JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 101, NO.

C5, PAGES 12,239-12,254, MAY 15, 1996

Large-scale sea level, thermocline, and wind variations

in the Indonesian throughflow region
Nancy A. Bray,• SusanHautala,2 JacksonChong,• and John Pariwono3

Abstract. The Indonesianthroughflowis presumedto be drivenby a sealevel gradient

from the Pacificto the Indian Ocean.Deep throughflowtransportmay alsobe drivenby a
stericgradientbetweenthe two basins.The sealevel gradient,in turn, is thoughtto be
maintainedby the differingwind patternsin the two basins:monsoonalin the Indian
Oceanand tradesin the westernequatorialPacific.In the interactionbetweensealevel,
wind stress,and thermoclinedepth as identifiedfrom historicalmeasurements, we find (1)
over the Indian, Indonesian,and equatorialPacificbasinsand specificallywithin the
throughflowregion, sea level and thermoclineseasonalvariationsare negativelycorrelated
(sealevel rise corresponding to thermoclinedeepening)and sealevel and meridionalwind
stressare alsocorrelated;(2) the expectedstrongseasonalgradientsin sealevel through
the easternthroughflowregion(near the islandof Timor) are found,thoughwithout an
accompanying thermoclinedepthgradient;(3) seasonalconvergence in baroclinic,upper
oceanthroughflowtransportpreviouslyidentified[Meyerset al., 1995] in the Timor Sea is
associatedwith changesin sea level as well as upper ocean dynamicheight at annual
periodbut not at semiannual;(4) interannualvariabilityexplainsmore of the sealevel
variancein the easternthroughflowregion than is explainedby seasonalharmonics;
however,there doesnot appearto be a stronginterannualsignalin the sea level gradient
to drive fluctuationsin the upper oceanthroughflow.We hypothesizethat seasonal
variabilityin the upper layer throughflowand interannualvariabilityin the deep
throughfloware the predominantresultsof the complexinteractionof forcing
mechanisms.

1. Introduction depth in the tropical Indian, Indonesian,and westernPacific

basins.Becausethe sealeveldata are sporadicin both time and
The net flow of warm, relativelyfreshwatersfrom the Pacific space,the work focuseson the semiannualandannualperiods,
to the Indian Oceanthroughthe Indonesianarchipelagois the utilizing a simpleharmonicanalysisto obtain the amplitude
onlylow-latitudeconnectionbetweenmajor oceanbasins.As a and phaseof thesetwo frequenciesas a functionof geographic
result,the Indonesianthroughflow,asit hascometo be called, location.Interannualvariabilityis alsoexaminedas a residual
is an important link in the global thermohaline circulation of the observed time series once the annual and semiannual
[e.g., Schmitz, 1995; I40'iffelset al., 1992; Hirst and Godfrey, signalsare removed. Becausethe forcing of throughflowvari-
1993; Gordon, 1986]. Although we still lack direct measure- ability is thoughtto result from large-scalephenomena,data
ments of the averagevalue of the throughflow,indirect esti- from a region encompassing more than the Indonesianarchi-
matesof its variability suggestthat the seasonaland perhaps pelago (Figure 1) are used,and all of the analysespresented
semiannualvariationsare comparableto the expectedaverage incorporatedata from the larger region (40øWto 180øW,25øS
transport[Meyerset al., 1995; Cresswell et al., 1993]. Direct to 25øN). However, most of the figures and discussionare
evidencefor interannual variability in the sea level gradient concentratedon the throughflow region, including the west-
that is presumedto drive the throughflowis lacking [Wyrtki, ernmosttropicalPacific,the interior IndonesianSeas,and the
1987],althoughMeyers[this issue]findsevidencefor interan- easternmost tropicalIndian Ocean.The latter area,referredto in
nual variability in the throughflowitself, based on repeated thispaperasthe "extended" Timor Sea,is outlinedin Figure2.
expendablebathythermograph(XBT) sectionsfrom Sunda
Strait to Shark Bay in northern Australia.
In the present work, historical sea level, wind, and XBT 2. Observations and Statistical Methods
(temperatureprofiles in the upper ocean) observationsare
2.1. Sea Level
used to examine the structure of the sea surface, wind stress
and curl, and the 21øCisothermasa proxyfor the thermocline The data used are all from the Tropical Ocean-Global At-
mosphere(TOGA) sea level archive of stationswith daily
•Centerfor CoastalStudies,Scripps Institutionof Oceanography,values(Table 1). A total of 89 stationswere usedin the anal-
La Jolla, California. ysis;the minimumlengthof time seriesincludedin the analysis
2School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle. is2years. Station
locations areplottedassolidsquares in allof
3Division of Oceanography, Facultyof Fisheries,
BogorAgricultural the mapsthat describethe results(Figure 1). The archivedsea
University,Bogor, Indonesia.
leveldatawere correctedto adjustedsealevel(ASL) by adding
Copyright1996 by the American GeophysicalUnion. barometricpressurefrom the nearestComprehensiveOcean-
Paper number 96JC00080. AtmosphereData Set (COADS) grid point. COADS data are
0148-0227/96/96JC-00080509.00 monthlyaverages,and a cubicsplinewasusedto interpolateto
12,239
12,240 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

(a) Station
locations
40' 60' 80' 100' 120' 140' 160' 180'

- 20'

10'
10' ': ßß .. ß '.,..
ß .,' 4, .' ß " ß
0- ,
'
•,,, .- . ,, . mtung
.... ß •
.,.. O'

-10'

-20' ' ßß l•He,

dm,,.•'"'"""'"'•'""'""••'='ar,
•'•=••'.'••••••:,;i!:...•...
' . . ..'• • -20'
i i i

40' 60' 80' 100' 120' 140' 160' 180'

(b) Variance(%) explainedby seasonalharmonics

40 ø 60' 80' 100' 120' 140' 160' 180'

I I I . 'o
'• I . •/o=
I
100 -....................
c •_ • tA•xq.'-.•.•,_/,_.•' _•.• o K • ß o..ßK./ 100

-10' :o.. - .•.• . -10 ø

-20' -20'

40' 60' 80' 100' 120 ø 140' 160' 180'

Longitude

Figure 1. (a) Distribution

of sealevelstations
usedin the analysis.
(b) Percentage
of totalvarianceat each
sea level stationthat is containedin the combinationof annual and semiannualvariability.

dailyvalues.
ASLwasusedinallsubsequent
analyses.
Foreach representativeof the thermoclinedepth in the Indonesian
station the time mean value was removed, and the data were Seas.The depthof the 21øCisothermWaslinearlyinterpolated
then fittedusingleastsquaresto find the amplitudeandphase from the standarddepth data. Data were averagedin 5ø x 5ø
of the annual and semiannual harmonics. The residual time squares(seeFigure2 for coverage),and all the datawere used
serieswith those harmonicsremovedwere also analyzed,and to calculatea time-averaged
thermociine
depth(Figure3).
correlation techniqueswere used to determine the level and Although 5ø squaresare large for resolvingsomeof the inter-
significanceof correlationwith the SouthernOscillationIndex estingphenomenain the IndonesianSeas,it was more impor-
(SOI). tantforthisanalysis
to maximize thenumberof observations in
eachgrid for statistical
reliability.Five degreesis a compro-
2.2. ThermoclineDepth From XBTs mise.The averagefield in the throughflowregionis shownin
The TOGA archive of XBT data at standarddepthsfrom more detail in Figure 3b. The average field was subtracted
the samegeographicregionas the sealevel data wasusedto before calculation of the harmonic analysesat annual and
examinethermoclinedepth.Data from the period 1980to 1993 semiannual
periods.A positivedepthanomalyimpliesthatthe
are includedin the analysis.The 21øCisothermwas chosenas thermocline
is deeperthanthe meanat that geographic
loca-

Number
ofXBTcasts
pergrid
area
lB;125590
9773L 318437.415
661626321213t73

20•'•. 2y.... / J .....................................

