Temperature and salinity variability in the exit passages of the Indonesian Throughflow

The Indonesian Throughflow was monitored from December 1995 until May 1999 in the five major exit passages of the Lesser Sunda Islands, as it flows from the Indonesian interior seas into the southeast Indian Ocean. The monitoring array included pairs of shallow pressure gauges at each side of the straits, equipped with temperature and salinity sensors. As in the inferred geostrophic velocity from the cross-strait pressure gauge data, the temperature and salinity data show strong variability over all time scales related to the local regional and remote forcing mechanisms of heat, freshwater and wind. The annual cycle dominates the temperature time series, with warmest temperatures occurring during the austral summer northwest monsoon, except in Lombok Strait where the semi-annual signal is dominant, and related to the Indian Ocean westerly wind-forced Kelvin waves during the monsoon transitions that supply Indian Ocean warmer surface water to the strait. In the salinity data, the annual signal again dominates the time series in all straits, with a distinct freshening occurring in March–May. This is partly related to the rainfall and resultant voluminous river runoff impacting the region, one month after the wetter northwest monsoon ends in March. The fresh, warm water from the monsoon-transition Indian Ocean Kelvin wave also contributes to the freshening observed in May. There is little cross-strait gradient in near-surface temperature and salinity through the outflow straits, except in Lombok Strait, where Lombok is warmer (except during the northwest monsoon) and fresher than the Bali sit