Ocean Science
Ocean Science
OS
Articles | Volume 18, issue 1
Articles | Volume 18, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-193-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/os-18-193-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 18, issue 1
Research article
 | 
10 Feb 2022
Research article |  | 10 Feb 2022

Interannual variability of sea level in the southern Indian Ocean: local vs. remote forcing mechanisms

Marion Kersalé, Denis L. Volkov, Kandaga Pujiana, and Hong Zhang

Data sets

Global high-resolution mapping of ocean circulation from TOPEX/Poseidon and ERS-1 and -2 (https://doi.org/10.48670/moi-00148) N. Ducet, P. Y. Le Traon, and G. Reverdin https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JC900063

Towards Probabilistic Multivariate ENSO Monitoring (https://psl.noaa.gov/enso/mei/) T. Zhang, A. Hoell, J. Perlwitz, J. Eischeid, D. Murray, M. Hoerling, and T. M. Hamill https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL083946

Structure of SST and surface wind variability during Indian Ocean Dipole mode events: COADS observations (https://psl.noaa.gov/gcos_wgsp/Timeseries/DMI/) N. H. Saji and T. Yamagata https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2003)016<2735:SOSASW>2.0.CO;2

Trends in the Southern Annular Mode from observations and reanalyses (http://www.nerc-bas.ac.uk/icd/gjma/sam.html) G. J. Marshall https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0442(2003)016<4134:TITSAM>2.0.CO;2

ECCO LLC270 ocean-ice state estimate (https://ecco.jpl.nasa.gov/drive/files/Version5/Alpha) H. Zhang, D. Menemenlis, and I. G. Fenty 1721.1/119821

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Short summary
The southern Indian Ocean is one of the major basins for regional heat accumulation and sea level rise. The year-to-year changes of regional sea level are influenced by water exchange with the Pacific Ocean via the Indonesian Throughflow. Using a general circulation model, we show that the spatiotemporal pattern of these changes is primarily set by local wind forcing modulated by El Niño–Southern Oscillation, while oceanic signals originating in the Pacific can amplify locally forced signals.
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