WATER MASSES AND CURRENTS OF THE OCEANS 



205 



therefore to broad cross sections. The figure is intended to bring out only 

 the major features that have been discussed, and represents the first 

 attempt at a synthesis of the available information as to the circulation 

 in the North Pacific Ocean. 



Fig. 56. Transport chart of the North Pacific. The lines with arrows indicate 

 the approximate direction of the transport above 1500 m, and the inserted numbers 

 indicate the transported volumes in milHons of cubic meters per second. Dashed 

 hues show cold currents, full-drawn lines show warm currents. 



Currents of the Antarctic Ocean 



The Antarctic Circumpolar Current runs from west to east around 

 the Antarctic Continent, but is locally deflected from its course, partly 

 by the distribution of land and sea and partly by the submarine topog- 

 raphy. The effect of the submarine topography is seen in fig. 57, which 

 shows the total volume transport relative to the 3000-decibar surface as 

 computed by means of Discovery data, in addition to the results from a 

 number of Meteor stations in the South Atlantic. In the figure the 

 volume transport is shown by lines that are approximately in the direction 

 of transport and which have been drawn with such intervals that the 

 transport between two lines equals 20 X 10^ m^/sec. As the current 

 passes around the Antarctic Continent, it is seen that when approaching 

 a submarine ridge the current bends to the left, and after passing the ridge 

 it bends to the right. Some of these bends appear on charts of the 

 surface currents (see chart 4). 



Besides the bends that are associated with the bottom topography, the 

 effects of the distribution of land and sea and of the currents in the 

 adjacent oceans are also evident. The location of the Drake Passage 

 naturally forces the current further south than in any other region, but 

 on the eastern side of South America a branch of the current, the Falkland 

 Current, turns north. Along the east coast of South Africa the Agulhas 

 Stream flows south, partly turning into the Atlantic Ocean, but mainly 

 bending around toward the east, and the narrowness of the Antarctic 

 Current in longitude 30°E is probably related to the effect of the Agulhas 



