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The Indian Ocean has many unique characteristics not found in other oceans (Schott and McCreary 2001, Schott et al. 2008; McPhaden et al. 2009). Not least of all is the fact that near-surface eastward currents flow against the predictions of wind-driven Sverdrup and Ekman transports, extending all the way from Madagascar to Australia (Menezes et al. 2014). There are near surface eastward flows in other basins, but none extending so strongly to the eastern boundary. The eastward flows are driven by a meridional density gradient (Furue et al. 2013; Benthuysen et al. 2014) that is enhanced by the presence of warm, fresh Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) Water in the north. This low-latitude connection to the Pacific Ocean is another unique feature of the Indian Ocean and one that has a profound impact on the Indian Ocean circulation.

Item Type:	Non Refereed Article
Keywords:	Indian ocean, surface currents, South Indian Countercurrent, Eastern Gyral Current
Research Division:	Earth Sciences
Research Group:	Oceanography
Research Field:	Physical oceanography
Objective Division:	Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards
Objective Group:	Understanding climate change
Objective Field:	Climate variability (excl. social impacts)
UTAS Author:	Phillips, HE (Associate Professor Helen Phillips)
UTAS Author:	Menezes, V (Ms Viviane Menezes)
UTAS Author:	Bindoff, NL (Professor Nathan Bindoff)
ID Code:	111877
Year Published:	2015
Funding Support:	Australian Research Council (DP130102088)
Deposited By:	Oceans and Cryosphere
Deposited On:	2016-10-12
Last Modified:	2016-10-13
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