Ocean Currents, Temperature, and Salinity at Raja Ampat Islands and The Boundaries Seas

• Main Authors: Nugraha, Angga P., Purba, Noir P., Junianto, Junianto, Sunarto, Sunarto
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Przedsiębiorstwo Wydawnictw Naukowych Darwin / Scientific Publishing House DARWIN 2018
• Subjects: geo; envir; Pacific; antartic*
• Online Access: https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/1163118.pdf; https://bibliotekanauki.pl/articles/1163118

Raja Ampat Islands and eastern seas influenced by water masses from the Pacific Ocean and the monsoon. The aim of the research is to study the physical condition of water column, movement, and identification of water sources. The method used in this study with spatial and temporal analysis. The results show that water movement through Raja Ampat, Halmahera, Ceram, and Banda Seas. Mix layer condition up to 71 m depth and thermocline layer up to 567 m depth. The identified water masses from T-S Diagram are SPIW (South Pacific Intermediate Water), SPSW (South Pacific Subtropical Water), NPSW (North Pacific Subtropical Water), and AAIW (Antartic Intermediate Water). The maximum SST value occurred at the end of west monsoon (February) in the range 28.25 °C - 30.5 °C, and the minimum value occurred at the end of east monsoon (August) in the range 26.25 °C - 29.25 °C. The maximum SSS value occurred at early monsoon transition 2 (September) in the range 34.25 psu - 34.75 psu, and the minimum value occurred at early monsoon transition 1 (March) in the range 32.75 psu - 34 psu.