The Mean Summertime Circulation along Australia's Southern Shelves: A Numerical Study

Abstract

Abstract For the first time, a high-resolution regional model is developed for the slope and shelf circulation within the Great Australian Bight and for the Gulfs region of South Australia. The results indicate the extent, nature, and dynamical interaction of a variety of circulation features that are most likely to be important for the region. In particular, the positive wind stress curl south of Australia leads to an equatorward Sverdrup transport in the deep ocean, westward Flinders Current along the slope, and upwelling of the (600 m) deep permanent thermocline. The wind stress curl also leads to a seaward topographic Sverdrup transport within the wide sloping shelf of the bight and results in an anticyclonic gyre that is intensified off the Eyre Peninsula and reduced in magnitude by the joint effect of baroclinicity and topographic relief. In the western half of the bight, the seaward surface Ekman and topographic transports are shown to converge with the onshore component of the Flinders Current lea...