| The frontal structure in the region of Drake Passage is investigated on the basis of data of Absolute Dynamic Topography (ADT) of French agency CLS (DT-Global-MADT-Upd product, http://aviso.oceanobs.com), and CTD- and SADCP-measurements along the hydrophysical section carried out across the passage from Smith Isl. (just to the east of the Hero F.Z.) to the Cape Horn onboard R/V “Akademik Ioffe” in January 2010. The investigation was similar to the analysis performed on the basis of data of the section carried out two weeks earlier onboard the same vessel south of Africa. Fine-jet structure of the ACC was detected in Drake Passage as well as to the south of Africa where twelve ACC jets were found. Eleven jets of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) were revealed in Drake Passage. These were five jets of the Subantarctic Current (the band of Subantarctic Front), four jets of the South Polar Current (the band of Polar Front), and two jets of the South Antarctic Current (the band of Southern ACC Front). Two jets of the South Antarctic Current were joined in a single “super-jet” according to the velocity measurements in the section. The others were manifested by the local velocity maxima in the surface layer. |