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1.
Quasi-continuous fugacity of CO2 (fCO2) data were collected in the eastern Weddell Gyre and southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) of the Southern Ocean during austral autumn 1996. Full depth Total CO2 (TCO2) sections are presented for austral autumn and winter (1992) cruises. Pronounced fCO2 gradients were observed at the Southern Ocean fronts. In the Weddell Gyre, fCO2 regimes appeared to coincide with surface and subsurface hydrographic regimes. The southern ACC was supersaturated with respect to CO2, as was part of the northern Weddell Gyre. The southern Weddell Gyre was markedly undersaturated. The great potential of autumn cooling for generating undersaturation and CO2 uptake from the atmosphere was demonstrated. In the northeastern Weddell Gyre, upwelling of CO2- and salt-rich deep water was shown to play a role as the horizontal fCO2 distribution closely resembled that of the surface salinity. The total uptake of atmospheric CO2 by the Weddell Gyre in autumn (45 days) was calculated to be 7·1012 g C. The deep TCO2 distribution noticeably reflected the different water masses in the region. A new deep TCO2 maximum was detected in the ACC, which apparently characterizes the boundary between the equatorward flowing Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) and the Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW). East of the Weddell Gyre, the AABW stratum is much thicker (>2000 m) than more to the west, on the prime meridian (<300 m).  相似文献   

2.
Hydrographic, current meter and ADCP data collected during two recent cruises in the South Indian Ocean (RRS Discovery cruise 200 in February 1993 and RRS Discovery cruise 207 in February 1994) are used to investigate the current structure within the Princess Elizabeth Trough (PET), near the Antarctic continent at 85°E, 63–66°S. This gap in topography between the Kerguelen Plateau and the Antarctic continent, with sill depth 3750 m, provides a route for the exchange of Antarctic Bottom Water between the Australian–Antarctic Basin and the Weddell–Enderby Basin. Shears derived from ADCP and hydrographic data are used to deduce the barotropic component of the velocity field, and thus the volume transports of the water masses. Both the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front (SACCF) and the Southern Boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (SB) pass through the northern PET (latitudes 63 to 64.5°S) associated with eastward transports. These are deep-reaching fronts with associated bottom velocities of several cm s-1. Antarctic Bottom water (AABW) from the Weddell–Enderby Basin is transported eastwards in the jets associated with these fronts. The transport of water with potential temperatures less than 0°C is 3 (±1) Sv. The SB is shown to meander in the PET, caused by the cyclonic gyre immediately west of the PET in Prydz Bay. The AABW therefore also meanders before continuing eastwards. In the southern PET (latitudes 64.5 to 66°S) a bottom intensified flow of AABW is observed flowing west. This AABW has most likely formed not far from the PET, along the Antarctic continental shelf and slope to the east. Current meters show that speeds in this flow have an annual scalar mean of 10 cm s-1. The transport of water with potential temperatures less than 0°C is 20 (±3) Sv. The southern PET features westward flow throughout the water column, since the shallower depths are dominated by the flow associated with the Antarctic Slope Front. Including the westward flow of bottom water, the total westward transport of the whole water column in the southern PET is 45 (±6) Sv.  相似文献   

