We present numerical results for rotating, wind-forced horizontal convection as a simple model for the Southern Ocean branch of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC). The flow is driven by differential buoyancy forcing applied along the horizontal surface, with surface cooling at one end (to represent the pole) and surface warming at the other (to represent the equatorial region) and a zonally re-entrant channel to represent the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). Zonally-uniform surface wind forcing is applied with a similar pattern to the westerlies and with varying magnitude relative to the buoyancy forcing. The problem is solved numerically using a 3D DNS model based on a finite-volume solver for the Boussinesq Navier-Stokes equations with rotation. The overall dynamics, including large-scale overturning, baroclinic eddying, turbulent mixing, and resulting energy cascades are investigated using the local Available Potential Energy framework introduced in [Scotti and White, J. Fluid Mech., 2014]. We find that both the magnitude and shape of the zonal wind stress profile are important to the spatial pattern of the overturning circulation. However, perhaps surprisingly, the essential circulation and the energetics in cases with wind are similar to the base case with buoyancy forcing alone, suggesting that surface APE generation by the buoyancy forcing is dominant in setting the circulation.
