Thermal isolation of Campbell Plateau, New Zealand, by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current over the past 130 kyr

Abstract

Campbell Plateau occupies a key position in the southwest Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean. The plateau confines and steers the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) along its flanks, isolating the Subantarctic plateau from cold polar waters. Oxygen and carbon isotope records from Campbell Plateau cores provide new records of water mass stratification for the past 130 kyr. During glacial climes, strengthening of the Subantarctic Front (SAF) caused waters over the plateau flanks to be deeply mixed and ∼3°C cooler. Waters of the plateau interior remained stratified and isolated from the cold southern waters. In the west, waters cooled markedly (∼4°C) owing to reduced entrainment of Tasman Sea water. Marked cooling also occurred north of Campbell Plateau under increased entrainment of polar water by a branch of the SAF. The ACC remained along the flanks of Campbell Plateau during the last interglacial, when interior waters were stratified and warmer by ∼1°C than now. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.