3.
Transient tracer data (tritium, CFC11 and CFC12) from the southern, central and northwestern Weddell Sea collected during Polarstern cruises ANT III-3, ANT V-2/3/4 and during Andenes cruise NARE 85 are presented and discussed in the context of hydrographic observations. A kinematic, time-dependent, multi-box model is used to estimate mean residence times and formation rates of several water masses observed in the Weddell Sea.Ice Shelf Water is marked by higher tritium and lower CFC concentrations compared to surface waters. The tracer signature of Ice Shelf Water can only be explained by assuming that its source water mass, Western Shelf Water, has characteristics different from those of surface waters. Using the transient nature of tritium and the CFCs, the mean residence time of Western Shelf Water on the shelf is estimated to be approximately 5 years. Ice Shelf Water is renewed on a time scale of about 14 years from Western Shelf Water by interaction of this water mass with glacial ice underneath the Filchner-Ronne Ice shelf. The Ice Shelf Water signature can be traced across the sill of the Filchner Depression and down the continental slope of the southern Weddell Sea. On the continental slope, new Weddell Sea Bottom Water is formed by entrainment of Weddell Deep Water and Weddell Sea Deep Water into the Ice Shelf Water plume. In the northwestern Weddell Sea, new Weddell Sea Bottom Water is observed in two narrow, deep boundary currents flowing along the base of the continental slope. Classically defined Weddell Sea Bottom Water (θ ≤ −0.7°C) and Weddell Sea Deep Water (−0.7°C ≤ θ ≤ 0°C) are ventilated from the deeper of these boundary currents by lateral spreading and mixing. Model-based estimates yield a total formation rate of 3.5Sv for new Weddell Sea Bottom Water (θ = −1.0°C) and a formation rate of at least 11Sv for Antarctic Bottom Water (θ = −0.5°C).  相似文献   

4.
利用中国第九次南大洋考察中南极普里兹湾及其邻近海域的CTD资料,分析研究了调查海域的水文结构特征及其该区南极底层水(AABW)的来源.研究结果表明,在研究海域,深水洋区近表层流由西向东流,而在普里兹湾内存在一个气旋型涡.水文结构中最明显的海洋学特征是:(1)绕极深层水(CDW)的涌升现象明显,涌升最强的位置是麦克罗伯逊地以北海域,最明显的深度是50～200m层,暖水涌升将冬季冷水分隔成南北两部分,并在其中形成孤立的暖水块;(2)陆缘水边界明显,这是绕极深层水与南极冷水之间形成的锋面,一般处在次表层水中,大致位于64°～66°S之间;(3)存在着双跃层结构.观测期间,普里兹湾以北探水海域存在着南极底层水,其来源可能有二:一为当地形成,二为源于威德尔海和罗斯海.  相似文献   

5.
We use hydrological and current meter data collected in the Ross Sea, Antarctica between 1995 and 2006 to describe the spatial and temporal variability of water masses involved in the production of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW). Data were collected in two regions of known outflows of dense shelf water in this region; the Drygalski Trough (DT) and the Glomar-Challenger Trough (GCT). Dense shelf water just inshore of the shelf break is dominated by High Salinity Shelf Water (HSSW) in the DT and Ice Shelf Water (ISW) in the GCT. The HSSW in the northern DT freshened by ∼0.06 in 11 y, while the ISW in the northern GCT freshened by ∼0.04 in 8 y and warmed by ∼0.04 °C in 11 y, dominated by a rapid warming during austral summer 2001/02. The Antarctic Slope Front separating the warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) from the shelf waters is more stable near GCT than near DT, with CDW and mixing products being found on the outer DT shelf but not on the outer GCT shelf. The different source waters and mixing processes at the two sites lead to production of AABW with different thermohaline characteristics in the central and western Ross Sea. Multi-year time series of hydrography and currents at long-term moorings within 100 km of the shelf break in both troughs confirm the interannual signals in the dense shelf water and reveal the seasonal cycle of water mass properties. Near the DT the HSSW salinities experienced maxima in March/April and minima in September/October. The ISW in the GCT is warmest in March/April and coolest between August and October. Mooring data also demonstrate significant high-frequency variability associated with tides and other processes. Wavelet analysis of near-bottom moored sensors sampling the dense water cascade over the continental slope west of the GCT shows intermittent energetic pulses of cold, dense water with periods from ∼32 h to ∼5 days.  相似文献   

