Effects of the Drake Passage on the global climatic change

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Authors
Chu, Peter C.
Chen, Yunchun
Lu, Shihua
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Advisors
Date of Issue
1998
Date
1998
Publisher
Language
Abstract
The Drake Passage cuts the connection between the South American and Antarctic continents. Along the entire length of the latitude circles where the Drake Passage extends, the water can travel around the earth forming a zonal flow- the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). This is the only place in World Ocean that the zonal flow can travel around the earth without land blocking. Thus, the Drake Passage has been considered an important factor in the global ocean circulation. Using a primitive equation model, Cox (1989) pointed out that if the Drake Passage closed, thermohaline drives alone and the entire World Ocean below the thermocline is dominated by water formed near the Antarctic continent. When the Drake Passage is opened, the resulting ACC serves to isolate the extreme Southern Ocean. Thus, the absence of the Drake Passage is to strengthen the thermohaline circulation.
Type
Conference Proceedings
Description
Ninth Conference on Global Change, American Meteorological Society
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Department
Department of Oceanography
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Citation
Chu, P.C., S.H. Lu, and Y. Chen, 1998: Effects of the Drake Passage on the global climatic change. Ninth Conference on Global Change, American Meteorological Society, 261-265
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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