19
i6-
•- 10-I 33 72 95 204 1182
5311•940345042091346•110
663
1061-

• • ';•62
.•
0

371
241
193
112
280
478
•3 79151
367
445
599
3(•5ii!!•3•.•,••,76
4776291
13619 1962195
154
103
372••i•96
9O92123
62260,3019
600
243
298
488
345
308
466
457
'376
513
•81
202
376
468 90 224304 68 188244136

638•3166
542
734
2 2 I

170 3 26o
00 9• 6• 3153114•,

. 76 493
329
82234
112

.......................... •93 I ' 24'•460

1•.............
0 , I
60 I
80 100 I 120 140 160 180
Longitude(deg E)

Figure 2, Distributionof expendablebathythermograph (XBT) profilesfrom the Tropical Ocean-Global

Atmosphere(TOGA) archivein the regionof interestfor the period 1980-1993.
 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12,241

Table 1. Sea Level Stations

TOGA
Identification Latitude, Longitude,
Number StationName Country degrees degrees Years

00lB Pohnpei-B Micronesia 06-59N 158-15E 1974-1992

002A Tarawa-A, Betio Kiribati 01-22N 172-56E 1974-1983
002B Tarawa-B, Bairiki Kiribati 01-20N 173-01E 1983-1988
004A Nauru Nauru 00-32S 166-54E 1974-1991
005B MajurooB Marshall Islands 07-06N 171-22E 1974-1992
007A Malakal Belau 07-20N 134-28E 1969-1992
008A Yap Micronesia 09-31N 138-08E 1969-1991
009A Honiara, Guadalcan Solomon Islands 09-26S 159-57E 1974-1992
010A Rabaul Papua New Guinea 04-12S 152-11E 1974-1992
018A SuvaoA Fiji 18-08S 178-26E 1975-1991
019A Noumea, New Caledonia France 22-18S 166-26E 1972-1992
025A Funafuti Tuvalu 08-32S 179-13E 1977-1992
028A Saipan North Mariana Island 15-14N 145-45E 1978-1992
029A Kapingamarangi Micronesia 01-06N 154-47E 1978-1992
033A Bitung Indonesia 01-26N 125-12E 1986-1990
051A Wake United States trust 19-17N 166-37E 1973-1992
053A Guam United States trust 13-26N 144-39E 1973-1992
054A Chuuk Micronesia 07-27N 151-51E 1973-1991
055A Kwajalein Marshall Islands 08-44N 167-44E 1973-1992
063A Wewak Papua New Guinea 03-34S 143-38E 1984-1991
064A Port Moresby Papua New Guinea 09-29S 147-08E 1984-1991
065A Manus Papua New Guinea 02-01S 147-16E 1984-1991
066A Madang Papua New Guinea 05-12S 145-48E 1984-1991
067A Lae Papua New Guinea 06-44S 146-59E 1984-1991
068A Kavieng Papua New Guinea 02-35S 150-48E 1984-1991
101A Mombasa Kenya 04-04S 039-39E 1986-1992
102A Dar Es Salaam Tanzania 06-49S 039-17E 1986-1990
103C Port LouisoC Mauritius 20-09S 057-30E 1986-1992
104C Diego Garcia-C United Kingdom 07-17S 072-24E 1988-1992
105A Rodrigues Mauritius 19-40S 063-25E 1986-1992
107A Padang(Teluk Bayu) Indonesia 01-00S 100-22E 1986-1990
108B Male-B,Hulule Maldives 04-11N 073-32E 1989-1992
109A Gan Maidives 00-41S 073-09E 1987-1992
110A Muscat Oman 23-38N 058-34E 1987-1991
111B Port Victoria-B Seychelles 04-37S 055-28E 1986-1991
114A Salalah Oman 16-56N 054-00E 1989-1992
115B Colombo-B Sri Lanka 06-57N 079-51E 1989-1992
134A Hiron Point Bangladesh 21-47N 089-28E 1977-1990
135A Khal 10 Bangladesh 22-16N 091-49E 1983-1990
136A Cox's Bazaar Bangladesh 21-27N 091-50E 1983-1990
137A Teknaf Bangladesh 20-53N 092-18E 1983-1987
138A Charchanga Bangladesh 22-13N 091-03E 1980-1990
140A Kelang Malaysia 03-03N 101-22E 1983-1991
141A Keling Malaysia 02-13N 102-09E 1984-1991
142A Langkawi Malaysia 06-26N 099-46E 1985-1991
143A Lumut Malaysia 04-14N 100-37E 1984-1991
144A Penang Malaysia 05-25N 100-21E 1984-1991
147A Karachi Pakistan 24-48N 066-58E 1985-1987
148A Ko TaphaoNoi (Phu) Thailand 07-50N 098-26E 1985-1989
150A Nosy Be Madagascar 13-24S 048-18E 1987-1989
151A Zanzibar Tanzania 06-09S 039-11E 1984-1992
155A Dzaoudzi Mayotte 12-47S 045-15E 1985-1991
158A Meneng Indonesia 08-07S 114-23E 1987-1989
159A Pari Indonesia 05-51S 106-37E 1987-1990
160A Surabaya Indonesia 07-13S 112-44E 1988-1990
163A Benoa Indonesia 08-45S 115-13E 1988-1990
164A Reunion France 20-55S 055-18E 1982-1986
165A Wyndham Australia 15-27S 128-06E 1984-1990
167A Carnarvon Australia 24-53S 113-37E 1984-1990
168A Darwin Australia 12-28S 130-51E 1984-1990
169A Port Hedland Australia 20-19S 118-34E 1984-1991
171A Cocos Australia 12-07S 096-54E 1985-1989
192B Pemba-B Mozambique 12-58S 040-29E 1982-1984
320A Cendering Malays•a 05-16N 103-11E 1984-1991
321A Johor Baharu Malays•a 01-28N 103-48E 1983-1991
322A Kuantan Malays•a 03-59N 103-26E 1983-1991
323A Tioman Malays•a 02-48N 104-08E 1985-1991
324A Sedili Malays•a 01-56N 104-07E 1986-1991
325A Kukup Malays•a 01-20N 103-27E 1985-1991
326A Geting Malays•a 06-14N 102-06E 1986-1991
12,242 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

