Estimates and Implications of Surface Eddy Diffusivity in the Southern Ocean Derived from Tracer Transport

Abstract

Abstract Near-surface “effective diffusivities” associated with geostrophic eddies in the Southern Ocean are estimated by numerically monitoring the lengthening of idealized tracer contours as they are strained by surface geostrophic flow observed by satellite altimetry. The resulting surface diffusivities show considerable spatial variability and are large (2000 m2 s−1) on the equatorward flank of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and are small (500 m2 s−1) at the jet axis. Regions of high and low effective diffusivity are shown to be collocated with regions of, respectively, weak and strong isentropic potential vorticity gradients. The maps of diffusivity are used, along with climatological estimates of surface wind stress and air–sea buoyancy flux, to estimate surface meridional residual flows and the relative importance of Eulerian and eddy-induced circulation in the streamwise-averaged dynamics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.