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MEPS 261:41-49 (2003)
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Abstract
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Response of the Banda Sea to the southeast monsoon
Thomas Surman Moore II1,2,*, John Marra2, Ali Alkatiri3
1CSIRO DMR, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania, 7000 Australia
2Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964-8000, USA
3Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Jakarta 10340, Indonesia
*Email: thomas.moore@csiro.au
ABSTRACT: Three mechanisms are suggested to describe the physical response in the Banda Sea to the seasonal winds of the southeast monsoon: basin-wide wind-induced mixing, upwelling primarily on the eastern side, and a more complex basin circulation. We
use the distribution of chl a in the Banda Sea, from both shipboard and satellite data, as an indicator of the dominant mechanism. An east-west transect of stations through the central Banda Sea in September 1998 shows higher phytoplankton biomass
to the east, suggesting a remnant upwelling signal from the southeast monsoon in the previous months. Phytoplankton pigment data indicate a community dominated by diatoms to the east, and a more oligotrophic community (e.g. cyanobacteria) to the west.
Furthermore, satellite images reveal a strong seasonal signal, an east-west gradient in chl a, and coincidentally, the related impact of the 1997-1998 El Niño. Overall, the bio-optical data support the idea that the Banda Sea responds to the
southeast monsoon through upwelling in the eastern part of the basin.
KEY WORDS: Monsoons · Upwelling · Indonesian Seas · ENSO · Ocean Color
Full text in pdf format
Published in MEPS Vol.
261
(2003) on October 17
Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599.
Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 2003
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