Abstract This study addresses the response of the Southern Ocean to high-frequency wind forcing, focusing on the impact of several barotropic modes on the circumpolar transport. A suite of experiments is performed with an unstratified model of the Southern Ocean, forced with a stochastic wind stress that contains a large range of frequencies with synoptic time scales. The Southern Ocean adjustment displays a different character for frequencies below and above 0.2 cpd. The low-frequency range is dominated by an “almost-free-mode” response in the region where contours of f /H are obstructed by only a few bathymetric features; the truly free mode only plays a minor role. Topographic form stress, rather than friction, is the dominant decay mechanism of the Southern Mode. It leads to a spindown time scale on the order of 3 days. For the high-frequency range, the circumpolar transport is dominated by the resonant excitation of oscillatory modes. The “active” response of the ocean leads to strong changes and even discontinuities in the phase relation between transport and wind stress.