Mesoscale Variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current:
Results from the SubAntarctic Flux and Dynamics Experiment
Moored Array
Alan D Chave
2
(508 457 2833; alan@faraday.whoi.edu)
James G Richman
1
(541 737 3328; jrichman@oce.orst.edu)
1College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences
Oregon State University
Ocean Admin Bldg 104, Corvallis, OR 97331-5503, United States
2Department of Geology & Geophysics
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, United States
An array of moored current meters, horizontal electric field
recorders and inverted echo sounders was deployed from March
1995 to March 1997 in the SubAntarctic Front (SAF)southwes of Tasmania, Auatralia as part of the SubAntarctic Flux and
Dynamics Experiment (SAFDE). The flow is vertically coherent
from 500 m to 4000 m. At 2000 m the mean flow for the two
years exceeds 6 cm/s with eddy amplitudes in excess of 25
cm/s. At 2000 m, the eddy momentum flux is convergent on
the mean jet of the SAF. The temporal and spatial scales
of the variability are similar to those found by Bryden and
Heath (1985) in the SAF southwest of New Zealand. The
mesocale variability at the SAFDE array is comparable
to the New Zealand and Drake Passage morred observations