6.
Deep-circulation flow at mid-latitude in the western North Pacific   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：1  
Direct current measurements with five moorings at 27–35°N, 165°E from 1991 to 1993 and with one mooring at 27°N, 167°E from 1989 to 1991 revealed temporal variations of deep flow at mid-latitude in the western North Pacific. The deep-circulation flow carrying the Lower Circumpolar Deep Water from the Southern Ocean passed 33°N, 165°E northwestward with a high mean velocity of 7.8 cm s−1 near the bottom and was stable enough to continue for 4–6 months between interruptions of 1- or 2-months duration. The deep-circulation flow expanded or shifted intermittently to the mooring at 31°N, 165°E but did not reach 35°N, 165°E although it shifted northward. The deep-circulation flow was not detected at the other four moorings, whereas meso-scale eddy variations were prominent at all the moorings, particularly at 35°N and 29°N, 165°E. The characteristics of current velocity and dissolved oxygen distributions led us to conclude that the deep-circulation flow takes a cyclonic pathway after passing through Wake Island Passage, passing 24°N, 169.5–173°E and 30°N, 168–169°E northward, proceeds northwestward around 33°N, 165°E, and goes westward through the south of the Shatsky Rise. We did not find that the deep-circulation flow proceeded westward along the northern side of the Mid-Pacific Seamounts and eastward between the Hess Rise and the Hawaiian Ridge toward the Northeast Pacific Basin.  相似文献   

7.
南极半岛周边海域水团及水交换的研究   总被引：1，自引：1，他引：0  
利用中国第34次南极考察于2018年1–2月在南极半岛周边海域获得的温盐、海流现场观测数据,分析了调查区域主要水团及水交换特征。结果表明,观测区域内主要存在南极表层水、绕极深层水、暖深层水、南极底层水、布兰斯菲尔德海峡底层水。威德尔海的暖深层水、威德尔海深层水通过南奥克尼海台东侧的奥克尼通道、布鲁斯通道和南奥克尼海台西侧的埃斯佩里兹通道进入斯科舍海,其中奥克尼通道的深层海流最强,流速最大可达0.25 m/s,密度较大的威德尔海深层水可以通过此通道进入斯科舍海;布鲁斯通道海流流速约为0.13 m/s,通过此通道的暖深层水位势温度较高;埃斯佩里兹通道海流流速约为0.10 m/s,通过此通道的暖深层水位势温度最低,威德尔海深层水密度最小。在南奥克尼海台东西两侧均观测到南向和北向的海流,但整体上来看,向北的海流和水交换更强。水体进入斯科舍海后,沿着南斯科舍海岭的北侧向西北方向流动,流速约为0.21 m/s。德雷克海峡中的南极绕极流仅有一部分向东进入斯科舍海南部海域,且受到向西流动的暖深层水、威德尔海深层水的影响,斯科舍海南部海域的绕极深层水明显比德雷克海峡中绕极深层水的高温高盐性质弱;受到南极绕极流的影响,南斯科舍海岭北侧的威德尔海深层水比南侧暖。南斯科舍海岭上的水体可能受到北侧绕极深层水、暖深层水,西侧陆架水,东侧冬季水的影响,因此海岭上水体结构较为复杂。  相似文献   

8.
In this paper we use a temperature and salinity based mixing model to assess the dilution of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) as it moves away from the Weddell Sea and into the Southwest Indian Ocean. By combining these results with CFC tracer measurements we have been able to make direct estimates of the large-scale translation rates of AABW in this region. We confirm that there is a major northward flow of AABW via a gap in the Southwest Indian Ridge at 30°E, and thence across the Agulhas Basin into the Mozambique Basin, with a translation rate from the Greenwich Meridian of 0.8–1.0 cm s−1 and a volume transport between the two basins of 1.5×106 m3 s−1. A second, smaller flow cuts the Del Cano Rise through the Prince Edward Fracture Zone but is indistinguishable from the general bottom waters once on the northern side of the rise. The third flow moves eastward along the southern flank of the Del Cano Rise to pass north of the Conrad Rise. This has bottom velocities of 0.7 cm s−1 and a volume transport of 1.6×106 m3 s−1. This water is probably the source of the AABW-rich Circumpolar Deep Water that flows through the gap to the west of Crozet Island, and which is traceable again at stations on the northern flanks of the ridge. Flow between the Conrad Rise and the Del Cano Rise is complicated by the influence of a fourth flow, the AABW that passes south of the former and thence into the Crozet Basin via the Crozet-Kerguelen Gap. We suggest that a portion of this flow loops into the channel between the Del Cano Rise and the Conrad Rise, modifying the bottom waters at the easternmost stations within this channel. We will go on in Part 2 of this paper to use these results to estimate the dissolution rates of silica in the SWINDEX area.  相似文献   

