Currents in the Drake Passage based on observations in 2007

Abstract

Currents in the Drake Passage are studied using the data of a hydrographic section along the Shackleton Transverse Ridge observed in November 2007. The distribution of the velocity component normal to the section was computed by two methods: (a) directly on the basis of the lowered acoustic Doppler current profiler (LADCP) data; (b) by the calculation of geostrophic currents based on the CTD data with estimating the depth averaged velocity on the basis of the LADCP data. The main results of the research are the relatively low estimated value of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) transport, which accounts for 65–70% of the ACC transports in December 2003 and November 2005, and the confirmation of the existence of several abyssal currents confined to the deep passages of the bottom topography.