Agulhas Return Current

[1] It can reach velocities of up to 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) and is therefore popular among participants in trans-oceanic sailing races.

[3] The water mass loses a lot of heat at the Agulhas Retroflection, up to 200 W/m3 (0.0076 hp/cu ft), while evaporation and precipitation change the composition of the upper layers.

[5] These meanders were described as Rossby waves in 1970[6] and are known to shed cold eddies equatorward and enhance the primary productivity at the Subtropical Front.

[7] The ARC makes a large, quasi-permanent northward meander around the Agulhas Plateau after which it loses more velocity and volume by leakage into the South Indian subtropical gyre.

[4] As it enters the Crozet Basin at 53°E, the transport of the ARC is 35 Sv, most of which is recirculated northward before reaching the Kerguelen-Amsterdam Passage.