scholarly journals Comparing Idealized and Complex Topographies in Quasigeostrophic Simulations of an Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (8) ◽  
pp. 1821-1837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis-Philippe Nadeau ◽  
David N. Straub ◽  
David M. Holland
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Complex Topography ◽  
Form Drag ◽  
Scotia Ridge ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Recirculation Gyre ◽  
Realistic Topography

Abstract The circumpolar transport of a wind-driven quasigeostrophic Antarctic Circumpolar Current is considered. Simple theory suggests transport in a strongly forced regime—the focus of this study—is largely determined by a partitioning of the southward Sverdrup flux into Drake Passage latitudes: some streamlines feed a “basin contribution” to the circumpolar transport and others feed a large-scale recirculation gyre. Simulations assuming an idealized Scotia Ridge topography are considered to test for sensitivity to resolution. Considerable sensitivity to both vertical and horizontal resolution is found, and associated with this is a tight stationary eddy trapped on the western flank of the ridge. That is, this eddy is sensitive to resolution and exerts an influence that acts to reduce the circumpolar transport. Simulations using the Scotia Ridge–like topography are also compared to others using more realistic topography. In the idealized (ridge) topography experiments, there is only a single ridge against which topographic form drag can act to remove eastward momentum from the system; in the complex topography experiments, there are many. It is found that the experiments assuming realistic topography do not develop an analog to the single topographically trapped eddy prevalent in the Scotia Ridge topography simulations. Additionally, circumpolar transport in these simulations agrees better with the theory. Whether this agreement is simply fortuitous, however, is unclear. To address this, a series of simulations assumes topography that varies smoothly between the idealized ridge and realistic configurations.

scholarly journals Influence of Wind Stress, Wind Stress Curl, and Bottom Friction on the Transport of a Model Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis-Philippe Nadeau ◽  
David N. Straub
Keyword(s):  
Wind Stress ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Quasigeostrophic Model ◽  
Recirculation Gyre ◽  
The Antarctic

Abstract Eddy-permitting simulations of a wind-driven quasigeostrophic model in an idealized Southern Ocean setting are used to attempt to describe what sets the wind-driven circumpolar transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). For weak forcing, the transport is well described as a linear sum of channel and basin components. The authors’ main focus is on stronger forcing. In this regime, an eddy-driven recirculation appears in the abyssal layer, and all time-mean circumpolar streamlines are found to stem from a Sverdrup-like interior. The Sverdrup flux into Drake Passage latitudes can then be thought of as the sum of one part that feeds the circumpolar current and another that is associated with the recirculation. The relative fractions of this partitioning depend on the bottom drag, the midchannel wind stress, and the wind stress curl. Increasing the strength of the bottom drag reduces the recirculation and increases circumpolar transport. Increasing a zero-curl eastward wind stress reduces the upper-layer expression of the recirculation and increases the transport. Increasing the curl-containing portion of the forcing (while holding the midchannel stress constant) increases the recirculation and decreases the transport. The weakly forced regime is also considered, as are the relative roles of large and small-scale eddies in transporting momentum vertically through the water column in the Drake Passage latitude band. It is found that the vertical momentum flux associated with transient structures can be used to distinguish between different regimes: these structures transmit momentum upward when the dynamics is dominated by the large-scale recirculation gyre and downward when it is not.

scholarly journals A Microscale View of Mixing and Overturning across the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 233-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto C. Naveira Garabato ◽  
Kurt L. Polzin ◽  
Raffaele Ferrari ◽  
Jan D. Zika ◽  
Alexander Forryan
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Overturning Circulation ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Scale Turbulence ◽  
Microstructure Measurements ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe relative roles of isoneutral stirring by mesoscale eddies and dianeutral stirring by small-scale turbulence in setting the large-scale temperature–salinity relation of the Southern Ocean against the action of the overturning circulation are assessed by analyzing a set of shear and temperature microstructure measurements across Drake Passage in a “triple decomposition” framework. It is shown that a picture of mixing and overturning across a region of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) may be constructed from a relatively modest number of microstructure profiles. The rates of isoneutral and dianeutral stirring are found to exhibit distinct, characteristic, and abrupt variations: most notably, a one to two orders of magnitude suppression of isoneutral stirring in the upper kilometer of the ACC frontal jets and an order of magnitude intensification of dianeutral stirring in the subpycnocline and deepest layers of the ACC. These variations balance an overturning circulation with meridional flows of O(1) mm s−1 across the ACC’s mean thermohaline structure. Isoneutral and dianeutral stirring play complementary roles in balancing the overturning, with isoneutral processes dominating in intermediate waters and the Upper Circumpolar Deep Water and dianeutral processes prevailing in lighter and denser layers.

