CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INDO-PACIFIC THROUGHFLOW IN THE EASTERN INDIAN-OCEAN

Five hydrographic sections across the Indonesian throughflow from the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and the Java Australia Dynam ic Experiment (JADE) are used to examine seasonal water mass and densi ty distributions, including semiannual variation of the South Java Cur rent. Altimetric sea surface height variations match dynamic height al ong each WOCE cruise track remarkably well. They also reveal energetic eddies and meanders of the current system south of Java with intrasea sonal (60-day) changes in surface dynamic height comparable in magnitu de to seasonal and interannual variations. Through the formation of di screte eddies and meanders of the large-scale zonal flows, intraseason al fluctuations account for much of the variation in water mass struct ure between cruises.