9.
Tritium data were collected between 1985 and 1987 on several cruises of the German research icebreaker “Polarstern” to the Weddell Sea. Maximum tritium concentrations in the surface waters are of the order of 200 mTU. The minimum values observed in the Weddell Sea Deep Water at about 1000 m depth are about 15–40 mTU. The bottom waters show tritium concentrations of about 70–100 mTU in the central gyre, increasing to about 120 mTU in the northwestern corner of the Weddell Sea. The overflowing Ice Shelf Water observed on the continental slope west of the Filchner Depression has tritium concentrations close to those of the surface waters, indicating rapid renewal of this water mass. The data reflect the rapid renewal of the bottom waters in the northwestern corner of the Weddell Sea and the mixing of bottom water from this boundary current into the bottom waters of the central Weddell Gyre.  相似文献   

10.
We use hydrographic data collected during two interdisciplinary cruises, CIEMAR and BREDDIES, to describe the mesoscale variability observed in the Central Basin of the Bransfield Strait (Antarctica). The main mesoscale feature is the Bransfield Front and the related Bransfield Current, which flows northeastward along the South Shetland Island Slope. A laboratory model suggests that this current behaves as a gravity current driven by the local rotation rate and the density differences between the Transitional Zonal Water with Bellingshausen influence (TBW) and the Transitional Zonal Water with Weddell Sea influence (TWW). Below the Bransfield Front we observe a narrow (10 km wide) tongue of Circumpolar Deep Water all along the South Shetland Islands Slope. At the surface, the convergence of TBW and TWW leads to a shallow baroclinic front close to the Antarctic Peninsula (hereafter Peninsula Front). Between the Bransfield Front and the Peninsula Front we observe a system of TBW anticyclonic eddies, with diameters about 20 km that can reach 300 m deep. This eddy system could be originated by instabilities of the Bransfield Current. The Bransfield Current, the anticyclonic eddy system, the Peninsula Front and the tongue of Circumpolar Deep Water, are the dynamically connected components of the Bransfield Current System.  相似文献   

11.
We conducted full-depth hydrographic observations in the southwestern region of the Northwest Pacific Basin in September 2004 and November 2005. Deep-circulation currents crossed the observation line between the East Mariana Ridge and the Shatsky Rise, carrying Lower Circumpolar Deep Water westward in the lower deep layer (θ<1.2 °C) and Upper Circumpolar Deep Water (UCDW) and North Pacific Deep Water (NPDW) eastward in the upper deep layer (1.3–2.2 °C). In the lower deep layer at depths greater than approximately 3500 m, the eastern branch current of the deep circulation was located south of the Shatsky Rise at 30°24′–30°59′N with volume transport of 3.9 Sv (1 Sv=106 m3 s−1) in 2004 and at 30°06′–31°15′N with 1.6 Sv in 2005. The western branch current of the deep circulation was located north of the Ogasawara Plateau at 26°27′–27°03′N with almost 2.1 Sv in 2004 and at 26°27′–26°45′N with 2.7 Sv in 2005. Integrating past and present results, volume transport southwest of the Shatsky Rise is concluded to be a little less than 4 Sv for the eastern branch current and a little more than 2 Sv for the western branch current. In the upper deep layer at depths of approximately 2000–3500 m, UCDW and NPDW, characterized by high and low dissolved oxygen, respectively, were carried eastward at the observation line by the return flow of the deep circulation composing meridional overturning circulation. UCDW was confined between the East Mariana Ridge and the Ogasawara Plateau (22°03′–25°33′N) in 2004, whereas it extended to 26°45′N north of the Ogasawara Plateau in 2005. NPDW existed over the foot and slope of the Shatsky Rise from 29°48′N in 2004 and 30°06′N in 2005 to at least 32°30′N at the top of the Shatsky Rise. Volume transport of UCDW was estimated to be 4.6 Sv in 2004, whereas that of NPDW was 1.4 Sv in 2004 and 2.6 Sv in 2005, although the values for NPDW may be slightly underestimated, because they do not include the component north of the top of the Shatsky Rise. Volume transport of UCDW and NPDW southwest of the Shatsky Rise is concluded to be approximately 5 and 3 Sv, respectively. The pathways of UCDW and NPDW are new findings and suggest a correction for the past view of the deep circulation in the Pacific Ocean.  相似文献   

