| Summary: | There are two unique aspects of geography of the Indian Ocean that profoundly influence its climate and circulation: (a) The Indian Ocean’s northern expanse is curtailed by the Eurasian landmass around the Tropic of Cancer (making it the only ocean that is cut off from temperate and polar areas of the Northern Hemisphere), and (b) The Indian Ocean is connected to the Pacific through the Indonesian Archipelago (the only low latitude inter-ocean connection on the planet). The resultant surface circulation divides this ocean into three parts (Wyrtki, 1973): (a) the monsoon gyre, (b) the southern subtropical gyre, and (c) the Antarctic waters with the Circumpolar Current. Surface circulation patterns in the two southern parts do not show any major deviation from those observed in other oceans with the exception of a seasonally-variable poleward surface flow (the Leeuwin Current) and the associated equatorward undercurrent off western Australia. What really differentiates the Indian Ocean from the Atlantic and the Pacific is the unique circulation of its monsoon gyre.
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