A weaker Agulhas Current leads to more Agulhas leakage

作者：van Sebille E^*; Biastoch A; van Leeuwen P J; de Ruijter W P M

来源：Geophysical Research Letters, 2009, 36(3): L03601.

DOI：10.1029/2008GL036614

Time series of transports in the Agulhas region have been constructed by simulating Lagrangian drifter trajectories in a 1/10 degree two-way nested ocean model. Using these 34 year long time series it is shown that smaller (larger) Agulhas Current transport leads to larger (smaller) Indian-Atlantic inter-ocean exchange. When transport is low, the Agulhas Current detaches farther downstream from the African continental slope. Moreover, the lower inertia suppresses generation of anti-cyclonic vorticity. These two effects cause the Agulhas retroflection to move westward and enhance Agulhas leakage. In the model a 1 Sv decrease in Agulhas Current transport at 32 degrees S results in a 0.7 /- 0.2 Sv increase in Agulhas leakage. Citation: van Sebille, E., A. Biastoch, P. J. van Leeuwen, and W. P. M. de Ruijter (2009), A weaker Agulhas Current leads to more Agulhas leakage, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L03601, doi: 10.1029/2008GL036614.

• 出版日期2009-2-5