Physical oceanography of the present day Indonesian Throughflow

• Main Author: Debra Tillinger
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Indian; Pacific; North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1027.6747; http://sp.lyellcollection.org/content/355/1/267.full.pdf

Abstract: The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) transfers c. 15 Sv (1 Sv 106 m3s21) of relatively cool, fresh water from the tropical Pacific Ocean to the tropical Indian Ocean. Additionally, the ITF is a key interocean component of the global ocean warm water route, which returns water from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean to close the loop of the thermohaline overturning circulation associated with North Atlantic DeepWater. That flow consequently freshens the Indian Ocean and transports heat between basins. The ITF can also be described by the island rule, which relates the winds over the entire South Pacific Ocean to the magnitude of the ITF. El Niño-Southern Oscil-lation (ENSO) dominates the regional variability in the Pacific Ocean and exerts a strong control over the variability of ITF transport. The Indian Ocean responds to the ENSO signal as well, but is also influenced by the Indian Ocean Dipole, a climate phenomenon that may act inde-pendently of ENSO to affect the ITF. On a local scale, the surface layer of the ITF is controlled by local winds, which are primarily mon-soonal, but at depth the ITF responds to the pressure gradient between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian