Recent observations report a poleward shift in several of the world’s western boundary current extensions in response to a warming climate. However, the nature and variability of the Agulhas Return Current (ARC) is still relatively unknown, leading to uncertainty in its response to gyre intensification. The objective of this work is to investigate meridional migration and eddy kinetic energy (EKE) trends in the ARC over the past 27 years using satellite-derived altimetry products. A difference is seen between the western and eastern regions of the ARC, the former exhibiting a predominantly equatorward migration and the latter moving predominantly poleward. The ARC is shown to be a region highly influenced by its bathymetry. Additionally, we show that the regional EKE peaks during austral summer months and that there has been a significant rise in summertime EKE levels between 1994–2011.

最近的观察报告称，为响应气候变暖，世界西部边界的几个洋流延伸部发生了向极转移。然而，厄加勒斯回流 (ARC) 的性质和可变性仍然相对未知，导致其对环流增强的响应存在不确定性。这项工作的目的是使用卫星衍生的高度测量产品调查过去 27 年 ARC 的经向偏移和涡动能 (EKE) 趋势。ARC 的西部和东部地区之间存在差异，前者主要向赤道迁移，而后者主要向极地迁移。ARC 被证明是一个受其测深影响很大的区域。此外，