South Atlantic Gyre

The South Atlantic Gyre.

The South Atlantic Gyre is the subtropical gyre in the south Atlantic Ocean. In the southern portion of the gyre, northwesterly (or southeastward-flowing) winds drive eastward-flowing currents that are difficult to distinguish from the northern boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.^[1]

Southern boundary

South of this gyre is the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This current flows from West to East around Antarctica. Another name for this current is the West Wind Drift. This current allows Antarctica to maintain its huge ice sheet by keeping warm ocean waters away. At approximately 125Sv, this current is the largest ocean current.^[2]

Western boundary

The Brazil Current is the western boundary current of the gyre. It flows south along the Brazilian coast to the Rio de la Plata. The current is considerably weaker than its North Atlantic counterpart, the Gulf Stream.^[3]

See also

• Ocean current
• Oceanic gyre

External links

• Ocean currents (rsmas.miami.edu)
• Ocean currents (nasa.gov)

References

v t e Ocean currents and gyres Currents Arctic Ocean East Greenland Norwegian Transpolar Drift Stream Atlantic Ocean Agulhas Angola Antilles Azores Baffin Island Benguela Brazil Canary Cape Horn Caribbean East Greenland East Iceland Falkland Florida Guinea Gulf Stream Irminger Labrador Lomonosov Loop North Atlantic North Brazil North Equatorial Norwegian Portugal Slope Jet South Atlantic South Equatorial Spitsbergen West Greenland Indian Ocean Agulhas East Madagascar Equatorial Counter Current Indian Monsoon Current Indonesian Throughflow Leeuwin Madagascar Mozambique Somali South Australian South Equatorial West Australian Pacific Ocean Alaska Aleutian California Cromwell East Australia Equatorial Counter Current Humboldt Indonesian Throughflow Kamchatka Kuroshio Mindanao North Equatorial North Pacific Oyashio South Equatorial Southern Ocean Antarctic Circumpolar Current Gyres Major gyres Indian Ocean Gyre North Atlantic Gyre South Atlantic Gyre North Pacific Gyre South Pacific Gyre Other gyres Beaufort Gyre Ross Gyre Weddell Gyre Related Atmospheric circulation Boundary currents Coriolis effect Ekman transport Great Pacific garbage patch Indian Ocean garbage patch Marine debris North Atlantic garbage patch Ocean Thermohaline circulation