scholarly journals Impact of the Madden–Julian Oscillation on the Indonesian Throughflow in the Makassar Strait during the CINDY/DYNAMO Field Campaign

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (17) ◽  
pp. 6085-6108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Shinoda ◽  
Weiqing Han ◽  
Tommy G. Jensen ◽  
Luis Zamudio ◽  
E. Joseph Metzger ◽  
...  

Abstract Previous studies indicate that equatorial zonal winds in the Indian Ocean can significantly influence the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). During the Cooperative Indian Ocean Experiment on Intraseasonal Variability (CINDY)/Dynamics of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (DYNAMO) field campaign, two strong MJO events were observed within a month without a clear suppressed phase between them, and these events generated exceptionally strong ocean responses. Strong eastward currents along the equator in the Indian Ocean lasted more than one month from late November 2011 to early January 2012. The influence of these unique MJO events during the field campaign on ITF variability is investigated using a high-resolution (1/25°) global ocean general circulation model, the Hybrid Coordinate Ocean Model (HYCOM). The strong westerlies associated with these MJO events, which exceed 10 m s−1, generate strong equatorial eastward jets and downwelling near the eastern boundary. The equatorial jets are realistically simulated by the global HYCOM based on the comparison with the data collected during the field campaign. The analysis demonstrates that sea surface height (SSH) and alongshore velocity anomalies at the eastern boundary propagate along the coast of Sumatra and Java as coastal Kelvin waves, significantly reducing the ITF transport at the Makassar Strait during January–early February. The alongshore velocity anomalies associated with the Kelvin wave significantly leads SSH anomalies. The magnitude of the anomalous currents at the Makassar Strait is exceptionally large because of the unique feature of the MJO events, and thus the typical seasonal cycle of ITF could be significantly altered by strong MJO events such as those observed during the CINDY/DYNAMO field campaign.

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 2231-2256
Author(s):  
E. Lambert ◽  
D. Le Bars ◽  
W. P. M. de Ruijter

Abstract. East of Madagascar, wind and surface buoyancy fluxes reinforce each other, leading to frontogenesis, outcrop and an eastward along-front flow: the South Indian Ocean Countercurrent (SICC). In the east the Leeuwin Current (LC) is a unique eastern boundary current which flows poleward along Australia. It is often described as a regional coastal current forced by an off-shore meridional density gradient or a sea surface slope, yet little is known of the forcing and dynamics that control these open ocean meridional gadients. To complete this understanding, we make use of both an ocean general circulation model and a conceptual two-layer model. The SICC impinges on west Australia and adds to a sea level slope and a southward geostrophic coastal jet: the Leeuwin Current. The SICC and the LC are thus dynamically connected. An observed transport maximum of the LC around 22° S is directly related to this impingement of the SICC. The circulation of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) through the Indian Ocean appears to be partly trapped in the upper layer north of the outcrop line and is redirected along this outcrop line to join the eastward flow of the SICC. Shutdown of the ITF in both models strongly decreases the Leeuwin Current transport and breaks the connection between the LC and SICC. In this case, most of the SICC was found to reconnect to the internal gyre circulation in the Indian Ocean. The Indonesian Throughflow, South Indian Ocean Countercurrent and the Leeuwin Current are thus dynamically coupled.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (7) ◽  
pp. 1206-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yann Friocourt ◽  
Sybren Drijfhout ◽  
Bruno Blanke ◽  
Sabrina Speich

