The Wind Field in the Western Indian Ocean and the Related Ocean Circulation

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Abstract
Monthly wind stress contoured for the western Indian Ocean clearly shows the southwest monsoon from May through September (with values over 4 dyn cm−2 during July) to be considerably stronger than the northeast monsoon with a maximum in January. Maps of wind stress curl during the southwest monsoon show a large region of negative curl (over −4 × 10−8 dyn cm−3) to the northeast off the Somali coast, whereas a region of high positive curl occurs off the Arabian coast and in a small band off the Somali east coast north of 5°N. Sverdrup mass transports of up to 40 × 10−12 g s−1 to the north off the Somali coast are in rough agreement with observed values.