Interbasin exchange and the Agulhas retroflection; the development of some oceanographic concepts

Abstract

The concept of the recurvature of the Agulhas Current has gone through a number of historical phases. The perception that a major part of the current returns to the Indian Ocean was first put forward in 1832 by Rennell. In time this idea became increasingly diluted with a bifurcation of the current being more generally accepted up until at least 1933, even though work by Dutch researchers such as Andrau in 1857 had supported the findings of Rennell. Obfuscation by various subsequent portrayals only came to an end by 1970 when Bang put forward the concept of a retroflection. All current work uses this conceptual interpretation.