Abstract The northward export of intermediate water from Drake Passage is investigated in two global ocean general circulation models (GCMs) by means of quantitative particle tracing diagnostics. This study shows that a total of about 23 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) is exported from Drake Passage to the equator. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are the main catchment basins with 7 and 15 Sv, respectively. Only 1–2 Sv of the water exported to the Atlantic equator follow the direct cold route from Drake Passage without entering the Indian Ocean. The remainder loops first into the Indian Ocean subtropical gyre and flows eventually into the Atlantic Ocean by Agulhas leakage. The authors assess the robustness of a theory that relates the export from Drake Passage to the equator to the wind stress over the Southern Ocean. Our GCM results are in reasonable agreement with the theory that predicts the total export. However, the theory cannot be applied to individual basins because of interocean exchanges through the “supergyre” mechanism and other nonlinear processes such as the Agulhas rings. The export of water from Drake Passage starts mainly as an Ekman flow just northward of the latitude band of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current south of South America. Waters quickly subduct and are transferred to the ocean interior as they travel equatorward. They flow along the eastern boundaries in the Sverdrup interior and cross the southern basins northwestward to reach the equator within the western boundary current systems.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (18) ◽  
pp. 4930-4938 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar Dommenget ◽  
Malte Jansen

Abstract Several recent general circulation model studies discuss the predictability of the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) mode, suggesting that it is predictable because of coupled ocean–atmosphere interactions in the Indian Ocean. However, it is not clear from these studies how much of the predictability is due to the response to El Niño. It is shown in this note that a simple statistical model that treats the Indian Ocean as a red noise process forced by tropical Pacific SST shows forecast skills comparable to those of recent general circulation model studies. The results also indicate that some of the eastern tropical Indian Ocean SST predictability in recent studies may indeed be beyond the skill of the simple model proposed in this note, indicating that dynamics in the Indian Ocean may have caused this improved predictability in this region. The model further indicates that the IOD index may be the least predictable index of Indian Ocean SST variability. The model is proposed as a null hypothesis for Indian Ocean SST predictions.


2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. W. Humphries ◽  
D. J. Webb

Abstract. The Indonesian Throughflow is analysed in two runs of the OCCAM 1/4 degree global ocean model, one using monthly climatological winds and one using ECMWF analysed six-hourly winds for the period 1993 to 1998. The long-term model throughflow agrees with observations and the value predicted by Godfrey's Island Rule. The Island Rule has some skill in predicting the annual signal each year but is poor at predicting year to year and shorter term variations in the total flow especially in El Nino years. The spectra of transports in individual passages show significant differences between those connecting the region to the Pacific Ocean and those connecting with the Indian Ocean. This implies that different sets of waves are involved in the two regions. Vertical profiles of transport are in reasonable agreement with observations but the model overestimates the near surface transport through the Lombok Strait and the dense overflow from the Pacific through the Lifamatola Strait into the deep Banda Sea. In both cases the crude representation of the passages by the model appears responsible. In the north the model shows, as expected, that the largest transport is via the Makassar Strait. However this is less than expected and instead there is significant flow via the Halmahera Sea. If Godfrey's Island Rule is correct and the throughflow is forced by the northward flow between Australia and South America, then the Halmahers Sea route should be important. It is the most southerly route around New Guinea to the Indian Ocean and there is no apparent reason why the flow should go further north in order to pass through the Makassar Strait. The model result thus raises the question of why in reality the Makassar Strait route appears to dominate the throughflow.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (03) ◽  
pp. 510-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edouard Bard ◽  
Maurice Arnold ◽  
J R Toggweiler ◽  
Pierre Maurice ◽  
Jean-Claude Duplessy

AMS 14C measurements on samples collected in the tropical-equatorial Indian Ocean during the INDIGO program (leg II, 1986) are presented and compared with β-counting results obtained under both INDIGO program and GEOSECS expedition in the Indian Ocean (1978). The most significant observation is a doubling of the bomb-14C inventory and mean penetration depth in the equatorial zone. Based on hydrologic considerations, two hypotheses can be proposed: 1) direct influx of Pacific mid-latitude waters through the Indonesian archipelago and 2) advection and/or mixing with Mode Water from the southern gyre of the Indian Ocean. Results obtained with a general circulation model of the ocean suggest that the influx from the Pacific is important in the upper 300m and that below 500m the bomb-14C budget is dominated by Mode Water advection.


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