Collaborative Research: Southern Ocean Circumpolar Flows - Transformations, Recirculations, and Intergyre Exchanges

University Of Rhode Island, Kingston RI

Investigators

Abstract

0117601 McCartney/WHOI & Donohue/URI This project is a descriptive analysis of the structure of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) system and its connection to adjacent southern hemisphere circulation domains. It will use the Southern Ocean sections obtained during the Hydrographic Program of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment, as well as historical data sets. The analysis will follow five themes: a description of the abyssal circulation, including deep and bottom water pathways to mid-latitudes; a study of the pathways of exchange of deep water across the ACC; the transformation, by ventilation and mixing, of warm water along the ACC; exchange between the ACC and subtropical gyres; secular changes in the structure of the Southern Ocean. This work will help determine the role played by the Southern Ocean in establishing the density structure of the world's ocean. It will also provide a baseline for later evaluations of long-term change in the structure of the Southern Ocean.