An average freshening of 0.2 psu, extending from 100°E to Australia, 25°S to Indonesia and down to 180 m depth, persisted for more than 3 years from 1999 to 2002. We map the anomaly using CTD profiles from Argo floats and suggest that the dominant forcing for the anomaly is surface freshwater flux over the Indonesian seas that is advected into the region. Using historical CTD data and surface freshwater flux reanalysis products we show that the Indonesian Australian Basin experiences strong interannual variability in upper ocean freshwater content and that the recent fresh event, a result of a long-lasting La Niña, is unprecedented during the last 25 years. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
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)
ID Code:	39736
Year Published:	2005
Web of Science® Times Cited:	33
Deposited By:	IASOS
Deposited On:	2007-08-18
Last Modified:	2009-04-03
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