Deep Water Ocean Current Measurements in eastern Java Sea, Indonesia
December 2000 to April 2001
Deep Water Ocean Current Measurements in eastern Java Sea, Indonesia December 2000 to April 2001
Upon completion of the Andaman Sea measurement program, Ocean Data personnel sailed across the Java Sea to install the mooring system offshore of southern Sulewesi. The mooring was refurbished on route, and installed in 920 meters water depth for a period of 111 days. The mooring was recovered in April 2001 with all instruments returning 100% data. The data suggested that prevailing currents were steered along the local isobaths at subtidal time scales, with most of the current variance located in the upper water column, above the thermocline. Subtidal variability may have been associated with intensification or relaxation of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) current, or monsoon-dependent wind stress acting across the (shallow) Java Sea. Tidal currents were also a source of significant energy. Ocean Data were able to separate tidal from subtidal currents using the judicious application of tidal harmonic analysis, as well as various low- and band-pass filters.
Ocean Data Technologies, Inc.