Table 1. (continued)
TOGA
Identification Latitude, Longitude,
Number Station Name Country degrees degrees Years

327A Keppel Harbour Singapore' 01-16N 103-49E 1982-1988

328A Ko Lak Thailand 11-48N 099-49E 1985-1989
330A North Point Hong Kong 22-18N 114-12E 1962-1985
336A Booby Island Austrah a 10-36S 141-55E 1988-1991
337A Victoria Dock Singapore 01-16N 103-49E 1972-1981
338A Macau Portugal 22-10N 113-33E 1978-1985
340A Kaohsiung Taiwan 22-38N 120-17E 1984-1991
370A Manila Philippines 14-35N 120-58E 1984-1990
371A Legaspi Philippines 13-09N 123-45E 1984-1990
372A Davao Philippines 07-05N 125-38E 1984-1990
373A Jolo Philippines 06-04N 121-00E 1984-1990
376A Xiamen China 24-27N 118-04 E 1954-1992
385A Tawau Malaysia 04-14N 117-53E 1987-1991
386A Kota Kinabalu Malaysia 05-59N 116-04E 1987-1991
635A Zhapo-A China 21-35N 111-50E 1975-1990
636A Beihai China 21-29N 109-05E 1975-1990
637A Dongfang China 19-06N 108-37E 1975-1990
638A Haikou China 20-01N 11 0-17E 1976-1990
641A Shanwei China 22-45N 115-21E 1975-1990

tion. For the harmonicanalyses,only those squareswith at (ECMWF) TOGA GlobalSupplementary Fieldsdata setpro-
least two stations in each month were used. videdby the National Centerfor AtmosphericResearch.Wind
stresscurl is computedby Stokes'theorem,constructing the
2.3. Wind Stress
line integralalongthe path connectingfour griddeddata val-
Wind stressis taken from the griddedmonthlyvaluesin the ues that form a box roughly1.25ø on a side.Values for each
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts side of the box were computedby averagingadjacentcorner

(a) Mean ThermoclineDepth(m)

100 ø 120 ø 140 ø 160 ø 180 ø

- 20 ø

-10 ø

160 ø 180 ø

(b) Throughflowregion:thermoclinedepth(m)
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø
10 ø

....
'•:•- - •':':'" -•o
-':..:'::...-.:--.:.:.•.:•:::..,.
' .'"'""
'"•'"'•-•.'-."-:"..-'."
' c• •-'1•0

_20
or--..
, _20
o
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø
Longitude

Figure 3, Averagethcrmoclin½
(2]øCisotherm)depthfromthe XBT data(a) fo• the entirer½•ionand (b)
for the throughflow
 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12 243

pointvalues.Data from the period 1986-1994were usedin the Thermoclinedepth

analysis.Harmonic analysessimilar to thosefor sea level were
(a) Annual harmonicamplitude(m)
performedon the time seriesof monthlyvalues.After extract-
100' 120 ø
ing meanvaluesand annualand semiannualharmonicsby least
squaresfit to the data, residual time series and synthetic 10ø •:•::::.-_.:
August values (using only the mean and harmonics)were
computed.

3. Annual Variability ß •

As canbe seenin Figure lb, a significantfractionof the total _10 ø

energyor variancecontainedin the adjustedsea level records
is explainedby a combinationof annual and semiannualvari-
ability,particularlyin the SouthChina and Arabian Seasand in
the Bay of Bengal. Overall, somewhatmore energy is con- _20 ø
100 ø 120 ø
tained in the annual (Figure 4a) than in the semiannual(Fig-
ure 7a) harmonic,with amplitudesof over 20 cm on the north-
eastcoastof Australiaand in the SouthChina Sea.The phase (b) Annualharmonicphase(day of maximumamplitude)
of the annualsignal,calculatedin termsof daysfrom the first 100 ø 120 ø 140 ø
of January to maximum positive amplitude, varies smoothly
throughthe throughflowregion (Figure 4b), with a minimum
in the interior seas.
Thermoclinedepth variation at annual period (Figure 5)
within the IndonesianSeasis about 10 m, with maximaalong
the south coast of Java, the Arafura Sea, and the western
tropical Pacific.The maximumsouth of Java is in phasewith

AdjustedSea Level

(a) Annualharmonicamplitude(cm) 100 ø 120 ø 140 ø

Longitude
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø
:•:.•
.... . -...:::•. ß -.:-. ß 10ø Figure 5. (a) Amplitude and (b) phase of the annual har-

10ø
•:i•i•iiii:!]i:.i..
'•.'
ß .I * ß'/
0o . 0o
monic of thermoclinedepth variability.

the maximumthroughflowtransport[Meyerset al., 1995] and

may reflect a deepeningof the thermoclineto compensatefor

_10
o 'ø
"4'•"'"'"'"'"'•/••/.
•'"'":•i
_10
o additionalmasstransportinto the region.Phasechangesrather
abruptlybetweenthe Pacificand Indian Ocean regionsin the
Flores Sea, roughly in alignment with the direction of the
throughflow.In the easternpart of the throughflowregion the
_20 ø i _20 ø phase implies that the thermoclineis shallowestduring the
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø period of maximumthroughflowtransport,consistentwith up-
wellingobservedthere during the southeastmonsoon[Wyrtki,
(b) Annualharmonicphase(day of maximumamplitude) 1961].
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø Annual variation in wind stresscomponentsin the through-
flow regionreflectsthe monsoonalwind pattern, northwesterly
winds in February/March and southeasterlywinds in August/
September(Figure 6). In the Timor Sea regionthere is a large
area where the zonal componentis uniformly high and pre-
sumablyinfluencesthe structureof sea level and the thermo-
cline. That relationshipis explored further in section5. An-
other maximum in both componentsof stressis found in the
South China Sea. Wind stresscurl, thoughnoisy,does have a
minimumover the Timor Searegion.As discussed in section5,
this impliesthat wind stresscurl is not importantin explaining
thermoclinevariability there.
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø
Longitude

Figure 4. (a) Amplitude and (b) phase of the annual har-

4. Semiannual Variability
monic of adjustedsea level variability. Squaresindicate sea The amplitudeof the semiannualsignalin adjustedsealevel
level stations. (Figure 7) has maximaalong the west coastsof Sumatraand
12,244 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

(a) annual
amplitude,
zonal
wind
stress
(0.01N/n1
•) (b) annual
phase,zonalwindstress(day)
10 ! i • i • 10
I / ,/ '
I. ".•.• . 2•o

-2 ':-, ,2• : -''•: ß • •

/•<360 •" " , :'"'•-'-•

-20 -20
1 O0 110 120 130 140 100 110 120 130 140

(C) annual
amplitude,
meridional
windstress
(0.01N/m2) (d) annual
phase,
meridional
windstress
(day)
] ... • I :: •. • . 1

:.; :%.½':.; ........

- ...•,
.• '-,• •,.

