Sources and transport of the deep western boundary current east of the Kerguelen Plateau

Abstract

East of the Kerguelen Plateau, a deep western boundary current in the Australian-Antarctic Basin brings cold dense waters north from the margins of Antarctica. Geostrophic velocities referenced to acoustic Doppler current profiler data, both shipboard and lowered, suggest the flow is unidirectional throughout the water column with estimated northwestward transport below potential temperature 1°C of 28±7 x 106 m3s-1 and 49±9 x 106 m3s-1, respectively. Hydrographic and acoustic Doppler current profiler data show that the deep boundary current is supplied by northward flow emerging from the confluence of westward flow along the Antarctic continental slope and eastward flow of Weddell Basin waters through the Princess Elizabeth Trough to the south of the Kerguelen Plateau.