ACC, antarctic circumpolar current, BARBI model, rossby waves, transport through Drake Passage, coastal kelvin waves, realation windtress transport. - The ACC is the largest ocean current system. This current is driven directly or indirectly by the strong westerly winds, and it is one major topic of this study to investigate the variability of the ACC transport through Drake Passage due to fluctuations in these westerly winds. It is demonstrated, that the relationship between the mean zonal windstress over the southern ocean and the transport through Drake Passage can be described by a simple linear dynamic model, which contains the barotropic and the baroclinic time scales. Another topic of this study is the propagation of Rossby waves under the influence of topography and the connection of the southern ocean with the equatorial and northern latitudes via the interaction of Rossby waves, coastal and equatorial Kelvin waves. Furthermore, the relation between the transport and the bottom pressure on the one hand, and between transport and the meridional difference of potential energy on the other hand is studied further with a channel model.