COSEE Ocean Systems: News
Eddy saturation and frictional control of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current
Description: The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the strongest current in the ocean and has a pivotal impact on ocean stratification, heat content, and carbon content. The circumpolar volume transport is relatively insensitive to surface wind forcing in models that resolve turbulent ocean eddies, a process termed "eddy saturation." Here a simple model is presented that explains the physics of eddy saturation with three ingredients: a momentum budget, a relation between the eddy form stress and eddy energy, and an eddy energy budget. [Source: Geophysical Research Letters]
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL071702/full
Availability: Full Text
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
Publish Date: 1/23/2017
Reading Level: Expert
Page Length:  

<< BACK