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were due to a regular train of large (300-km diameter) eddies

Agulhas Current Sources Experiment moving southward. The passage of these eddies was clear (ACSEX): 2000-2001 in the ADCP and current meter data. This helped interpret By the late 1990s, scientists were uncertain that a con- satellite data. tinuous boundary ? ow existed off Mozambique to supply

The combined analysis reinforced ideas that eddies drifting the Agulhas. To clarify the issue, Dutch scientists conducted southward were dynamic catalysts. Not only do they spark the Agulhas Current Sources Experiment (ACSEX) in 2000- mesoscale variability in the Agulhas Current but they affect 2001. The study was performed by NIOZ (Netherlands Insti- the volume of water transferred into the Atlantic.

tute for Sea Research) and its partners. The project focused on the strength, variability, and structure of currents.

Seven moorings spanned the Mozambique Channel for one

Long-term Ocean Climate Observations year. Uplooking ADCPs were installed at 500 m depth on the western side where a boundary current might be expected. (LOCO): 2003—2012

A compelling ? nding was that the amount and direction of

Due to its intriguing ? ndings, ACSEX became a spring- water transported through the Channel ? uctuated remark- board for a much longer observational study. This was a ably—much larger than the year-long average value. The component of the Dutch global-research program titled researchers concluded that there was no persistent Mozam-

Long-term Ocean Climate Observations (LOCO).

bique Current.

Beginning in 2003, NIOZ and its partners installed seven

Water mass and property transport through the Channel deep moorings at 17° S, across the narrowest part of the

Fig. 1

Teledyne RDI ADCPs seated in Top Buoys of ASCA Mooring Array.

Credit: SAEON Egagasini Node. http://asca.dirisa.org/

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