Indian Ocean Dipole
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The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is an oceanographic phenomenon affecting climate in the Indian Ocean region.
The IOD involves an aperiodic oscillation of sea-surface temperatures, between "positive" and "negative" phases. A positive phase sees greater-than-average sea-surface temperatures and greater precipitation in the western Indian Ocean region, with a corresponding cooling of waters in the eastern Indian Ocean—which tends to cause droughts in adjacent land areas of Indonesia and Australia. The negative phase of the IOD brings about the opposite conditions, with warmer water and greater precipitation in the eastern Indian Ocean, and cooler and drier conditions in the west.
The IOD also effects the strength of monsoons over the Indian subcontinent. A significant positive IOD occurred in 1997-8, with another in 2006. The IOD is one aspect of the general cycle of global climate, interacting with similar phenomena like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean.
The IOD phenomenon was first identified by climate researchers in 1999. Yet evidence from fossil coral reefs demonstrates that the IOD has functioned since at least the middle of the Holocene period, 6500 years ago.
[edit] References
- Abram, Nerilie J., et al. "Seasonal characteristics of the Indian Ocean dipole during the Holocene epoch." Nature 445 (Jan. 18, 2007), pp. 299-302.
- Saji, N. H., et al. "A dipole mode in the tropical Indian Ocean." Nature 401 (Sept. 23, 1999), pp. 360-3.
- Rao, S. A., et al. "Interannual variability in the subsurface Indian Ocean with special emphasis on the Indian Ocean Dipole." Deep Sea Research-II 49 (2002), pp. 1549-72.
