Methods for making point estimates of eddy heat flux as applied to the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

1985 ◽  
Vol 90 (C2) ◽  
pp. 3305 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Nowlin ◽  
S. J. Worley ◽  
T. Whitworth
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Eddy Heat Flux ◽  
Point Estimates ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

scholarly journals Estimates of Eddy Heat Flux Crossing the Antarctic Circumpolar Current from Observations in Drake Passage

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (7) ◽  
pp. 2103-2122 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Randolph Watts ◽  
Karen L. Tracey ◽  
Kathleen A. Donohue ◽  
Teresa K. Chereskin
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Heat Transport ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Baroclinic Instability ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Poleward Heat Transport ◽  
Eddy Heat Flux ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe 4-yr measurements by current- and pressure-recording inverted echo sounders in Drake Passage produced statistically stable eddy heat flux estimates. Horizontal currents in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) turn with depth when a depth-independent geostrophic current crosses the upper baroclinic zone. The dynamically important divergent component of eddy heat flux is calculated. Whereas full eddy heat fluxes differ greatly in magnitude and direction at neighboring locations within the local dynamics array (LDA), the divergent eddy heat fluxes are poleward almost everywhere. Case studies illustrate baroclinic instability events that cause meanders to grow rapidly. In the southern passage, where eddy variability is weak, heat fluxes are weak and not statistically significant. Vertical profiles of heat flux are surface intensified with ~50% above 1000 m and uniformly distributed with depth below. Summing poleward transient eddy heat transport across the LDA of −0.010 ± 0.005 PW with the stationary meander contribution of −0.004 ± 0.001 PW yields −0.013 ± 0.005 PW. A comparison metric, −0.4 PW, represents the total oceanic heat loss to the atmosphere south of 60°S. Summed along the circumpolar ACC path, if the LDA heat flux occurred at six “hot spots” spanning similar or longer path segments, this could account for 20%–70% of the metric, that is, up to −0.28 PW. The balance of ocean poleward heat transport along the remaining ACC path should come from weak eddy heat fluxes plus mean cross-front temperature transports. Alternatively, the metric −0.4 PW, having large uncertainty, may be high.

Upper-Ocean Eddy Heat Flux across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in Drake Passage from Observations: Time-Mean and Seasonal Variability

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 2507-2527
Author(s):  
Manuel O. Gutierrez-Villanueva ◽  
Teresa K. Chereskin ◽  
Janet Sprintall
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Polar Front ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Eddy Heat Flux ◽  
Meridional Overturning ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractEddy heat flux plays a fundamental role in the Southern Ocean meridional overturning circulation, providing the only mechanism for poleward heat transport above the topography and below the Ekman layer at the latitudes of Drake Passage. Models and observations identify Drake Passage as one of a handful of hot spots in the Southern Ocean where eddy heat transport across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is enhanced. Quantifying this transport, however, together with its spatial distribution and temporal variability, remains an open question. This study quantifies eddy heat flux as a function of ACC streamlines using a unique 20-yr time series of upper-ocean temperature and velocity transects with unprecedented horizontal resolution. Eddy heat flux is calculated using both time-mean and time-varying streamlines to isolate the dynamically important across-ACC heat flux component. The time-varying streamlines provide the best estimate of the across-ACC component because they track the shifting and meandering of the ACC fronts. The depth-integrated (0–900 m) across-stream eddy heat flux is maximum poleward in the south flank of the Subantarctic Front (−0.10 ± 0.05 GW m−1) and decreases toward the south, becoming statistically insignificant in the Polar Front, indicating heat convergence south of the Subantarctic Front. The time series provides an uncommon opportunity to explore the seasonal cycle of eddy heat flux. Poleward eddy heat flux in the Polar Front Zone is enhanced during austral autumn–winter, suggesting a seasonal variation in eddy-driven upwelling and thus the meridional overturning circulation.

scholarly journals Time-Mean Flow as the Prevailing Contribution to the Poleward Heat Flux across the Southern Flank of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: A Case Study in the Fawn Trough, Kerguelen Plateau

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 583-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Sekma ◽  
Y.-H. Park ◽  
F. Vivier
Keyword(s):  
Heat Flux ◽  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Kerguelen Plateau ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Southern Flank

Abstract The major mechanisms of the oceanic poleward heat flux in the Southern Ocean are still in debate. The long-standing belief stipulates that the poleward heat flux across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is mainly due to mesoscale transient eddies and the cross-stream heat flux by time-mean flow is insignificant. This belief has recently been challenged by several numerical modeling studies, which stress the importance of mean flow for the meridional heat flux in the Southern Ocean. Here, this study analyzes moored current meter data obtained recently in the Fawn Trough, Kerguelen Plateau, to estimate the cross-stream heat flux caused by the time-mean flow and transient eddies. It is shown that the poleward eddy heat flux in this southern part of the ACC is negligible, while that from the mean flow is overwhelming by two orders of magnitude. This is due to the unusual anticlockwise turning of currents with decreasing depth, which is associated with significant bottom upwelling engendered by strong bottom currents flowing over the sloping topography of the trough. The circumpolar implications of these local observations are discussed in terms of the depth-integrated linear vorticity budget, which suggests that the six topographic features along the southern flank of the ACC equivalent to the Fawn Trough case would yield sufficient poleward heat flux to balance the oceanic heat loss in the subpolar region. As eddy activity on the southern flank of the ACC is too weak to transport sufficient heat poleward, the nonequivalent barotropic structure of the mean flow in several topographically constricted passages should accomplish the required task.

scholarly journals Nonlinear Differential Equations Modeling the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jifeng Chu ◽  
Kateryna Marynets
Keyword(s):  
Fixed Point ◽  
Differential Equations ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Topological Degree ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Fixed Point Theorems ◽  
Nonlinear Differential Equations ◽  
Existence Results ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe aim of this paper is to study one class of nonlinear differential equations, which model the Antarctic circumpolar current. We prove the existence results for such equations related to the geophysical relevant boundary conditions. First, based on the weighted eigenvalues and the theory of topological degree, we study the semilinear case. Secondly, the existence results for the sublinear and superlinear cases are proved by fixed point theorems.

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