12.
Possible source of the antarctic bottom water in the Prydz Bay Region   总被引：4，自引：0，他引：4  
It has been inferred that the Prydz Bay region is one of the source regions of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) based on rather indirect evidence. In order to examine this inference, we investigate the hydrographic condition of the bay based mainly on XCTD data obtained during the Japanese Whale Research Program in the Antarctic (JARPA). The JARPA hydrographic data reveal Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW), which is a salty, warm water mass approaching the shelf break, and capture Modified CDW (MCDW) intruding into the shelf water. AABW production requires mixing of CDW and cold shelf water saltier than 34.6 psu, which is a saltier type of Low Salinity Shelf Water (LSSW). Saltier LSSW is observed near the bottom over the shelf, being mixed with MCDW. We further identify saltier LSSW near the shelf break. This saltier LSSW appears close enough to unmodified CDW to be mixed with it over the continental slope, indicating a possible source of AABW in Prydz Bay.  相似文献   

13.
普里兹湾附近绕极深层水和底层水及其运动特征   总被引：7，自引：5，他引：7  
利用中国第15次南极科学考察科学考察队的CTD全深度观测资料(1998年11月至1999年2月),分析并讨论了普里兹湾以北的南大洋海域内,绕极深层水(CDW)和南极底层水(AABW)的物理特性及其空间分布.同时还与历史上其他学者的发现进行了比较.指出了在研究海域内,CDW在100～2000m之间从北向南扩展,其高温核(t>1.2℃)和高盐核(S>34.7)在75°E断面上最为深厚,向南扩展得最远;而AABW则在2500m以深由陆坡底部向北扩展,σθ>27.875的高密度水体在70°E断面上最为深厚,向北扩展得最远.此外还通过实测的CTD资料证实了CDW和AABW的经向环流特征,以及它们与迪肯流环(Deaconcell)、亚极地流环和深层流环的一致性.  相似文献   

14.
A one-dimensional, temperature-dependent model is implemented to simulate the descent–ascent cycle of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) embryos and larvae. Inputs to the model are monthly mean climatologies of ambient temperature and density fields obtained from the World Ocean Atlas Database for Southern Ocean waters. Simulations are done with a 1° resolution at a circumpolar scale, south of 60°S, and the results are interpolated to a 5′ grid to match the resolution of the bottom bathymetry data. Simulations of the descent–ascent cycle using environmental conditions corresponding to the Antarctic krill spawning season (December–March) resulted in unconstrained success in completion of the cycle in water deeper than 1000 m. Continental shelf regions favorable to successful hatching of Antarctic krill embryos are limited to areas along the west Antarctic Peninsula, large areas in the Bellingshausen and Amundsen Seas, offshore of Wilkes Land, and to the east and west of Prydz Bay. These are regions where the Southern Antarctic Circumpolar Current Front is along the shelf slope, the Antarctic Slope Front is absent, and Circumpolar Deep Water is present. The effect of seasonal variability in temperature on the descent–ascent cycle tends to enhance the probability of success in regions offshore of Wilkes Land, Queen Maud Land, and the eastern shelf of the Antarctic Peninsula later in the spawning season. The simulations show that success of the descent–ascent cycle is sensitive to initial embryo diameter and larval ascent rate. Initial embryo diameter may provide an additional constraint on success of the descent–ascent cycle, especially in continental shelf waters, where small embryos tend to encounter the bottom before hatching. The circumpolar distributions of simulated embryo hatching depth and larval success show that all regions of the Antarctic are not equal in the ability to support successful completion of the Antarctic krill descent–ascent cycle, which has implications for the overall circum-Antarctic krill distribution and for the development of nutrient and material budgets, especially for Antarctic continental shelf areas.  相似文献   