-20 , ' ................................

1 O0 110 120 130 140 100 110 120 130 140

(e) annual
amplitude,
curl
(10'8N/m
;•) (f) annual
phase,
windstress
curl(day)
I I I
10 F ..•'.';,,
.•.l •'"',•
•' , 'k/-• ,•;-':•
'",• ./ /'2
-L...
'" :..
' ' ? '-
".-• •' .... "' 5
0 '. "•"" ....... '::
.."•%.o
..

-20 1O0 110 120 130 140 100 110 120 130 140

Figure 6. Wind stressand curl annualharmonics:(left) zonalstress(Figure 6a), meridionalstress(Figure

6c), andwindstresscurl (Figure6e) annualamplitudesand (right) zonalstress(Figure6b), meridionalstress
(Figure6d), and wind stresscurl (Figure6f) annualphase.

Java, at the two stations,Pari and Benoa, on the Indian Ocean annualsignalin the IndonesianSeasarguesthat not muchof
sideof thoseislands.This pattern is expectedfrom the work of the energyfrom the coastalwaveguidemakesit throughthe
Luytenand Roemmich[1982] and Clark and Liu [1993],who complexbathymetryof the archipelago.There is very little
arguethat semiannualvariancein the zonalwind field around semiannualenergyin the westernequatorialPacific.
70øE is carried westwardby Rossbywavesand eastwardby Thermocline variations at semiannualperiod (Figure 8)
equatorialKelvinwaves.The latter are transformedinto coast- showthe samepattern (and phase)of maximumvaluesalong
ally trapped Kelvin wavesthat propagatepolewardalong the the west coastof Sumatraas doesASL, presumablyalso the
easternboundaryand influencethe seasonalbehaviorof the responseto remote forcing.Althoughthe spatialdistribution
SouthJavaCurrent[Quadfasel and Cresswell,1992].The phase of phaseshas more structurein the thermoclinecalculation
is fairly uniform along the easternboundaryand within the than doessea level, the large-scalevariation in phaseis very
interiorseasof the archipelago(Figure4b), with maximumsea similarin the two. Amplitudesof the semiannualthermocline
level in May throughoutthe region.The data are too sparseto variationare, like thoseof sealevel,comparableto the annual
make a credibleargumentfor or againstpropagationof the fluctuations.
semiannualsignaleither into the interiorseasor alongthe NW Semiannualvariationsin the wind stress(Figure 9) are
shelf of Australia.The relativelysmall amplitudeof the semi- smallerthan thoseat annualperiod.Maxima are foundin the
 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12 245

South China Sea and the Arafura Sea, but there is very little Thermoclinedepth
signal in the Timor Sea region. Wind stresscurl has mild
Semiannualharmonicamplitude(m)
maxima
alongtheNWcoast
of Australia,
thesouth
coast
of
100' 120' 140'
Java, and the South China Sea.
A large
fraction
ofthetotal
variance
inthezonal
andme- 10'
ridional stressesin the throughflowregionis explainedby the 2/
combinationof annualand semiannualvariability(Figure 10). I'•i•'
---'•:.....
.:•'.-:";•
,h,:k \ 2•'"'"'"'"'•__
-'-:'!'"-::4
•" ß' •.// ,
Except over the South China Sea, relatively little of the vari- 0'- •:""?i:iiiii•;i:•i*•"
':""•:
' ' " - O'
ance in the wind stresscurl is explainedby the seasonalhar-
monics. "--

5. Relationships BetweenVariables on Seasonal

Timescales

In orderto quantify
therelationship
between
sealeveland -20' • 100'
/ --
120' 140'
-20'
both thermoclineand wind variabilityon seasonaltimescales,
the annual and semiannual harmonics in the latter were deter-
mined from the bin nearesteach tide gaugesite, and complex (b) Semiannual
harmonicphase(dayof maximumamplitude)
correlations between the different variables were calculated. 100' 120' 140'

For eachlocationan amplitudeand phasewere calculatedfor

each harmonicor, equivalently,an amplitudefor the sine and ,o- i ,o-
cosine(Fourier) components. For eachvariableand harmonic
a complexvector is constructed,whosereal part is the ampli- O' ';•-œ'::"-':•J2iiii:
':'"-
-. •.:.:.:
:::}::"{{"
':-'"
•o.
'o' ' .,,,,.
.!.••.•
'a.

tudeofthesine component andwhose imaginarypartisthe

amplitudeof the cosinecomponentat each geographicloca-
tion. Complexcorrelationof the vector for sea level with that
••
}\ . '"'"'"""""
:--"il,'
:...
ø-I',,,_ .; ..•..•"'"":s
'"'"•'"'•
O'
AdjustedSea Level -20' -20'
100' 120' 140'
(a) Semiannualharmonicamplitude(cm) Longitude
100' 120' 140'
Figure 8. (a) Amplitude and (b) phaseof the semiannual
"-.:ii•.,.'
. -,.•::•. • ß,•-. ß 1 harmonicof thermoclinedepth variability.
.wl
ß e?. ' for zonal wind stress,for example,resultsin correlation coef-

0. .............
"' --. :_:,. •' .
ficientsfor the inphase(cos-cosand sin-sin)and out-of-phase
(sin-cos)partsof thosetwo fields.We considerhere only the
zero (spatial)lag correlation.In additionto the stresscompo-
-10 ø ½ . q,. -10
nents and the curl, correlation between sea level and the total
stressmagnitudewasalsocalculatedassummarizedin Table 2.

-200
I, 100 ø 120 ø 140 ø
_20 The inphasecorrelationis interpretedto representa simul-
taneouscovariation
betweenvariables
(recallthat this is a
temporalcorrelationat eachpoint in space),while the out-of-
phase correlation representsthe quadrature phase shift be-
(b) Semiannualharmonicphase(day of maximumamplitude) tween variables.It is important not to equate these temporal
100' 120' 140' interpretationswith "local" and "remote" spatialrelationships
not justified by the information at hand. Correlations were
calculatedat all pointsin the extendedregionaswell asfor the
::--"::-
--',..
-}
ji.-'-l:-• -• .e •
restrictedthroughflowregion.Sincethere are only 30 sealevel
O' . .1 .•. O' stationsin the throughflowregion,the 95% limit is quite a bit
higher there. For the most part, the correlationsare similar in
the two calculations.
Sea level and thermocline variations at annual and semian-
nual periods are significantlycorrelated and in phase. The
-10' .'e• •.•' •, • -10' sense of the correlation is that when sea level rises, the ther-
moclinefalls. In the wind variables,only meridionalwind stress
-20' I , -20' at semiannualperiod, in phase,is significantlycorrelatedwith
100' 120' 140' sea level. Stressmagnitudeat semiannualperiod, in quadra-
Longitude
ture, is correlated with sea level at >95% confidence for the
Figure 7. (a) Amplitude and (b) phase of the semiannual entire basinbut not for the throughflowregion itself.
harmonicof adjustedsealevelvariability. It is surprisingthat there is relatively little correlation be-
12,246 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

(a) semiannual
amplitude,
zonalwindstress(0.01N/m) (b) semiannual
phase,zonalwindstress(day)
I I I
10

'• •?.-' ß 0,5 .,•

........
:." <3• I •! i -• " ,•
• •' 120 . . th•
0 •: •, "---.•'•0•
•
TM :• .•..... .• '} ,•.

