PSEUDOINVERSE DETERMINATION OF THE CIRCULATION IN PRYDZ BAY AND ITS ADJACENT OPEN OCEAN, ANTARCTICA

An inverse model is used to infer the circulation in Prydz Bay and its adjacent open ocean using hydrographic data obtained by the cruise of the 7th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition (CHINARE-7), 1990/91. Barotropic components are found to be strong in the study area, esp. at the Antarctic Divergence, and from a whole view, the velocity is rather small. In the open ocean, the flow is quasizonal, but outside the bay it shows a tendency of pressing onto the shelf from surface to bottom, and a feature of intensification just east of Fram Bank. We suggest here be the most important place to detect the possibility of the Antarctic Bottom Water formation. The meridional profiles of the distribution indicate a strong (relative to the ambient) core and a slope-trapped part into the bargain. In the southeastern part of the bay, there seems to exist a strong coastal current flowing westward. The computed upwelling centers are mainly situated in the west of the study region, as agrees quite well with the early hydrographic observations and the areas of high krill biomass.