Source regions of oxygen maxima in intermediate depths of the Arabian Sea.

Abstract

Oxygen maxima, in relation to σ_t salinity maxima and minima, and other hydrological structural features, have been examined along three meridional sections of the Indian Ocean. These relations have provided a background for the interpretation of the water mass sources of oxygen maxima of the whole Indian Ocean. After grouping these oxygen maxima according to density, their salinities have been used to identify mixing circuits in which the following waters are involved: from the south (1) South Indian Central, (2) Subtropical oxygen maximum, (3) Antarctic Intermediate; from the east (4) Equatorial Frontal water; and from the north (5) Persian Gulf, and (6) Red Sea. The principal routes whereby oxygen-rich mixtures of these waters enter the Arabian Sea, during the south-west monsoon, have been determined. The directions of flow along several of these routes agreed with measured directions of current flow. Where these currents disagreed the measured current was generally very weak.