A zonal-mean meridional overturning circulation associated with Southern Ocean wind forcing. In a southern-hemisphere channel with eastward wind stress, the mean circulation has northward surface transport and a southward deep return. Its Eulerian strength need not equal the residual water-mass transport because eddy-induced overturning can oppose it.
The effective meridional circulation associated with eddy buoyancy transport. In a stratified Southern Ocean, mesoscale eddies tend to flatten the isopycnals tilted by the wind-driven mean circulation, so their contribution can largely oppose the mean Deacon circulation. The residual combines mean and eddy contributions with the diabatic water-mass budget.
A streamfunction for an incompressible zonal-mean flow in the meridional-vertical plane. Its derivatives give meridional and vertical velocity, and differences in its values measure volume transport per zonal span. Constant values on closed impermeable boundaries encode zero net normal flow.
Articles by others on the same topic
There are currently no matching articles.