Antarctic Circumpolar Current

Categories: Ocean currents | Geography of Antarctica | Oceanography stubs

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is an ocean current that flows from west to east around Antarctica. Lying in the Southern Ocean between the latitudes of 40°S and 60°S, it is the only current that circumnavigates the globe, due to the lack of continental boundaries to disrupt it. As such, the ACC plays a crucial role in the global ocean circulation, connecting the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean basins.

It is a cool, dry current that is arguably the strongest current in the world.

The ACC also contains the Antarctic Circumpolar Wave, a periodic oscillation that affects the climate of much of the southern hemisphere.

An alternate name for the ACC is the West Wind Drift.de:Antarktischer_Zirkumpolarstrom