Oceanic variability around Madagascar : connections to the large-scale Indian Ocean circulation and its forcing

Abstract

The connection between the mesoscale eddy activity around Madagascar and the large-scale interannual variability in the Indian Ocean is investigated. We use the combined TOPEX/Poseidon-ERS sea surface height (SSH) data for the period 1993-2003. The SSH-fields in the Mozambique Channel and east of Madagascar exhibit a significant interannual oscillation. This is related to the arrival of large-scale anomalies that propagate westward in the band 10-15S in response to the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) events. Positive (negative) SSH anomalies associated to a positive (negative) IOD phase induce a shift in the intensity and position of the tropical and subtropical gyres in the Indian Ocean. A weakening (strengthening) results in the intensity of the South Equatorial Current and its branches along east Madagascar. In addition, the flow through the narrows of the Mozambique Channel around 17S increases (decreases) during periods of a stronger and northward (southward) extension of the subtropical (tropical) gyre. Interaction between the currents in the narrows and southward propagating eddies from the northern Channel leads to interannual variability in the eddy kinetic energy of the central Channel in phase with the one in the SSH-field. The origin of the eddy variability along the 25S band in the Indian Ocean is also investigated. We have found that the surface circulation east of Madagascar shows an anticyclonic subgyre bounded to the south by eastward flow from southwest Madagascar and to the north by the westward flowing South Equatorial Current (SEC) between 15-20S. The shallow, eastward flow, named the South Indian Ocean Countercurrent (SICC), extends above the deep reaching, westward flowing SEC up to 95E, with its core over the latitude of the high variability band. Applying a 2-layer model reveals that regions of large vertical shear along the SICC-SEC system are baroclinically unstable. Estimates of the frequencies (3.5-6 times/year) and wavelengths (290-470 km) of the unstable modes are close to observations of the mesoscale eddy variability derived from altimetry data. It is likely then that Rossby wave variability locally generated in the subtropical South Indian Ocean by baroclinic instability is the origin of the eddy variability around 25S as seen for example in satellite altimetry.