A. S. Grotov and M. I. Yaremchuk
Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Received December 3, 2001; in final form, March 14, 2002
Abstract—To reconstruct the large-scale circulation in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean with a 1-degree
resolution, we used a quasi-stationary geostrophic model. The model is based on the equations of continuity,
hydrostatics, geostrophics, and transport of heat and salinity, which include the effects of three-dimensional dif-
fusion of temperature, salinity, and momentum as well as describe the processes of vertical convective mixing.
On the basis of the variational method for the assimilation of the data from the hydrological section S4 WOCE
along 67° S, as well as of the data on tangential wind stress and hydrology, we obtained the principal charac-
teristics of the large-scale circulation. The calculated current fields agree well with independent velocity mea-
surements. Taking into account the effect of boundary layers at the rigid side boundaries of the calculation
domain allows us to obtain some elements of the near-shore circulation corresponding to the actual currents in
the zone of the continental slope of the Antarctic continent.
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