20
K. WYRTKI:
the range of the Somali Current is the phosphate concentration at 100 m depth reduced,
most likely due to the strong advection of water from the South Equatorial Current during
the SW monsoon. In Antarctic waters the phosphate content rises again from the sub140"
(,u9- at 1- 1 )
Fig. 2. Distribution of PO/- - Pin ,ug-at 1-1 at 100 m depth
tropical convergence to maximal values near the Antarctic divergence. This distribution
characterizes the monsoon area and the Antarctic waters as potentially rich and the
subtropical region as poor with regard to biological activity.
I. The Monsoon Gyre
During the NE monsoon water movements to the north of the Equator are from
east to west, forming the NE monsoon current. This flow starts developing in November,
reaches its greatest strength in February and subsides in April. Current velocities are
usually strongest to the south of Ceylon and in the southern Arabian Sea, where they
exceed 1 knot. From November to January a strong branch of this current turns north
and flows along the west coast of India, carrying low salinity water from the Bay of
Bengal into the eastern Arabian Sea. The NE monsoon drift appears to be rather shallow
and seems to exert little influence on the waters below the thermocline. Off the coast of
K. WYRTKI:
the range of the Somali Current is the phosphate concentration at 100 m depth reduced,
most likely due to the strong advection of water from the South Equatorial Current during
the SW monsoon. In Antarctic waters the phosphate content rises again from the sub140"
(,u9- at 1- 1 )
Fig. 2. Distribution of PO/- - Pin ,ug-at 1-1 at 100 m depth
tropical convergence to maximal values near the Antarctic divergence. This distribution
characterizes the monsoon area and the Antarctic waters as potentially rich and the
subtropical region as poor with regard to biological activity.
I. The Monsoon Gyre
During the NE monsoon water movements to the north of the Equator are from
east to west, forming the NE monsoon current. This flow starts developing in November,
reaches its greatest strength in February and subsides in April. Current velocities are
usually strongest to the south of Ceylon and in the southern Arabian Sea, where they
exceed 1 knot. From November to January a strong branch of this current turns north
and flows along the west coast of India, carrying low salinity water from the Bay of
Bengal into the eastern Arabian Sea. The NE monsoon drift appears to be rather shallow
and seems to exert little influence on the waters below the thermocline. Off the coast of