A contribution to the problem of the Drake Passage circulation

Abstract

The geostrophic current components and the volume transports have been calculated under assumptions of three different reference levels. These computations are based on hydrographic sections obtained in April, 1930 by the Discovery II and in June 1958 by the Ob. Some evidence is presented for the possibility that a bottom current through the Drake Passage penetrates into the Pacific Ocean. The analysis suggests that the geostrophic transport of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current in this region is probably limited by 90 × 10⁶ m³ sec⁻¹ as an upper value and 45 × 10⁶ m³ sec⁻¹ as a lower value and that the actual transport is likely to be somewhere between these limits.