Variability of water properties, heat and salt fluxes in the Arabian Sea, between the onset and wane of the 1995 southwest monsoon

We investigate the variability of the circulation, water masses, heat and salt fluxes in the Arabian Sea over the course of the southwest monsoon. Two zonal sections taken along 8[deg]30'N in 1995 as part of the Indian Ocean WOCE hydrographic program are used. The first was occupied in early June at the onset of the southwest monsoon winds, the second in late September, at the wane of the monsoon. The September section was found to be generally warmer (+0.32[deg]C) and saltier (+0.04) than in June, despite a 50 mm drop in mean sea level. Therefore, the common assumption that an increase in sea-surface height follows an increase in heat content (the hydrostatic response) does not hold. Instead, we conclude that the heat content increases due to the advection of Arabian Sea Surface Water and Red Sea Water onto the section from the north, and the drop in sea level is due to a loss of mass, rather than heat, from the water column. There are large uncertainties involved in diagnosing the heat-flux divergence across the Arabian Sea, because the seasonal variability of the water masses and circulation in the basin mean that our data are not representative of a steady state. We treat each section separately and find an oceanic heat export of -0.72 PW in June and -0.19 PW in September, implying a basin cooling rate of about -0.36 PW in June and a slight heating of 0.12 PW in September. In June the mass and heat balances are dominated by the Ekman transport and the Somali Current, with very flat density surfaces resulting in a small interior geostrophic transport. By September the Ekman transport has reduced, and it is primarily the interior transport that balances a strong Somali Current. There are two main overturning cells in June and September: A shallow one of approximate magnitude 15 Sv in June and 0 Sv in September, which reaches depths of no more than 500 m and is driven by Ekman divergence at the surface; and a deep cell of magnitude 1 Sv representing a weak inflow and subsequent upwelling of Circumpolar Deep water. The deep cell implies a basin-averaged upwelling velocity of 3.2 x 10-5 cm s-1 through 2200

Flow of bottom and deep water in the Amirante Passage and Mascarene Basin

In the Indian Ocean the Amirante Passage is the sill through which relatively cold, fresh, oxygen‐rich, and nutrient‐poor bottom water spreads northward into the Somali Basin from the Mascarene Basin. The passage is also a conduit through which relatively warm, salty, oxygen‐poor, and nutrient‐rich deep water spreads south. Previous estimates for northward transport of bottom water in the passage have been made from station pairs and sections without benefit of tracer measurements. Previous estimates of southward transport of deep water are scarce. Three hydrographic sections were made across the passage in 1995 and 1996 as part of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE). Two WOCE sections were also made perpendicular to the western boundary in the Mascarene Basin, just south of the passage. The geostrophic shear field is used with the salinity, dissolved oxygen, and silica distributions to select a range of zero‐velocity surfaces (ZVSs) on potential isotherms from 1.0° to 1.1°C (hence a range of geostrophic transports) for which the flow direction is consistent with the tracer distributions. Objective mapping is used to obtain flux estimates below the deepest common level of station pairs. Estimates in the Mascarene Basin result in a bottom water volume transport from 2.5 to 3.8 × 106 m3 s−1 northward toward the passage below the ZVSs and a deep‐water transport between the ZVSs and 2.5°C from 11.6 to 6.4 × 106 m3 s−1 southward. Estimates within the passage result in transports from 1.0 to 1.7 × 106 m3 s−1 northward for the bottom water and from 8.6 to 3.8 × 106 m3 s−1 southward for the deep water

The Indonesian throughflow during 2004-2006 as observed by the INSTANT program

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Water mass transformation along the Indonesian throughflow in an OGCM

The oceanic pathways connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean are described using a quantitative Lagrangian method applied to Eulerian fields from an ocean general circulation model simulation of the Indonesian seas. The main routes diagnosed are in good agreement with those inferred from observations. The secondary routes and the Pacific recirculation are also quantified. The model reproduces the observed salt penetration of subtropical waters from the South Pacific, the homohaline stratification in the southern Indonesian basins, and the cold fresh tongue which exits into the Indian Ocean. These particular water mass characteristics, close to those observed, are obtained when a tidal mixing parameterization is introduced into the model. Trajectories are obtained which link the water masses at the entrance and at the exit of the Indonesian throughflow (ITF), and the mixing along each trajectory is quantified. Both the ITF and the Pacific recirculation are transformed, suggesting that the Indonesian transformation affects both the Indian and Pacific stratification. A recipe to form Indonesian water masses is proposed. We present three major features of the circulation that revisit the classical picture of the ITF and its associated water mass transformation, while still being in agreement with observations. Firstly, the homohaline layer is not a result of pure isopycnal mixing of the North Pacific Intermediate Water and South Pacific Subtropical Water (SPSW) within the Banda Sea, as previously thought. Instead, the observed homohaline layer is reproduced by the model, but it is caused by both isopycnal mixing with the SPSW and a dominant vertical mixing before the Banda Sea with the NPSW. This new mechanism could be real since the model reproduces the SPSW penetration as observed. Secondly, the model explains why the Banda Sea thermocline water is so fresh compared to the SPSW. Until now, the only explanation was a recirculation of the freshwater from the western route. The model does not reproduce this recirculation but instead shows strong mixing of the SPSW within the Halmahera and Seram Seas, which erodes the salinity maximum so that its signature is not longer perceptible. Finally, this work highlights the key role of the Java Sea freshwater. Even though its annual net mass contribution is small, its fresh salinity contribution is highly significant and represents the main reason why the Pacific salinity maxima are eroded

Physical processes contributing to the water mass transformation of the Indonesian Throughflow

The properties of the waters that move from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean via passages in the Indonesian archipelago are observed to vary with along-flow-path distance. We study an ocean model of the Indonesian Seas with reference to the observed water property distributions and diagnose the mechanisms and magnitude of the water mass transformations using a thermodynamical methodology. This model includes a key parameterization of mixing due to baroclinic tidal dissipation and simulates realistic water property distributions in all of the seas within the archipelago. A combination of air–sea forcing and mixing is found to significantly change the character of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). Around 6 Sv (approximately 1/3 the model net ITF transport) of the flow leaves the Indonesian Seas with reduced density. Mixing transforms both the intermediate depth waters (transforming 4.3 Sv to lighter density) and the surface waters (made denser despite the buoyancy input by air–sea exchange, net transformation?=?2 Sv). The intermediate transformation to lighter waters suggests that the Indonesian transformation contributes significantly to the upwelling of cold water in the global conveyor belt. The mixing induced by the wind is not driving the transformation. In contrast, the baroclinic tides have a major role in this transformation. In particular, they are the only source of energy acting on the thermocline and are responsible for creating the homostad thermocline water, a characteristic of the Indonesian outflow water. Furthermore, they cool the sea surface temperature by between 0.6 and 1.5°C, and thus allow the ocean to absorb more heat from the atmosphere. The additional heat imprints its characteristics into the thermocline. The Indonesian Seas cannot only be seen as a region of water mass transformation (in the sense of only transforming water masses in its interior) but also as a region of water mass formation (as it modifies the heat flux and induced more buoyancy flux). This analysis is complemented with a series of companion numerical experiments using different representations of the mixing and advection schemes. All the different schemes diagnose a lack of significant lateral mixing in the transformation