New Surveys of a Branch of the Indonesian Throughflow

Abstract

Global ocean circulation is a primary mechanism for transporting energy and nutrients around the planet. At its most basic level, this circulation transports water from the Pacific Ocean through the Indonesian archipelago into the Indian Ocean; these waters join the Agulhas Current, which loops around Africa and in turn joins the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean. Upon reaching the North Atlantic, waters sink, creep south along the ocean floor as deep water, trace around Antarctica as bottom water, and move to the Pacific Ocean where they upwell, only to seep back into the Indian Ocean through the straits and channels surrounding Indonesia.The seepage of warm equatorial waters from the western Pacific Ocean into the Indian Ocean is called the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF). Long recognized as a key component of global ocean circulation, the ITF's magnitude and variability play an important role in determining heat and nutrient exchange to other ocean basins. Scientists' ability to estimate ITF behavior is therefore essential for understanding the global climate system.