scholarly journals Intrinsic variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system: low- and high-frequency fluctuations of the Argentine Basin flow

Ocean Science ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Sgubin ◽  
S. Pierini ◽  
H. A. Dijkstra
Keyword(s):  
High Frequency ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Current System ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Ocean Model ◽  
Intrinsic Variability ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Argentine Basin

Abstract. In this paper, the variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current system produced by purely intrinsic nonlinear oceanic mechanisms is studied through a sigma-coordinate ocean model, implemented in a large portion of the Southern Ocean at an eddy-permitting resolution under steady surface heat and momentum fluxes. The mean transport through the Drake Passage and the structure of the main Antarctic Circumpolar Current fronts are well reproduced by the model. Intrinsic variability is found to be particularly intense in the Subantarctic Front and in the Argentine Basin, on which further analysis is focused. The low-frequency variability at interannual timescales is related to bimodal behavior of the Zapiola Anticyclone, with transitions between a strong and collapsed anticyclonic circulation in substantial agreement with altimeter observations. Variability on smaller timescales shows clear evidence of topographic Rossby-wave propagation along the eastern and southern flanks of the Zapiola Rise and of mesoscale eddies, also in agreement with altimeter observations. The analysis of the relationship between the low- and high-frequency variability suggests possible mechanisms of mutual interaction.

scholarly journals Topographic Control of Southern Ocean Gyres and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current: A Barotropic Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 3221-3244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan D. Patmore ◽  
Paul R. Holland ◽  
David R. Munday ◽  
Alberto C. Naveira Garabato ◽  
David P. Stevens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Volume Transport ◽  
Topographic Features ◽  
Conservation Of Momentum ◽  
Ridge Width ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Ridge Geometry

AbstractIn the Southern Ocean the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is significantly steered by large topographic features, and subpolar gyres form in their lee. The geometry of topographic features in the Southern Ocean is highly variable, but the influence of this variation on the large-scale flow is poorly understood. Using idealized barotropic simulations of a zonal channel with a meridional ridge, it is found that the ridge geometry is important for determining the net zonal volume transport. A relationship is observed between ridge width and volume transport that is determined by the form stress generated by the ridge. Gyre formation is also highly reliant on the ridge geometry. A steep ridge allows gyres to form within regions of unblocked geostrophic (f/H) contours, with an increase in gyre strength as the ridge width is reduced. These relationships among ridge width, gyre strength, and net zonal volume transport emerge to simultaneously satisfy the conservation of momentum and vorticity.

scholarly journals Coupling Influences of ENSO and PDO on the Inter-Decadal SST Variability of the ACC around the Western South Atlantic

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (18) ◽  
pp. 4853
Author(s):  
You-Lin Wang ◽  
Yu-Chen Hsu ◽  
Chung-Pan Lee ◽  
Chau-Ron Wu
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Water Mass ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
South Atlantic ◽  
Sst Variability ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
The Antarctic

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) plays an important role in the climate as it balances heat energy and water mass between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through the Drake Passage. However, because the historical measurements and observations are extremely limited, the decadal and long-term variations of the ACC around the western South Atlantic Ocean are rarely studied. By analyzing reconstructed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in a 147-year period (1870–2016), previous studies have shown that SST anomalies (SSTAs) around the Antarctic Peninsula and South America had the same phase change as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study further showed that changes in SSTAs in the regions mentioned above were enlarged when the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the ENSO were in the same warm or cold phase, implying that changes in the SST of higher latitude oceans could be enhanced when the influence of the ENSO is considered along with the PDO.

scholarly journals Improving Estimates of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current Streamlines in Drake Passage

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1000-1010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueng-Djern Lenn ◽  
Teresa K. Chereskin ◽  
Janet Sprintall
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Antarctic Circumpolar Current ◽  
Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Meridional Overturning Circulation ◽  
Dynamic Height ◽  
Current Profiler ◽  
Meridional Overturning ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Circumpolar Current

Abstract Accurately resolving the mean Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is essential for determining Southern Ocean eddy fluxes that are important to the global meridional overturning circulation. Previous estimates of the mean ACC have been limited by the paucity of Southern Ocean observations. A new estimate of the mean surface ACC in Drake Passage is presented that combines sea surface height anomalies measured by satellite altimetry with a recent dataset of repeat high-resolution acoustic Doppler current profiler observations. A mean streamfunction (surface height field), objectively mapped from the mean currents, is used to validate two recent dynamic height climatologies. The new streamfunction has narrower and stronger ACC fronts separated by quiescent zones of much weaker flow, thereby improving on the resolution of ACC fronts observed in the other climatologies. Distinct streamlines can be associated with particular ACC fronts and tracked in time-dependent maps of dynamic height. This analysis shows that varying degrees of topographic control are evident in the preferred paths of the ACC fronts through Drake Passage.

