| A coupled sea ice-mixed layer-isopycnal model (OPYC, alias PIPE) was applied to simulate the circulation in the Southern Ocean. The meridional streamfuction and meridional transport obtained from the simulated results were used to study the meridional characteristics of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current(ACC). The modeled results show the ACC′s significant non-zonal feature in some regions, such as the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Sector. Arranged in a staggered way, the northward and southward transport areas occur in the ACC region. The isopycnals go up in the northward transport areas and go down in the southward transport areas, which implied a spiral motion of fluid particles in the ACC. This spiral motion is caused by the non-zonal feature of the ACC and is constructed by the ACC′s north and south shifts in several regions of the Southern Ocean not only the Drake Passage. The meridional streamfuction shows the Subtropical Cell, the Deacon Cell, the Subpolar Cell and the Polar Cell. All the cells change with seasons. The Deacon Cell and the Subpolar Cell connect with each other in summer but are separate in the other three seasons. Their ranges are smaller in summer and larger in winter. In contrast, the Polar Cell′s range covers a quite large region between the Antarctic coast and 64ZS in summer but becomes smaller in winter, which implies that the Polar Cell is related to the sea ice′s melting. |
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