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A world-class CSIRO research program enters a new phase this month when scientists extend their survey of the Indonesian throughflow - a system of currents allowing water to flow from the Pacific into the Indian Ocean and which may have contributed to the development of the El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon.
The CSIRO Division of Oceanography's research vessel, the RV Franklin, begins a 32 day research cruise this week in which scientists will collect intensive data on the current that will further refine their knowledge of conditions in the region.
Earlier data has shown that the interaction between air and sea in the warm waters north of Australia, combined with the El Nino Southern Oscillation phenomenon (ENSO), may well have been the cause of the widespread drought that gripped eastern Australia last year and continues in some parts today.
The research effort into Australia's climate is now among the largest collaborative scientific programs, involving the CSIRO, the Bureau of Meteorology and universities, all with extensive international links.
Until now, much of the information on which analysis of the throughflow has been based comes from an extensive voluntary program of sample collection using commercial shipping.
The studies will involve scientists from the Division of Oceanography and the Flinders Institute for Atmospheric and Marine Sciences, Adelaide.
Through a series of studies based on observational data and computer models developed in the past 10 years, they have concluded that:
Heading the research team aboard the RV Franklin is Division of Oceanography scientist, Dr Gary Meyers,
Dr Meyers said scientists are building a comprehensive picture which will yield more answers about the influences on Australia's climate variability.
He says the real key to understanding the ocean's role in the climate system lies in a better appreciation of the temperatures of currents below the surface.
During the coming research cruise in Australian and international waters, the Franklin will be used to measure temperature, salinity, nutrient-salts and currents, information which also will be fed into the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE).
WOCE is the first true global study of the ocean, involving 18 countries with Australia the most active Southern Hemisphere researcher.
Dr Meyers said the Indonesian throughflow is an important component of the global climate system because of the large amount of heat it transports.
"The temperature of the ocean in the region to be surveyed has a very strong influence on rainfall in both Australia and Indonesia."
"For example, the severe droughts in eastern Indonesia and Australia in 1994 were controlled by the unusually cool temperatures in this region."
"We believe research in the area will contribute to a better understanding of such climate anomalies and an ability to ameliorate their consequences," Dr Meyers said.
"An additional benefit of this research cruise will be to increase our understanding of the physical process of enrichment from cooler, deeper waters with Indonesia being a primary beneficiary of this improved knowledge," he said.
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Dr Gary Meyers
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