scholarly journals The Role of Closed Gyres in Setting the Zonal Transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 1491-1509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis-Philippe Nadeau ◽  
Raffaele Ferrari
Keyword(s):  
Wind Stress ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Bottom Topography ◽  
Channel Length ◽  
Horizontal Resolution ◽  
Wind Stress Curl ◽  
Barotropic Flow ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Baroclinic Transport

AbstractEddy-permitting simulations are used to show that basinlike gyres can be observed in the large-scale barotropic flow of a wind-driven channel with a meridional topographic ridge. This is confirmed using both two-layer quasigeostrophic and 25-level primitive equation models at high horizontal resolution. Comparing results from simulations with and without the topographic ridge, it is shown that the zonal baroclinic transport in the channel increases with increasing wind stress when the bottom topography is flat but not when there is a meridional ridge. The saturation of transport for increasing wind occurs in conjunction with the development of recirculating gyres in the large-scale barotropic streamfunction. This suggests that the total circulation can be thought of as a superposition of a gyre mode (which has zero circumpolar transport) and a free circumpolar mode (which contains all of the transport). Basinlike gyres arise in the channel because the topography steers the barotropic streamlines and supports a frictional boundary layer similar to the more familiar ones observed along western boundaries. The gyre mode is thus closely linked with the bottom form stress exerted by the along-ridge flow and provides the sink for the wind momentum input. In this framework, any increase in wind forcing spins a stronger gyre as opposed to feeding the circumpolar transport. This hypothesis is supported with a suite of experiments where key parameters are carried over a wide range: wind stress, wind stress curl, ridge height, channel length, and bottom friction.

The Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Scotia Sea area

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Oldenhage ◽  
Anouk Beniest ◽  
Wouter P. Schellart
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Evolution ◽  
Drake Passage ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Scotia Sea ◽  
Scotia Ridge ◽  
The North ◽  
Reconstruction Software ◽  
Circumpolar Current ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
The Antarctic

<p>The breakup of the southern edge of Gondwanaland resulted in the formation of the Scotia Plate and the opening of Drake Passage throughout the Cenozoic. During the same period, the Tasman Seaway opened, although the timing of this opening is much better constrained. Rapid cooling of the Antarctic continent followed the openings of Drake Passage and the Tasman Seaway. The opening of Drake Passage or the Tasman seaway allowed the onset of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which is held responsible for the late Miocene global cooling, but discussions about the most important opening are still ongoing.</p><p>The opening of Drake Passage and the development of the Scotia plate have been studied in multitude, but paleogeographic reconstructions show many differences and inconsistencies in both timing of opening Drake Passage as well as paleo-locations of crustal segments. The paleogeographic or tectonic reconstructions of the opening of Drake Passage and the formation of the Scotia plate are hard to compare, because differences in shapes of crustal segments, geographic projections and relative movements of segments chosen by previous authors make it difficult to observe similarities and differences between the different reconstructions.</p><p>We present a thorough analysis of the previously published paleogeographic reconstructions with the aim to identify agreements and inconsistencies between these reconstructions. We re-defined the crustal segments that formed after the break-up of Gondwanaland by re-interpreting the bathymetry and magnetic anomalies of the study area. We re-modelled and compared georeferenced reconstructions from earlier studies in GPlates plate reconstruction software using our own defined crustal segments.</p><p>This comparison shows that the different reconstructions agree quite well along the South Scotia Ridge, but that the North Scotia Ridge shows significant variations between different reconstructions or is not even considered in the reconstructions. Also, the nature and age of the crust of the Central Scotia Sea is heavily discussed, resulting in different opening scenarios. We argue that the tectonic evolution of the North Scotia Ridge and Central Scotia Sea is a crucial factor in identifying the timing of the development of an ocean gateway. We made a new tectonic reconstruction of the North Scotia Ridge crustal segments with less overlaps and gaps between the reconstructed crustal segments.</p><p>The next step would be to compare the global sea-level changes and paleo-bathymetry with the different opening scenarios. Because we standardized all scenarios with the same crustal segments, we will then be able to provide opening ages of Drake Passage for the different scenarios that can be compared in a quantitative way.</p>

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