COASTAL UPWELLING UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF WESTERLY WIND BURST IN THE NORTH OF PAPUA CONTINENT, WESTERN PACIFIC

Abstract

Coastal upwelling play an important role in biological productivity and the carbon cycle in the ocean. This research aimed to examine the phenomenon of coastal upwelling that occur in the coastal waters north of Papua continent under the influence of Westerly Wind Burst(WWB) prior to the development of El Nino in the Pacific. Data consisted of sea surface temperature, vertical oceanic temperature, ocean color satellite image, wind stress and vector wind speed image, sea surface high, and Nino 3.4 index. Coastal upwelling events in the northern coastal waters of Papua continent occurred in response to westerly winds and westerly wind burst (WWBs) during December to March characterizing by low sea surface temperature (SST) (25 - 28C), negative sea surface high deviation and phytoplankton blooming, except during pre-development of the El Nino 2006/2007 where weak upwelling followed by positive sea surface high deviation. Strong coastal upwelling occurred during two WWBs in December and March1996/1997 with maximum wind speed in March produced a strong El Nino 1997/1998. Upwelling generally occurred along coastal waters of Jayapura to Papua New Guinea with more intensive in coastal waters north of Papua New Guinea indicated by Ekman transport and Ekman layer depth maximum.