Antarctic Divergence
From The Encyclopedia of Earth
Antarctic Divergence. Source: Michigan State University
Oceans and seas (main)
March 29, 2010, 12:00 am
May 29, 2011, 12:42 pm
In physical oceanography, the Antarctic Divergence is a region of rapid transition located in the Antarctic Zone of Southern Ocean between the Continental Water Boundary to the south and the Polar Front to the north. It can be distinguished hydrographically by a salinity maximum below about 150 meters caused by the upwelling of water of high salinity, i.e. North Atlantic Deep Water. Above this salinity maximum the boundaries are blurred by high precipitation and the melting of ice. Its position corresponds reasonably well to the demarcation between the east and west wind drifts which, in the light of Ekman dynamics, at least partially explains its divergent nature.
See Also
- Antarctica Collection of the Encyclopedia of Earth
- Antarctic Bottom Water
- Antarctic Circumpolar Current
- Antarctic Surface Water
Further Reading
- Peter Saundry. 2011. Seas of the world. Topic ed. C.Michael Hogan. Ed-in-chief Cutler J.Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth
- TMatthias Tomczak and J. Stuart Godfrey. Regional Oceanography: An Introduction. Pergamon, 1994. pp. 76-79.
