William Burnett

On the splitting of main currents in the Indonesian seas

A regional baroclinic model of the Indonesian seas circulation, based on the Princeton Ocean Model, has been developed. Fifteen levels in the vertical are chosen to resolve the vertical structure of the circulation. The horizontal resolution of about 10 km provides a sufficiently accurate description of the bottom topography in the area. Three open boundary ports were introduced to simulate the Mindanao Current outflow to the Pacific; and the resultant outflow to the Indian Ocean. The results of barotropic experiments show that the splitting of simulated currents between the Lombok Strait and the Flores Sea, and between the Makassar Strait and the Malucca Sea, differ substantially from the splitting schematics based on observations. The analysis of baroclinic experiments is presented to reveal the influence of baroclinicity on the structure of splitting patterns.