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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 107, NO. C9, 3119, doi:10.1029/2001JC001187, 2002

Heat flux carried by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current mean flow

Che Sun

Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Princeton, New Jersey, USA


D. Randolph Watts

Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, Rhode Island, USA


Abstract

A stream function projection of historical hydrographic data is applied to study the heat flux problem in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The ACC is defined as a circumpolar band consisting of mean streamlines passing through Drake Passage. Its mean path exhibits a globally meandering pattern. The calculation of zonal heat transport shows that the ACC warms along its equatorward segments (South Atlantic and Indian Ocean) and cools along its poleward segment (South Pacific). The primary heat sources for the ACC system are two western boundary currents, the Brazil Current and the Agulhas Current. The mean baroclinic flow relative to 3000 dbar carries 0.14 PW poleward heat flux across 56°S and 0.08 PW across 60°S.

Published 6 September 2002.

Index Terms: 1620 Global Change: Climate dynamics (3309); 4532 Oceanography: Physical: General circulation; 4536 Oceanography: Physical: Hydrography.

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Citation: Sun, C., and D. R. Watts (2002), Heat flux carried by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current mean flow, J. Geophys. Res., 107(C9), 3119, doi:10.1029/2001JC001187.