the density balance.

The World Ocean Circulation Experiment

Eos ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-34
Author(s):  
Anonymous
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
World Ocean ◽  
The World ◽  
World Ocean Circulation Experiment
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