Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season

The Agulhas Current is unique as a western boundary current in having as its source of surface water currents that are linked to the variable current regions of the North Indian Ocean. In which way the Agulhas Current derives its supply from these currents and how these currents interrelate, is very...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lutjeharms, Johann R E
Other Authors: Harris, T F W
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Oceanography 2016
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613234856460288
access_status_str Open Access
author Lutjeharms, Johann R E
author2 Harris, T F W
author_browse Harris, T F W
Lutjeharms, Johann R E
author_facet Harris, T F W
Lutjeharms, Johann R E
author_sort Lutjeharms, Johann R E
collection Thesis
description The Agulhas Current is unique as a western boundary current in having as its source of surface water currents that are linked to the variable current regions of the North Indian Ocean. In which way the Agulhas Current derives its supply from these currents and how these currents interrelate, is very poorly understood. In an attempt to make a contribution to the understanding of this flow an isentropic analysis in depth on seven σt-surfaces for the whole South West Indian Ocean during the Northeast Monsoon season was carried out. This analysis was augmented by the calculation of the velocities according to the Witte-Margules equation on each σt-surface at ten selected vertical sections. In addition the detailed volume transport and the velocity structure for each vertical section were calculated. The results pointed to a significant variation in transport and velocity structure from year to year. The large scale circulation in depth of the ocean is described. It is found that the Agulhas Current derives its supply of water from different sources at different depths and that at depth a large measure of recirculation of Agulhas Current Water takes place. It is not thought that this has been reported before and these findings might be of importance to the understanding of the current system as a whole. A few innovations in the standard oceanographic methods are described and two computer programs to aid analyses are presented.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18123
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:54.720Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2016
publishDateRange 2016
publishDateSort 2016
publisher Department of Oceanography
publisherStr Department of Oceanography
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/18123 A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season Lutjeharms, Johann R E Harris, T F W Oceanography The Agulhas Current is unique as a western boundary current in having as its source of surface water currents that are linked to the variable current regions of the North Indian Ocean. In which way the Agulhas Current derives its supply from these currents and how these currents interrelate, is very poorly understood. In an attempt to make a contribution to the understanding of this flow an isentropic analysis in depth on seven σt-surfaces for the whole South West Indian Ocean during the Northeast Monsoon season was carried out. This analysis was augmented by the calculation of the velocities according to the Witte-Margules equation on each σt-surface at ten selected vertical sections. In addition the detailed volume transport and the velocity structure for each vertical section were calculated. The results pointed to a significant variation in transport and velocity structure from year to year. The large scale circulation in depth of the ocean is described. It is found that the Agulhas Current derives its supply of water from different sources at different depths and that at depth a large measure of recirculation of Agulhas Current Water takes place. It is not thought that this has been reported before and these findings might be of importance to the understanding of the current system as a whole. A few innovations in the standard oceanographic methods are described and two computer programs to aid analyses are presented. 2016-03-21T19:26:05Z 2016-03-21T19:26:05Z 1971 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18123 eng application/pdf application/pdf Department of Oceanography Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Oceanography
Lutjeharms, Johann R E
A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season
thesis_degree_str Master's
title A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season
title_full A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season
title_fullStr A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season
title_full_unstemmed A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season
title_short A descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the South West African Indian Ocean during the Northeast monsoon season
title_sort descriptive physical analysis of water movement in the south west african indian ocean during the northeast monsoon season
topic Oceanography
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/18123
work_keys_str_mv AT lutjeharmsjohannre adescriptivephysicalanalysisofwatermovementinthesouthwestafricanindianoceanduringthenortheastmonsoonseason
AT lutjeharmsjohannre descriptivephysicalanalysisofwatermovementinthesouthwestafricanindianoceanduringthenortheastmonsoonseason