This study investigates the upper ocean circulation along the west Australian coast, based
on recent observations (WOCE ICM6, 1994/96) and numerical output from the 1/6 degree Parallel Ocean
Program model (POP11B 1993/97). Particularly, we identify the source regions of the Leeuwin
Current, quantify its mean and seasonal variability in terms of volume, heat and salt transports,
and examine its heat balance (cooling mechanism). This also leads to further understanding of the
regional circulation associated with the Leeuwin Undercurrent, the Eastern Gyral Current and the
southeast Indian Subtropical Gyre.
The tropical and subtropical sources of the Leeuwin Current are understood from an
online numerical particle tracking. Some of the new findings are the Tropical Indian Ocean source
of the Leeuwin Current (in addition to the Indonesian Throughflow/Pacific); the Eastern Gyral
Current as a recirculation of the South Equatorial Current; the subtropical source of the Leeuwin
Current fed by relatively narrow subsurface-intensified eastward jets in the Subtropical Gyre, which
are also a major source for the Subtropical Water (salinity maximum) as observed in the Leeuwin
Undercurrent along the ICM6 section at 22 degrees S.
The ICM6 current meter array reveals a rich vertical current structure near North West
Cape (22 degrees S). The coastal part of the Leeuwin Current has dominant synoptic variability and
occasionally contains large spikes in its transport time series arising from the passage of tropical
cyclones. On the mean, it is weaker and shallower compared to further downstream, and it only
transports Tropical Water, of a variable content. The Leeuwin Undercurrent carries Subtropical
Water, South Indian Central Water and Antarctic Intermediate Water equatorward between
150/250 to 500/750 m. There is a poleward flow just below the undercurrent which advects a
mixed Intermediate Water, partially associated with outflows from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf.
Narrow bottom-intensified currents are also observed.
The 5-year mean model Leeuwin Current is a year-round poleward flow between 22 degrees S and
34 degrees S. It progressively deepens, from 150 to 300 m depth. Latitudinal variations in its volume
transport are a response to lateral inflows/outflows. It has double the transport at 34 degrees S (-2.2 Sv)
compared to at 22 degrees S (-1.2 Sv). These model estimates, however, may underestimate the transport
of the Leeuwin Current by 50%. Along its path, the current becomes cooler (6 degrees C), saltier (0.6 psu)
and denser (2 kg m -3). At seasonal scales, a stronger poleward flow in May-June advects the
warmest and freshest waters along the west Australian coast. This advection is apparently spun up
by the arrival of a poleward Kelvin wave in April, and reinforced by a minimum in the equatorward
wind stress during July.
In the model heat balance, the Leeuwin Current is significantly cooled by the eddy heat
flux divergence (4 degrees C out of 6 degrees C), associated with mechanisms operating at submonthly time scales.
However, exactly which mechanisms it is not yet clear. Air-sea fluxes only account for ~30% of the
cooling and seasonal rectification is negligible. The eddy heat divergence, originating over a narrow
region along the outer edge of the Leeuwin Current, is responsible for a considerable warming of a
vast area of the adjacent ocean interior, which is then associated with strong heat losses to the
atmosphere. The model westward eddy heat flux estimates are considerably larger than those
associated with long lived warm core eddies detaching from the Leeuwin Current and moving
offshore. This suggests that these mesoscale features are not the main mechanism responsible for
the cooling of the Leeuwin Current. We suspect instead that short lived warm core eddies might
play an important role.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216391 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Domingues, Catia Motta, Catia.Domingues@csiro.au |
| Publisher | Flinders University. SOCPES |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.flinders.edu.au/disclaimer/), Copyright Catia Motta Domingues |
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