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| Antarctic Slope Current | |
|---|---|
| Name | Antarctic Slope Current |
| Caption | Schematic of Antarctic continental margin currents |
| Location | Southern Ocean |
Antarctic Slope Current The Antarctic Slope Current is a coastal jet that flows eastward along the continental slope of Antarctica; it links features of the Southern Ocean such as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, Weddell Sea, Ross Sea, and Scotia Sea. The current interacts with ice shelves like Ross Ice Shelf, Filchner–Ronne Ice Shelf, and Larsen Ice Shelf and influences water masses including Antarctic Bottom Water, Circumpolar Deep Water, and Antarctic Surface Water. Studies by institutions such as the British Antarctic Survey, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Alfred Wegener Institute have advanced understanding of its dynamics.
The current hugs the continental slope from the Amundsen Sea through the Bellingshausen Sea to the Ross and Weddell sectors, bounded by bathymetry such as the Antarctic Continental Shelf and slope features like the Antarctic Slope Front. It forms an interface between shelf seas (e.g., Weddell Sea, Ross Sea) and the open Southern Ocean dominated by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, interacting with basins including the Scotia Sea and Prydz Bay and influencing exchange with polynyas and continental shelf water masses described in work by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory, and the University of Cambridge.
The jet is narrow and baroclinic, characterized by strong lateral temperature and salinity gradients across the Antarctic Slope Front and by velocity maxima located near the shelfbreak. It confines distinct water masses such as Dense Shelf Water and modified Circumpolar Deep Water, with vertical structure affected by stratification above Antarctic Bottom Water and interactions with submarine canyons and seamounts like the South Orkney Plateau. Measurements by research vessels from the RV Polarstern, RRS James Clark Ross, RV Nathaniel B. Palmer, and HMNZS Endeavour reveal energetic mesoscale variability and cross-slope exchange linked to eddies sampled in mesoscale studies at the University of Otago and University of Tasmania.
The current arises from a balance of along-slope pressure gradients, Coriolis forces associated with Earth rotation, and buoyancy forcing generated by sea ice formation and glacial melt from ice shelves such as Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier. Wind forcing from the Southern Annular Mode and katabatic winds descending from Antarctic Plateau contribute via momentum input documented by satellite scatterometers (e.g., QuikSCAT) and atmospheric reanalyses by ECMWF and NOAA. Topographic steering by features like the Ross Sea continental rise and South Sandwich Trench modulates flow following theories developed in geophysical fluid dynamics at Princeton University and MIT.
Seasonal cycles tied to sea ice advance and retreat, austral summer melt, and polynya activity drive variations in stratification and current strength, with studies linking variability to indices such as the Southern Annular Mode and El Niño–Southern Oscillation monitored by institutions like the Australian Antarctic Division and CSIRO. Interannual shifts have been associated with changes in freshwater fluxes from Antarctic Peninsula ice shelves and with decadal trends observed in long-term datasets from the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre and the Global Ocean Observing System.
By controlling cross-shelf exchange, the current influences nutrient fluxes, primary productivity in phytoplankton blooms, and habitats for krill and higher trophic levels including penguin colonies (e.g., Adélie, Emperor) and seal populations studied by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research and the Royal Society. It modulates transport of carbon via the biological pump and influences biogeochemical cycles of iron, nitrate, and carbon dioxide important to climate studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and ocean biogeochemistry programs at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology.
Observational approaches include moored arrays deployed by the Southern Ocean Observing System, ship-based hydrographic sections from research platforms like RRS Sir David Attenborough, autonomous floats such as Argo and Ice-Tethered Profilers, and remote sensing from satellites including TOPEX/Poseidon and Sentinel missions. Targeted field campaigns by the National Science Foundation, European Commission projects, and collaborative programs such as the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration have combined acoustic Doppler current profilers, CTD casts, and tracer releases to resolve circulation, mixing, and water mass transformation.
The current forms a conduit linking continental shelf processes to the large-scale overturning circulation, affecting formation and export of Antarctic Bottom Water that contribute to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and global heat and carbon budgets studied by the Global Carbon Project and World Climate Research Programme. Its interactions with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, gyre circulations, and boundary currents influence interbasin exchanges relevant to climate models used by institutions such as the Met Office Hadley Centre and NASA.