Fahrbach,, A dynamically consistent analysis of circulation and transports

Abstract. An inverse model is applied for the analysis of hydrographic and current meter data collected on the repeat WOCE section SR4 in the Weddell Sea in 1989– 1992. The section crosses the Weddell Sea cyclonic gyre from Kapp Norvegia to the northern end of the Antarctic Peninsula. The concepts of geostrophy, con-servation of planetary vorticity and hydrostatics are combined with advective balances of active and passive properties to provide a dynamically consistent circula-tion pattern. Our variational assimilation scheme allows the calculation of three-dimensional velocities in the section plane. Current speeds are small except along the coasts where they reach up to 12 cm/s. We diagnose a gyre transport of 34 Sverdrup which is associated with a poleward heat transport of 28 1012 W correspondin