A time series of net transport during 1979 of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) through the upper 2500 m of Drake Passage was obtained as part of the International Southern Ocean Studies program by Whitworth (1983), and was presented in a revised form by Whitworth and Peterson (1985). Spectral analyses are performed on records comprising the revised series to determined the major sources of transport variability. Multiyear records from bottom pressure gauges at each side of the passage are then compared with fields of wind stress over the Southern Ocean. The net transport series is dominated in the subseasonal time scales by the lunar fortnightly and monthly tides and by baroclinic activity in the northern passage, processes that are independent of wind. For seasonal time scales, transport variability appears to be mainly barotropic, thus being well represented by bottom pressure records from each side of the passage. Comparisons of multiyear bottom pressure records with time series of the zonally averaged curl of wind stress in narrow bands along the perimeters of the ACC suggest that seasonal fluctuations in the strengths of the subtropical and subpolar atmospheric pressure systems flanking the ACC induce changes in the slope of the sea surface across the current. The dominant annual cycle in curl associated with the subtropical highs appears to influence sea level across the entire ACC, whereas the effects of the strong semiannual cycle in curl associated with the subpolar lows are confined to the southern portions of the current. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1988