•0_.S-'-• • , . ..:.:.<

-10 1.5•--.,.• -10 , ....

-20 -2O
100 110 120 130 140 100 110 120 130 140

(C) semiannual
amplitude,
meridional
wind
stress
(0.01
N/rn
2) (d) semiannual
phase,meridional
windstress(day)

10r•';'l..• . '....
• 0.5 ' '
-:
.......
3•' .i•.- ' .• '
•'i-_
"-
'- . •.:.•.•.•.•
0

I-, 0•25 '•' • •b.75

,
1 O0 110 120 130 140
-20
1 O0 110 120 130 140

(e) semiannual
amplitude,
curl
(10-8
N/m
3) (f) semiannual
phase,windstress
cud(day)

..

-10 2:'•'• 2'* . ,.'

I• 1
-20
100 110 120 130 140 100 110 120 130 140

Figure 9. Wind stressand curl semiannualharmonics:(left) zonal stress(Figure 6a), meridional stress
(Figure 6c), and wind stresscurl (Figure 6e) semiannualamplitudesand (right) zonal stress(Figure 6b),
meridionalstress(Figure 6d), and wind stresscurl (Figure 6f) semiannualphase.

tween wind and sea level, especiallyat annual period, in the in sea level of the samesignthroughMakassarStrait, consis-
throughflowregion.Coastalupwellingand downwellingalong tent with enhanceddowngradientthroughflowtransportdur-
the southcoastof Java in responseto the monsoonwindsis ing August.Around the edgesof the South China Sea there is
known to occur.This lack of correlationis probablydue to the a localminimumin sealevelwhich,if geostrophically
balanced,
scarcityof sea level stationson the Indian Oceansideof Java. correspondsto cyclonicsurfacecirculation.
Sealevelheightanomalyin August(Figure 1la) providesan The August thermoclinedepth anomaly(Figure l lb), cal-
exampleof the superpositionof annual and semiannualfluc- culated from the seasonalharmonics, is shallow relative to the
tuationsas identifiedin the previousfigures.(Recall that the mean alongthe westcoastof Sumatraand in the Arafura Sea,
mean at each location has been removed, so there is no mean consistentwith upwellingobservedthere. Elsewhere,in the
gradientin this superposition.)We choseAugustbecauseit is Timor Sea and the interior Indonesian Seas, the thermocline is
representativeof the south monsoon conditions,when the deep relative to the mean.There is a suggestionthat massmay
throughflowis thoughtto have its maximumvalue. There is a be accumulatingin the latter regions,particularlythe Indone-
stronggradientin sea surfaceheightbetweenthe westernPa- sian Seas,in responseto the increasingthroughflowtransport
cific(0 cm) and the easternTimor Searegion(-10 cm), in theimplied by ASL and expectedfrom observations.
easternpart of the archipelago.
Thereis alsoa stronggradient Wind stressin August (Figures 11c and 11d) showsthe
 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12,247

(a) % variance
explained,
zonalwindstress structureexpectedduring the SE monsoon:strongwestward
zonal stresssouth of the equator, with moderate northward
, . - stressin the same region. Both componentsdecreasetoward
the easternpart of the archipelago,so that coastalupwelling
shouldbe lessthere than it is along the south coast of Java.
Coastal upwelling is thought to increasethe throughflowsea
levelgradientby loweringsealevelon the Indian Oceansideof
the archipelago.Wind stresscurl (Figure lie), on the other
-10 -
hand, has a pronouncedmaximum in the Arafura Sea, corre-
spondingto downwellingby Ekman pumping.However, Wyrtki
[1961]showsobservationalevidencefor enhancedupwellingin
Augustin the Arafura Sea. Apparently,that upwellingoccurs
• O0 • •0 • 20 130 • 40 in spiteof, rather than asa resultof, the wind stresscurl. There
(b) Vov•fi•nceexplained,
meridion•l
windstress is a secondmaximum in wind stresscurl, again in the down-
wellingdirection,in the Flores Sea. In the easternpart of the
, ' Indonesianarchipelago,where much of the throughflowexits
.. . .. .• -: .' into the Indian Ocean, there is a modest maximum in zonal
ß3'-.•-'• •:.' '? '' ,80 ' 80 stress(the local signatureof the SE monsoon)but little asso-
ciated wind stress curl.
2 •; ' : '.......• '"- '. ..
To quantify the relationshipbe.tweensea level, wind, and
thermocline
depthchanges
in thethroughflow
region,thearea
-10 . of the Timor Sea and NE Indian Ocean that is enclosedby the
Timor-Arafura and Australia-Sundarepeated XBT lines of
Meyerset al. [1995]was examined.The former cutsacrossthe
60 shallowArafura Shelf from Australia past Timor and into the
-20 • / , / ,• /?:•:7 '": • ............""
1 O0 110 120 130 140
interior IndonesianSeas(see Figure 1 for locationsof XBT
lines). The latter runs from SundaStrait on the west end of
(C) % variance
explained,
windstress
curl Java to the westernmostpoint of northern Australia. Meyers
et al. [1995] calculatedthe baroclinictransportsthroughthose
lines, relative to 400 m, and found a substantial phase
differencebetween the two, implying convergenceor diver-
genceof massin the areawe havecalledthe "extended"Timor
Sea.
In Figure 12a that transportconvergenceis comparedwith
the monthly averagethermoclinedepth anomalyin the ex-
tendedTimor Sea (see Figure 2 for area enclosed)as well as
witha regional
average
monthly
ASL(based
ontheseasonal
harmonicsfrom Port Hedland, Wyndham,and Darwin in Aus-
i tralia andBenoain Bali). A positiveASL valuemeanssealevel
100 110 120 130 140 is high;a positivethermoclinedepth anomalymeansthe ther-
Figure 10. Variance in the wind stressexplainedby the com- moclineis deep. (It shouldbe noted that Meyerset al. [1995]
bination of annual and semiannualharmonics,expressedas a refer to a similar thermoclinedepth calculation.What is dif-
percentageof the total variance:(a) zonal wind stress,(b) ferent in the presentwork is the additionof sealevel variabil-
meridionalwind stress,and (c) wind stresscurl. ity.) The convergenceis defined as transport through the

Table 2. CorrelationsBetween Sea Level, ThermoclineDepth, and Wind Stressat

Annual and Semiannual Periods

In Phase Out of Phase

Sea Level Versus
Other Variables Entire Region ThroughflowRegion Entire Region ThroughflowRegion
Annual
Thermocline 0.31' 0.24 0.05 0.05
Zonal wind stress -0.01 0.16 0.13 0.17
Meridional wind stress -0.04 -0.28 0.16 -0.04
Wind stress curl 0.20 0.20 -0.04 0.14
Stressmagnitude 0.14 0.20 0.10 -0.15
Semiannual
Thermocline 0.53' 0.58' 0.05 0.10
Zonal wi.nd stress 0.13 0.02 0.05 0.20
Meridional wind stress -0.29* -0.36* 0.!4 0.13
Wind stress curl 0.11 0.13 0.21 0.22
Stressmagnitude 0.10 0.05 -0.31' -0.25

