Quasi-geostrophic modelling of the coupled ocean atmosphere

The momentum balance of the Antarctic circumpolar current is a fundamental problem in oceanography. In a series of solutions of a fine resolution quasi-geostrophic model coupled to the atmosphere by a novel surface stress relation, we show that the response to a fluctuating wind stress in an Antarctic channel is 70% efficient, and generates almost frictionless transport oscillations. The application of the analysis to scatterometer wind data in the Antarctic channel indicates that the effective lag of the transport over the wind fluctuation is about ten days in agreement with observations.