Indonesian Throughflow: Difference between revisions

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The '''Indonesian throughflowThroughflow''' (ITF) is an ocean current with importance for global climate since it provides a low-latitude pathway for warm, freshwater to move from the [[Indopacific|Pacific to the Indian Ocean]] and this serves as the upper branch of the [[thermohaline circulation|global heat conveyor belt]]. Higher [[ocean surface topography]] in the western Pacific than found in the Indian Ocean drives upper [[thermocline]] water from the North Pacific through the western route of the [[Makassar Strait]] to either directly exit through the [[Lombok Strait]] or flow eastward into the [[Banda Sea]]. Weaker flows of saltier and denser South Pacific water pass over the Lifamatola Passage into the Banda Sea, where these waters mass are mixed due to tidal effects, [[Ekman spiral|Ekman pumping]], and heat and freshwater [[Flux|flux]] at the ocean surface. From the Banda Sea the ITF exits [[Timor Sea|Timor]], [[Ombai Strait|Ombai]], and Lombok passages.
 
The location and topography of the channels that make up the ITF are shown in the Figure. Lombok Strait is 300m deep and roughly 35&nbsp;km wide and the currents vary between 0.286&nbsp;m/s (0.6&nbsp;mi/hr) eastward to 0.67&nbsp;m/s westward and average 0.25&nbsp;m/s westward. Currents in Ombai vary between 0.12&nbsp;m/s eastward to 0.16&nbsp;m/s westward, averaging 0.11&nbsp;m/s westward and are funneled within the 1250m deep and 35&nbsp;km wide passage. Timor passage, which is 1890 m deep by 160&nbsp;km wide, is the widest of the exit pathways and averages only 0.02&nbsp;m/s. From 2004–2006, 11 [[mooring (oceanography)|moorings]] were deployed across the entrance and exit regions of the ITF and were positioned to accurately measure each passage’s contribution as part of the International Nusantara Stratification and Transport (INSTANT) program. Flow in through Makassar (11.6 Sv, 1 [[Sverdrup|Sv]] = 10<sup>6</sup> m³/s) and Lifamatola (1.1 Sv) sums to 12.7 Sv. Total outflow transport corresponds to 15.0 Sv (varying from 10.7 to 18.7 Sv) and is made up of Lombok (2.6 Sv), Ombai (4.9 Sv) and Timor (7.5 Sv) contributions.<ref>[http://www.marine.csiro.au/~cow074/SPRINTALL_JGR.pdf Sprintall, J., S.E. Wijffels, R. Molcard, and I. Jaya, Direct estimates of the Indonesian Throughflow entering the Indian Ocean: 2004-2006, Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 114, 19, 2009.]</ref> Heat Transport of the Indonesian Throughflow is 1.087 PW (1 PW=10<sup>15</sup> Watt).<ref>[http://www.igu.in/10-4/2vivek.pdf “Heat transport through Indonesian throughflow by Vivek Kumar Pandey and Avinash Chand Pandey in J. Ind. Geophys. Union ( October 2006 ) Vol.10, No.4, pp.273-277”]. (PDF) ITF heat transport result from POM Model.</ref>