15.
The third in a series of cruises designed to establish the present-day concentrations of trace elements and synthetic organic compounds in major water masses of the ocean, the 1996 Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission Contaminant Baseline Survey occupied six vertical profile stations in the subtropical and tropical Atlantic. Underway surface samples also were acquired in the transects between these stations. This paper uses the temperature, salinity, oxygen, nutrient, and chlorophyll results from the cruise to set the hydrographic background for the other papers in this special volume. Major features sampled during the surface transect include the Brazil Current, the South Equatorial Current, and the offshore Amazon Plume. Utilizing the above parameters to identify water masses, we observed Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) that ranged from a relatively undiluted form at 33°S (Station 10) to a highly attenuated form at 8°N (Station 6). Similarly, North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) was obtained in various mixing stages along its flow path, and samples of NADW and AABW exchanging through the Romanche Fracture Zone to the eastern Atlantic basins were also taken. In addition to these deep water masses, representative samples of Antarctic Intermediate Water and Circumpolar Deep Water were acquired. Besides standard hydrography, these data also were used to verify the sampling integrity of the trace metal-clean, Go Flo bottles deployed on a Kevlar hydrographic cable.  相似文献   

16.
We analysed the alkenone unsaturation ratio (UK′37) in 87 surface sediment samples from the western South Atlantic (5°N–50°S) in order to evaluate its applicability as a paleotemperature tool for this part of the ocean. The measured UK′37 ratios were converted into temperature using the global core-top calibration of Müller et al. (1998) and compared with annual mean atlas sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) of overlying surface waters. The results reveal a close correspondence (<1.5°C) between atlas and alkenone temperatures for the Western Tropical Atlantic and the Brazil Current region north of 32°S, but deviating low alkenone temperatures by −2° to −6°C are found in the regions of the Brazil–Malvinas Confluence (35–39°S) and the Malvinas Current (41–48°S). From the oceanographic evidence these low UK′37 values cannot be explained by preferential alkenone production below the mixed layer or during the cold season. Higher nutrient availability and algal growth rates are also unlikely causes. Instead, our results imply that lateral displacement of suspended particles and sediments, caused by strong surface and bottom currents, benthic storms, and downslope processes is responsible for the deviating UK′37 temperatures. In this way, particles and sediments carrying a cold water UK′37 signal of coastal or southern origin are transported northward and offshore into areas with warmer surface waters. In the northern Argentine Basin the depth between displaced and unaffected sediments appears to coincide with the boundary between the northward flowing Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) and the southward flowing North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) at about 4000 m.  相似文献   

17.
Seismoacoustic investigations with a high-resolution parametric echo-sounder “SES 2000 deep” carried out on cruises 33, 35, and 37 of the R/V Akademik Ioffe revealed several erosional-depositional contourite systems on the São Paulo Plateau escarpment and its toe in the South Atlantic. Two contourite terraces related to interfaces between different water masses are observable on the escarpment. These terraces presumably reflect the activity of internal waves and turbulent eddies. The São Paulo contourite channel and genetically related drift are traceable along the escarpment toe. Changes in planktonic foraminiferal assemblages in Core AI-2563 retrieved from the summit of the São Paulo contourite drift suggest a shallowing of the Weddell Sea Deep Water mass during glacial times. It is established that the contour current of the Weddell Sea Deep Water and Lower Circumpolar Water considerably affect the formation of contourite depositional systems on the escarpment and its toe.  相似文献   

18.
Recent measurements indicate the transatlantic extent of the Namib Col Current at depths of 1300–3000 m near Lat. 22°S in the South Atlantic Ocean. This current forms a continuous circulation structure from the Namib Col on the Walvis Ridge to the western trough, though its characteristic change as deep water with varying properties enters and leaves the current owing to a meridional flow component. Transport estimates from hydrographic sections on the Walvis Ridge and at 15°W near the crest of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge indicate a strength of about 3 × 106 m3 s−1. The current is part of a larger-scale eastward flow at Lon. 25°W; transport estimates across the salinity maximum core there show a similar strength. Associated with this high-salinity high-oxygen current is a basin-wide front in these properties of varying intensity (weaker in the east) marking the transition to deep water whose North Atlantic characteristics have been partly erased by mixing with Circumpolar Deep Water in the southwest South Atlantic. The water which finally crosses the Walvis Ridge is supplied both by the eastward flow of this (diluted) North Atlantic Deep Water and by a general southeastward interior flow from the northern Angola Basin. Evidence suggests that this deep water continues south in the eastern Cape Basin, leaving the South Atlantic near the African continent.  相似文献   

