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- Title
The Reversal Indian Ocean Waters.
- Authors
Liang, Linlin; Xue, Huijie
- Abstract
The Reversal Indian Ocean Waters (RIOWs), carried by flows in a direction opposite to the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF), is investigated in the Lagrangian framework using the simulative results of a high‐resolution western Pacific and northern Indian Oceans Model (PIOM). The results suggest that the RIOWs have two sources: They are the Australian Northwest Shelf Inflow linking with the Leeuwin UnderCurrent (LUC) along with the previously identified South Java Coastal Undercurrent (SJCU). After entering the Indonesian seas, the RIOWs mix with other water masses and tend to make waters in the Indonesian seas cooler, saltier, and denser. Ultimately, about half of the RIOWs return to the Indian Ocean by joining the ITF, and the other half enter the Pacific Ocean and contribute to the North Equatorial CounterCurrent (NECC) and the North Intermediate CounterCurrent (NICC). Plain Language Summary: The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is often viewed as a unidirectional strong flow from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. Little attention has been given to the reversal flow that permits Indian Ocean waters into the Indonesian seas since it was first documented (Sprintall et al. 2009, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JC005257). In this work, we apply the Lagrangian trajectory code TRACMASS to a western Pacific and northern Indian Ocean Model (PIOM) to investigate this neglected issue and diagnose the reversal flow on its sources, sinks, and contributions to the Indonesian seas. This paper proposes for the first time a very interesting viewpoint that a small amount of Indian Ocean waters may get into the Pacific Ocean through the Indonesian Archipelago and it ultimately feeds into two important currents of the Pacific Ocean, namely, the North Equatorial CounterCurrent (NECC) and the North Intermediate CounterCurrent (NICC). All these not only provide us a new perspective of water exchanges between the Pacific and Indian oceans but also promote our understanding of the unique water properties of the Indonesian seas. Key Points: The reversal flow in the Ombai and Timor straits, opposite in direction to the Indonesian Throughflow, is simulated and analyzedThe reversal flow carries waters from the Indian Ocean through the Indonesian seas to the Pacific OceanThe Reversal Indian Ocean Waters make the Indonesian seas cooler, saltier, and denser
- Subjects
INTERNATIONAL Tennis Federation; SEAWATER; PACIFIC Ocean currents; WATER masses
- Publication
Geophysical Research Letters, 2020, Vol 47, Issue 14, p1
- ISSN
0094-8276
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2020GL088269