Interannual sea level in the northern and eastern Indian Ocean

Abstract

In the northern Indian Ocean, the interannual sea level is correlated along the boundary. Observations hint that interannual sea level propagates along the boundary. Model calculations suggest that the interannual sea level signal occurs along more than 8000 km of Indian Ocean coastline extending from southern Java to Bombay and is generated remotely by zonal interannual winds blowing along the equator. Examination of northwestern Australian interannual sea level shows that it is not well correlated with that in the northern Indian Ocean. Model calculations suggest that the northwestern Australian sea level is generated by zonal ENSO wind stress in the equatorial Pacific. The interannual upper-ocean transport of water between the two oceans transport is about 2.5 Sv (Sv ≡ 106 m3 s-1). The interannual transport is correlated with ENSO. -from Authors