*Value denotes>95% confidence(0.205for entire region,0.349for throughflowregion)

12,248 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

Augustfieldsbasedon seasonal
harmonics
(a) Adjustedsealevel (cm) (b) Thermoclinedepthanomaly(m)
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø 100 ø 120 ø 1z10ø
10 ø

i•i::•
-

oø-- . ._:...:..
o
0o -0
ø
_10 ø _10ø -10 ø
_!0 ø

//II
_0o 140 ø
-20 ?
_20ø
100 ø 120 ø
-20 ø
140 ø
100 ø 120 ø Longitude

(C) zonal
wind
stress,
synthetic
August
(0.01N/rn
2) (d) meridional
wind
stress,
synthetic
August
(0.01
N/m
2)
10 • " I. .. i 10
6 ::'i'%
.... ' 2
• '•I ....
'4/•/• ' ' ;'' 4'1) 2•' '
::::-'
•;::•' 2 " '-•'
. ß -."- 0 :
0 'i:"•
o. . o 0-

-10 -10

-20 i -20 i ,\/I ":....:

100 110 120 130 140 100 110 120 130 140

(e) curl,
synthetic
August
(ld8 N/• )
10 • • ß
.---/' " L--:--.
:•' / :•' ' 0 '

-10 . -. :•-" - -

-20
1O0 110 120 130 140

Figure 11. Adjustedsealevel,thermocline,and wind fieldsfor a canonicalAugust(periodof the south

monsoon), basedon thecombination of annualandsemiannual
harmonics:(a) seasurfaceelevationanomaly,
(b) thermoclinemonthlyaveraged depthanomalyfromthe averagethermocline depth,(c) zonalwindstress,
(d) meridionalwind stress,and (e) windstresscurl.

Timor-Arafura line minus transport through the Australia temperaturefrom the historicalhydrographicdata used by
Sundaline. Positivetransportis into the Indian Ocean,follow- Hautala et al. [this issue].Figure 13 showsthe geographic
ing the conventionof Meyerset al. [1995,Figure4]. boundariesand the corresponding 0/S curves.Also shownin
In Figure 12b the transportconvergence is comparedwith Figure 12b,for reference,is the sameaverageASL curvefrom
0/300-m dynamicheight seasonalvariationsfrom the Timor Figure 12a. Changesin ASL are largerthan thosein dynamic
Sea region. Dynamic height is calculatedfrom XBT data height,but the latter signaldoescontribute,especiallyin Au-
throughoutthe regionusinga geographically variablepotential gust.Roughly,periodsof transportdivergencecorrespondto
temperatureversussalinity(0/S) relationship.In eachof three minima in sea level and dynamicheight and periodsof trans-
geographicsubregions of the easternIndian Oceana 0/Srela- port convergence correspond to maxima.This is the sensethat
tionshipwas derived by averagingsalinity as a function of is expected,thoughthe correspondence is better duringthe
 BRAY ET AL.' SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12,249

Timor Sea: thermocline,sea level, curl and transportconvergence

20 i i i i i

(a)
•- 15 -

,,transport
convergence ........
o 10
- sea
level ••, ........ ..
- 5
E
v

-• o
Ekman-z-'"
- ...Y'x /""'""
• -5

•-10 ß

'o -15

-20
0 2I
thermocline
I I I 4 6 8 1 (b) 12
month

Transportconvergencevs upper layer dynamicheight

(b)
15

transport convergence
10

-5 - /300dynht
\.
\.
-10 -
ß,• ..... /

-15 - sea level

-20
0 2I I
4 6I I
8 1; 12
Figure 12

Figure 12. Comparisonof transportconvergence in the extendedTimor Sea and (a) thermoclinedepth
anomalyand averageadjustedsea level (ASL) anomalyfrom the same region and Ekman displacement
estimatedfrom the windstresscurlin the regionand (b) dynamicheight0/300m andaverageASL. SeeFigure
2 for the boundaries of the "extended" Timor Sea.

secondhalf of the year than during the first half. During Feb- mocline depth changesassociatedwith the XBT data also
ruarythereis a secondary maximumin throughflowtransport plotted in Figure 12a.This resultis consistentwith Meyerset al.
throughthe Australia-Sundaline, believedto result from re- [1995] and Qu et al. [1994],for the area north of 13øS.
mote semiannualforcing of sea level along the coastsof
Sumatraand Java,whichshowsup asa divergencein transport
in Figure 12. Becauseneither sealevel nor dynamicheight in 6. Interannual Variability
the extendedTimor Sea exhibitssemiannualvariability,they Residual sea level and wind stress time series were con-
cannot explain the February transportdivergence.Although structedby subtractingthe annualand semiannualsignalsfrom
the semiannualsignalis not observedin the regionalaverage the original data (from which the time mean had been re-
ASL, it is quite apparentin stationsequatorwardof the region moved).The residualsea level data are surprisingly
well cor-
[Clarkeand Liu, 1993]. related in many areas with the Southern Oscillation Index
Another factor that might affect thermoclinedepth is the (SOI). The SOI is simplythe differencein atmosphericpres-
wind stresscurl over the region of the extendedTimor Sea. sure between Darwin, Australia, and Tahiti and is often used
Also plottedin Figure 12a is the depthchangeassociated with as an indicatorof interannualvariability,particularlythe pres-
Ekman pumping velocitiesfrom the combined annual plus ence or absenceof E1 Nifio-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)
semiannualcurlvaluesin the region.Usingthe curl amplitudes events.The SOI is a particularly convenientindex, precisely
and phasesfrom a point near the centerof the Timor Seabox, because it is a time series and can therefore be correlated with
the time-integratedEkman displacementwascalculated,start- other geophysicaltime seriesobservations.
ing at the beginningof the year.The yearlyaveragedvaluewas Examplesof the visualas well as calculatedcorrelationbe-
subtractedto eliminatethe biasassociated with a givenstarting tween sealevel and SOI time seriesin the regionunder study
point in the integration.The resultantthermoclinedisplace- are shown in Figure 14. Residual zonal wind stressis also
ment is muchsmallerthan (and out of phasewith) the ther- plotted for each station,thoughthe wind recordsare, in gen-
12,,250 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

Stations used to calculated T-S relation

-15 ••'. ''

-20

-25
95
South
, ,
100 105
, ••,
110 115
•
120
•
125
•
130
(a)] 135

T-S curvesfor the Timor region

30

25
• ' ' ' I' ' ' '
20-

•v15 _ Throughflow South

10-

5-

(b)
0 i
34 34.2 34.4 34.6 34.8 35.2 35.4 35.6 35.8 36
Salinity(psu)

