Dynamics of the three-dimensional structure of the wind-driven Deacon cell
in a beta-plane channel are discussed in a homogeneous model in the presenc
e of a sufficiently high ridge. The emphasis is on the water mass balance:
how the northward surface Ekman drift is returned. It is demonstrated that
a sufficiently high ridge can break up the geostrophic constraint and a net
geostrophic volume flux across the open latitude band is allowed. It is fo
und that: (1) the Deacon cell is a fundamentally three-dimensional structur
e, (2) wind forcing can drive an inter-basin water mass exchange in the Sou
thern Ocean, and (3) zonal through-channel transport in the circumpolar oce
an varies at different longitudes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All right
s reserved.