Surface waters in the north of the Coral Sea

Abstract

North of New Guinea, the eastward flow is not fast enough to bring the diluted water from the westernmost Pacific to the Coral Sea where, in the north, from February to June, the surface salinity is less than 34.5‰. This low salinity is always associated with a west wind component bringing rainfall. The surface salinity chart in January-February 1971 shows a salinity minimum isolated from its once supposed western origin by saltier water in the north of New Guinea. These features suggest local formation of this low salinity.