The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is a global circulation that flows from west to east around the lines of latitude, across the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and is the only current in the world that associates with all other ocean currents. Although the history of ACC observation and research is relatively short, great progress has been made in learning about the characteristics, change and mechanism of ACC. Research into its role in global change is becoming more intensive, and now represents a frontier in the field of ocean and atmosphere studies. A summary of ACC observations and theoretical research results over the past few decades, including front distribution, flow characteristics, zonal transport, meridional transport, and their corresponding dynamic mechanisms, has allowed us to determine the weaknesses in our knowledge of the ACC. We make suggestions for related work, which forms the basis of our research into the ACC and related marine and atmospheric processes.
