UC San Diego

The Southern Ocean contains a large, wind-driven current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which carries approximately 170×106 m3 of water eastward around Antarctica within multiple filamented jets. To the south of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, within the Antarctic marginal seas, the Weddell Gyre transports water cyclonically (clockwise) around the Weddell Sea, and the Ross Gyre transports water cyclonically around the Ross Sea. Southward flow at mid-depth in the Southern Ocean is returned northward at the surface, as Ekman transport, or at depth, as part of bottom water export.