19.
The circulation and transport of Antarctic Bottom Water (σ4<45.87) in the region of the Vema Channel are studied along three WOCE hydrographic lines, the geostrophic velocities referenced to previously published direct current measurements. The primary supply of water to the deep Vema Channel is from the Argentine Basin's deep western boundary current, with no indication of an inflow from the southeast. In the northern Argentine Basin, detachment of lower North Atlantic Deep Water from the continental slope is associated with a deep thermohaline front near 34°S. To the north of this front, the upper part of the AABW bound for the Vema Channel (σ4<46.01) exhibits a significant NADW influence. Further modification of the throughflow water occurs near 30°30′S, where the channel orientation changes by ∼50°. Southward flow of bottom water on the eastern flank of the Vema Channel, amounting to ∼1.5 Sv, represents a significant countercurrent to the deep channel transport. Inclusion of this countercurrent reduces the net flow of AABW through the Vema Channel from 3.2±0.7 to 1.7±1.1 Sv. Water properties imply that the near-zero net flow over the Santos Plateau results from a near-closed cyclonic circulation fed by the deep Vema Channel throughflow. A disruption of the northward boundary current in the upper AABW (lower circumpolar water) is required by this flow pattern. The extension of the cyclonic circulation on the Santos Plateau enters the Brazil Basin as a ∼1 Sv flow distinct from the outflow in the Vema Channel Extension (6.2 Sv). The high magnitude of the latter suggests a southward recirculation of bottom water near the western boundary to the north of the region of study.  相似文献   

20.
Hydrographic data from the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and South Atlantic Ventilation Experiment (SAVE) in the region of transition between the Scotia Sea and the Argentine Basin are examined to determine the composition of the deep water from the Southern Ocean that enters the Atlantic, and to describe the pathways of its constituents. The deep current that flows westward against the Falkland Escarpment is formed of several superposed velocity cores that convey waters of different origins: Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW), Southeast Pacific Deep Water (SPDW), and Weddell Sea Deep Water (WSDW).Different routes followed by the WSDW upstream of, and through, the Georgia Basin, lead to distinctions between the Lower-WSDW (σ4>46.09) and the Upper-WSDW (46.04<σ4 <46.09). The Lower-WSDW flows along the South Sandwich Trench, then cyclonically in the main trough of the Georgia Basin. Although a fraction escapes northward to the Argentine Basin, a comparison of the WOCE data with those from previous programmes shows that this component had disappeared from the southwestern Argentine Basin in 1993/1994. This corroborates previous results using SAVE and pre-SAVE data. A part of the Upper-WSDW, recognizable from different θ–S characteristics, flows through the Scotia Sea, then in the Georgia Basin along the southern front of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Northward leakage at this front is expected to feed the Argentine Basin through the northern Georgia Basin. The SPDW is originally found to the south of the Polar Front (PF) in Drake Passage. The northward veering of this front allows this water to cross the North Scotia Ridge at Shag Rocks Passage. It proceeds northward to the Argentine Basin around the Maurice Ewing Bank. The LCDW at the Falkland Escarpment is itself subdivided in two cores, of which only the denser one eventually underrides the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) in the Atlantic Ocean. This fraction is from the poleward side of the PF in Drake Passage. It also crosses the North Scotia Ridge at Shag Rocks Passage, then flows over the Falkland Plateau into the Atlantic. The lighter variety, from the northern side of the PF, is thought to cross the North Scotia Ridge at a passage around 55°W. It enters the Argentine Basin in the density range of the NADW.  相似文献   

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