Seafloor topography drives Earth's great conveyor belt

In the Southern Ocean, the world’s largest current in terms of volume transport — the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) — encircles Antarctica and connects the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific ocean basins, as it flows from west to east. The ACC influences ocean circulation and global climate, as it rises from the deep to interact with the atmosphere. In a new study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, researchers have directly measured how seafloor topography affects the current’s structure — something that had only been theorized previously.

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Bethany Augliere

Bethany Augliere

Augliere is a freelance writer and photographer and a former editorial intern with EARTH. She is a graduate of the science communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and holds a master’s degree in marine biology from Florida Atlantic University. For more of her work visit http://www.bethanyaugliere.com.

december 2016
january 2017
bethany augliere
news
geology
oceanography
antarctic circumpolar current
antarctica
Tuesday, December 20, 2016 - 06:00

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