Figure 13. Potentialtemperature(0) versussalinityrelationshipsin the easternIndian Oceanfor (a) the

three geographicalareascorrespondingto (b) the three 0/S curvesused to convertXBT data to dynamic
height. The shadedarea representsthe standarddeviationfor the throughflowcurve.The other curveshave
similar standarddeviations,but they are not plotted, for clarity.

eral, too shortto providestatisticalconfidencein the correla- degreesof freedom requiredfor 95% confidencethat the ob-
tions between wind and sea level. Also, there is considerable served correlations are significantlydifferent from zero is
variancein the residualwindsat frequencieshigherthan semi- mappedin Figure 17. Although someof the time series,mostly
annual, perhaps associatedwith the 30- to 60-day Madden- in the westernPacific,are longenoughthat the correlationsare
Julian oscillationsin the atmosphere.Confidencelimits are significantat that level, at 1 degreeof freedom per year most
calculatedassumingthat 1 year is equivalentto 1 degree of of the time seriesin the regionare not. Where the correlations
freedom and, equivalently,that the decorrelationtime for an are high and significant,the lags are small, 1 or 2 months.A
ENSO event is 1 year. This is probablytoo short, but it is at positivelag meanssea level leads SOI.
leastindicativeof the timescalesof theseinterannualphenom- In order to examine the interannual variation in thermocline
ena. The percentageof varianceof the residualsealevel that is depth and its relationshipto sealevel and SOI fluctuations,the
explainedby correlationwith the SOI is as high as 50% in the extendedTimor Searegionand alsothe FloresSearegion(see
easternpart of the throughflowregion(Figure 15). Recallthat Figure 2) were againusedto calculatearea-averagedthermo-
very little of the total variancein this region was explainedby cline depthvariations.Residualthermoclinedepths(with both
the combination of annual and semiannual energy, so this the meanand the monthlyaveragesremoved)are plottedwith
representsa large fraction of the total variance in sea level SOI and with sea level from Port Hedland for the Timor Sea
there. and Bitung for the Flores Sea in Figure 18. (See Figure 2 for
Maximum(lagged)correlationsbetweenthe SOI and resid- the stationlocations.)Althoughthe XBT time seriesare gappy
ual sea level at all of the stationsin the throughflowregion and no formal correlation has been calculated, the visual cor-
(Figure 16) showthe expectedhigh correlationin the western relation is apparent,with the sensethat during ENSO events,
equatorial Pacific.That high correlationextendsthroughthe when the SOI is negative,sea level dropsand the thermocline
throughflow region on the eastern side of the archipelago. rises. This pattern holds in both regions, so there does not
However, correlation is low in the western Indonesian Seas appear to be a gradient in the along-flowdirection from the
and in the South China Sea. Flores to the Timor Sea. This is in overall agreementwith
As a way of displayingconfidencelimits, the number of Wyrtki's[1987] result that the differencein sea level between
 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12,251

SOl vs residual sea level and zonal wind stress

50 , ,
I Malakal:
7N,134E •,
/ sl(bold) . •.r•._ 1,^• -_• •, •,I /xwind
(light)

-50
o 80 85 90 95
year

E 50

• 0[
•E
o
/....
;•. Pari:6S,
50
107E
8O
.........:..•
.
...-..-----...-:...
:-..."--.':..
....
-..-'--'-....-...-
.-

r=.
72,
..

lag=-
1'"'"-':
. .

8•5 95
year

• 50
z

'- 0
E

• -5o
o 80 85 90 95
year

Figure 14. Examplesof the visualcorrespondence betweenresidualsealevelandzonalwind stressand the

SouthernOscillationIndex (SOI) from selectedsealevelstationsin the throughflowregion.The correlation
coefficients
for Malakal and for Darwin are significantat the 95% level,given1 degreeof freedomper year
of time series.

(a) Variance(%) in residualadjustedsealevel explainedby SOI

40 ø 60 ø 80 ø 100 ø 120 ø 140 ø 160 ø 180 ø

_ 20 ø

10ø•i•:........•:,•,
':'"'--",•,--:j':
::---'•:-•:...•JJ
':"':'"- ' '"'-'•:•'-'•
.... ,•..
,.•
.................
. .-. •. -10 ø

÷0 o

_10 ø

_20ø ,,,• , '•.

i

40 ø 60 ø 80 ø 100 ø 120 ø 140 ø 160 ø 180 ø

(b) Throughflowregion:varianceexplained
100 ø 120 ø 140 ø

10ø --'•i•:.
. -•.::•. • ß-.:•, ß 10ø

• øø •....-....ji•:a
....- ..• .••:-•.-. oo

_20
o • , -20
ø
1 O0 ø 120 ø 140 ø
Longitude

Figure 15. Percentageof variancein the residualsealeveltime seriesthat is explainedby the SOI (a) for
the entire region and (b) for the throughflowregion.
12,252 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

SOI vs Monthly residualsealevel Indonesianarchipelago,in contrast,has relatively little vari-

anceat seasonalperiods.This is the regionwhere mostof the
(a) Maximum correlation
Indonesianthroughflowexits into the Indian Ocean. (The
1{ 120' 140'
throughflowpath is downthe MakassarStrait,with about20%
1o' :_,• (2 Sv accordingto Murray and Arief [1988]) exitingthrough
Lombok Strait. Most of the transport,though,flowseastinto
the FloresSeaand eventuallyentersthe Indian Oceanthrough
the deeppassages to the north and southof Timor.) More of
the variancein sealevel there is explainedby correlationwith

-10'
i• .

the Southern Oscillation Index as discussedbelow. However,

the large-scalegradient in sea level between the two ocean
basins,which is presumedto drive the throughflow,doesap-

-20'
I•x
) 100'
,
120 ø
-20'
140 ø
pear to have a strongseasonalcomponent(seeFigure 11a).
Formal correlation between the different variables
entire regionrevealsa strongcovariationbetweensealeveland
thermoclinedepth (mirror image) in the seasonalharmonics.
over the

