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Variability, interaction and change in the atmosphere-ocean-ecology system of the Western Indian Ocean

Variability, interaction and change in the atmosphere-ocean-ecology system of the Western Indian Ocean
Variability, interaction and change in the atmosphere-ocean-ecology system of the Western Indian Ocean
Traditional ideas of intraseasonal and interannual climatic variability in the Western Indian Ocean, dominated by the mean cycle of seasonally reversing monsoon winds, are being replaced by a more complex picture, comprising air-sea interactions and feedbacks; atmosphere-ocean dynamics operating over intrannual to interdecadal time-scales; and climatological and oceanographic boundary condition changes at centennial to millennial time-scales. These forcings, which are mediated by the orography of East Africa and the Asian continent and by seafloor topography (most notably in this area by the banks and shoals of the Mascarene Plateau which interrupts the westward-flowing South Equatorial Current), determine fluxes of water, nutrients and biogeochemical constituents, the essential controls on ocean and shallow-sea productivity and ecosystem health. Better prediction of climatic variability for rain-fed agriculture, and the development of sustainable marine resource use, is of critical importance to the developing countries of this region but requires further basic information gathering and coordinated ocean observation systems.
climate variability, tropical ocean circulation, ocean-atmosphere interaction, coral growth, Mascarene Plateau
1364-503X
3-13
Spencer, T.
2d8afa33-43b1-4253-b6c2-94de274f2ced
Laughton, A.S.
7b035577-f868-496c-86b3-13b9241277bd
Flemming, N.C.
9dc996de-df01-4fe0-b101-e88276e4ca6d
Spencer, T.
2d8afa33-43b1-4253-b6c2-94de274f2ced
Laughton, A.S.
7b035577-f868-496c-86b3-13b9241277bd
Flemming, N.C.
9dc996de-df01-4fe0-b101-e88276e4ca6d

Spencer, T., Laughton, A.S. and Flemming, N.C. (2005) Variability, interaction and change in the atmosphere-ocean-ecology system of the Western Indian Ocean. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 363 (1826), 3-13. (doi:10.1098/rsta.2004.1495).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Traditional ideas of intraseasonal and interannual climatic variability in the Western Indian Ocean, dominated by the mean cycle of seasonally reversing monsoon winds, are being replaced by a more complex picture, comprising air-sea interactions and feedbacks; atmosphere-ocean dynamics operating over intrannual to interdecadal time-scales; and climatological and oceanographic boundary condition changes at centennial to millennial time-scales. These forcings, which are mediated by the orography of East Africa and the Asian continent and by seafloor topography (most notably in this area by the banks and shoals of the Mascarene Plateau which interrupts the westward-flowing South Equatorial Current), determine fluxes of water, nutrients and biogeochemical constituents, the essential controls on ocean and shallow-sea productivity and ecosystem health. Better prediction of climatic variability for rain-fed agriculture, and the development of sustainable marine resource use, is of critical importance to the developing countries of this region but requires further basic information gathering and coordinated ocean observation systems.

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More information

Published date: 2005
Keywords: climate variability, tropical ocean circulation, ocean-atmosphere interaction, coral growth, Mascarene Plateau
Organisations: National Oceanography Centre,Southampton

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 14871
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/14871
ISSN: 1364-503X
PURE UUID: 80430d73-fdce-4dae-b7e8-ff0ff72ba702

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Date deposited: 07 Mar 2005
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 05:32

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Contributors

Author: T. Spencer
Author: A.S. Laughton
Author: N.C. Flemming

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