The Indian Ocean has sustained robust surface warming in recent decades, but the role of multidecadal variability remains unclear. Using ocean model hindcasts, characteristics of low-frequency Indian Ocean temperature variations are explored. Simulated upper-ocean temperature changes across the IndianOcean in the hindcast are consistent with those recorded in observational products and ocean re...

Using observed sea surface temperature data from 1871-1998, and observed wind data from 1958-1998, we have confirmed that the recently discovered Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is a physical entity. Many IOD events are shown to occur independently of the El Niño. By estimating the contribution from an appropriate El Niño index based on sea surface temperature anomaly in the eastern Pacific, we have ...

Links between extreme wet conditions over East Africa and Indian Ocean sea surface temperatures (SST) are investigated during the core of the so-called short rain season in October–November. During periods of enhanced East African rainfall, Indian Ocean SST anomalies reminiscent of a tropical Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) event are observed. Ensemble simulations with an atmospheric general circulat...

[1] This study examines the impacts of the Indian Ocean on the ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) cycle by performing experiments with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM). In one of the experiments, the ocean model domain includes only the tropical Pacific Ocean (the Pacific Run). In the other experiment, the ocean model domain includes both the Indian and tropical Paci...

[1] Using an ocean general circulation model, we find that the vertical profile of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) transport is important in regulating the stratification and surface heat fluxes of the Indian Ocean. With the same total ITF transport, a thermocline-intensified ITF, relative to a surface-intensified ITF, not only cools the surface layer of the Indian Ocean while warming the Indi...

Warm, low salinity Pacific water weaves through the Indonesian Seas into the eastern boundary of the Indian Ocean. The Indonesian Throughflow Water (ITW) adds freshwater into the Indian Ocean as it spreads by the advection and diffusion within the Indian Ocean's South Equatorial Current (SEC). The low salinity throughflow trace, centered along 12øS, stretches across the Indian Ocean, separating...

An atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) is used to examine the role of Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in regional climate variability. In particular, the authors focus on the effect of the basinwide warming that occurs during December through May after the mature phase of El Niño. To elucidate the relative importance of local and remote forcing, model solutions wer...

Within the endemic invertebrate faunas of hydrothermal vents, five biogeographic provinces are recognized. Invertebrates at two Indian Ocean vent fields (Kairei and Edmond) belong to a sixth province, despite ecological settings and invertebrate-bacterial symbioses similar to those of both western Pacific and Atlantic vents. Most organisms found at these Indian Ocean vent fields have evolutiona...

[1] Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), mutagenic compounds predominantly derived from combustion, have been used as markers of combustion sources to the atmosphere. Marine aerosol collected aboard the NOAA R/V Ronald Brown during the Aerosols99 and the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) projects was analyzed for PAHs to assess the continental impact of combustion-derived particulate matter ...

A 40-yr integration of an eddy-resolving numerical model of the tropical Indian Ocean is analyzed to quantify the interannual variability that is caused by the internal variability of ocean dynamics. It is found that along the equator in the western Indian Ocean internal variability contributes significantly to the observed interannual variability. This suggests that in this location the predic...