Steady f-plane circulation in basins with saddle-point bathymetry
  J. Nilsson, G. Walin, and G. Brostroem (paper accepted by Journal of Marine Research, 2005) have recently shown how a velocity field in geostrophic and hydrostatic balance in an f-plane may be diagnosed from prescribed distributions of buoyancy and wind stress, in a basin with closed isobaths. I extend their analysis to cover basins with more complex depth contours, treating in particular the behaviour of the flow in the presence of a saddle point. 
Alastair D. Jenkins