On the Obscurantist Physics of “Form Drag” in Theorizing about the Circumpolar Current

Abstract

The authors point out that, since the "form-drag" force balance commonly advanced for the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is really just a statement that northward Ekman transport in the circumpolar Drake Passage zone is compensated by deep southward geostrophic flow, the balance is actually irrelevant to the magnitude of the current itself. It is thus misleading to ascribe a role to form drag in its physics. Sverdrup dynamics seems to offer a more promising analysis of the real Circumpolar Current–as proposed long ago.