At semiannualperiod, sea level is also correlated with the

(b) Lagof maximumcorrelation
(months) meridional wind. This is consistentwith the resultsof Luyten
100' 120' 140' and Roemmich[1982],describingthe semiannualwind forcing
10' ! •
of equatorial waves in the western Indian Ocean. The same
:.•:!i!•
'• •::". • ' '•.'5...••
..--10'
00
. -00
correlationalsoholdswithin the throughflowregionitself and
may be associatedmainlywith semiannualforcingin the Ara-
fura Sea.
Seasonalvariability between sea level, thermoclinedepth,
. . ::•:•:..-: and throughflowtransportwas examinedin more detail in the
area we have called the extended Timor Sea, where the
_10 ø _10 ø
throughflowis incorporatedin the easternIndian Ocean cir-
culation.At annual period, convergenceof baroclinicallyde-
rivedtransportin the extendedTimor Searegion(asidentified
-20 ø -200 by repeatedXBT transects)is correlatedwith sea level and
100' 120' 140' upper ocean(0/300 m) dynamicheight.However,the strong
Longitude
semiannualsignal in transport through the Australia-Sunda
Figure 16. (a) Maximum(lagged)correlationbetweenresid- XBT line [Meyersetal., 1995]is not foundin eitherthe dynamic
ual sealeveland the SOI. (b) Lag (in months)of the maximum height nor the sea level signalaveragedover that region.Sea
correlationshownin Figure 16a. levelequatorwardof the region(alongthe coastof Sumatra)is
correlatedwith the semiannualcomponentof the transport.
The implied seasonaldisplacementof the thermoclinedue to
Davao in the Philippinesand Darwin doesnot exhibit ENSO- local wind curl is small comparedwith the displacements ob-
like interannualvariability. The present result is for a geo- served in the XBT data.
graphic region more closely linked to the throughflowthan It appears,then, that annual period convergenceand diver-
Wyrtki's large-scaleindicator.The resultis alsoconsistentwith genceof transportin the extendedTimor Seaare compensated
the assertionby Clarkeand Liu [1994] that low-frequencyen-
ergyfrom the Pacificis what drivessealevelvariabilityon the
NW shelfof Australia,rather than propagationof energyfrom
Degreesof freedomrequiredfor 95% confidence
the equatorial Indian Ocean. The implied depletion of the at observedcorrelationof SOI vs residualmonthlysealevel
upper layer,with sealevel droppingand the thermoclinerising 100' 120' 140'
in the throughflowregion, is alsoconsistentwith the idea that L' I

the westernequatorialPacific(and by extension,the through-

flow region)supplieswarm surfacewaterto the easternPacific
1øø
'-•?,i.:,•:•.:..
30,-'•
• -'• •'o
duringENSO events.Meyers[thisissue]suggests that through-
flow is a minimum during ENSO events.

7. Discussion

-10'
ii! •,---10'
The combination of annual and semiannual fluctuations ex-
plains a substantialfraction of the total variance in sea level
and in wind stressin the regionunder study.The Arabian Sea, -20' -20'
Bay of Bengal, South China, and Arafura Seas show up as 11t0' 120 ø 140 ø
regionswith particularlylarge amplitude annual and semian- Longitude
nual signals.(See Figure lb for the combinedseasonalampli- Figure 17. Significanceof the residualsea level versusSOI
tudesof the entire region.)The westerntropicalIndian Ocean correlationin termsof degreesof freedomof data requiredin
(near 50ø-60øE,0ø-15øS)is anotherareawith substantialvari- order that the observedcorrelationbe significantat the 95%
ance explainedby those harmonics.The easternpart of the confidence level.
 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW 12,253

Timor Sea thermoclinedepth, sea level and SOl

50 , , , , , •

•'
• 40
t(a)
30

20
-thermocline
depth
... Southern Oscillation Index
= residual
sealevelat PortHedland

lO
(1) .

-20

-30

-40

-50
80 8•2 8•4 8; 8•8 9•2 94
years

Flores/Makassarthermoclinedepth,sea level and SOl

50 I i i i i

40
t(b)
30
- thermoclinedepth
... Southern Oscillation
= residualsea level at Bitung
Index

20

-20 -
-30

-40

-50
80 8•2 94

Figure 18. Interannualvariabilityin thermoclinedepthandsealevelheight(comparedwith the SOI) for (a)

the extendedTimor Searegionand (b) the FloresSea.SeeFigure2 for the areasinvolved.

by changesin sea level and dynamicheight over the entire semiannualvariabilityin the transportthroughTimor Passage
basin.At semiannualperiodthe forcingis remoteandinvolves in the recordsfrom 1989 [Molcardet al., 1994] that doesnot
the displacementof sea level, which, in turn, forcesthe trans- appear in the 1991 data.
port change.The responseto that forcingis not apparentfrom Thus it may well be that interannual variability in the
this analysis. throughflowis reflectedin changesin the deep transportsas
In the easternpart of the Indonesianarchipelago,the con- well as in the upperlayerflow. Thermoclinedepthchangesat
duit for deep exchangebetweenthe Pacificand Indian Oceans interannualperiodsalsoappearto be correlatedwith sealevel
at low latitude, more of the total variance in sea level is ex- and SOI fluctuations,though the temporal gappinessof the
plainedby correlationwith SOI than by the seasonalharmon- XBT data in a given location has so far prevented us from
ics. Those interannual fluctuations in sea level are more or less attempting a formal correlation calculation.Examination of
uniformover the region and thereforemay not indicatecor- the variabilityin dynamicheightacrossthe throughflowregion
respondingfluctuationsin the upperoceanthroughflowtrans- is thenextlogicalstep.It will requireextension of theTimor
port, whichis presumedto be drivenby gradientsin sealevel Sea 0/S analysispresentedhere into the IndonesianSeasand
betweenthe twooceanbasins.On the otherhand,Meyers[this the westerntropicalPacificin order to convertthe XBT data to
issue]doesfind significantENSO-relatedvariationin the up- densitywith acceptablysmall errors. Other topicsfor future
per oceanthroughflowtransport,thoughhis analysisis based work are to comparetheseresultsof sealevel and thermocline
on the Australia-Sunda XBT line, whereas the stations ana- depth variationsfrom observationswith thosefrom circulation
lyzedhereare in the easternpart of the archipelago. modelsof the region and from satellitealtimetric observations
Changes in upper ocean thermal structure within the of the Indian Ocean.
throughflowregionmay alsoinfluencethe deeperthroughflow
transport.There is a tantalizingsuggestion from Molcardet al.
Acknowledgments. This work was supported by ONR grant
[thisissue]that there is more deepthroughflow(below500 m N00014-94-1-0617and NSF grant OCE 94-15897. S.L.H. was sup-
depth)in the TimorPassageduringan ENSO year(1991)than portedby a Mellon PostdoctoralFellowshipand NSF grant OCE-95-
a non-ENSO year (1989). Furthermore,there is pronounced 05595 during the preparation of this manuscript.Comments from
12,254 BRAY ET AL.: SEA LEVEL VARIATIONS IN INDONESIAN THROUGHFLOW

colleaguesat the Westpac Conferencein Bali, November 1994, are Molcard, R., M. Fieux, and A. G. Ilahude, The Indo-Pacificthrough-
gratefully acknowledged.In particular, discussions with Larry Pratt, flow in the Timor Passage,J. Geophys.Res., this issue.
Doron Nof, Jay McCreary, Robert Molcard, and George Cresswell Murray, S. P., and D. Arief, Throughflow into the Indian Ocean
helped to identify further areas of inquiry. The commentsof two throughthe LombokStrait, January1985-January1986,Nature,333,
anonymousreviewerswere mosthelpful in improvingthe manuscript. 444-447, 1988.
We are grateful for the time and effort they put into the reviews. Qu, T., G. Meyers, and J. S. Godfrey, Ocean dynamicsin the region
between Australia and Indonesia and its influence on the variation
of seasurfacetemperaturein a globalgeneralcirculationmodel,J.
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