Abstract: | In this paper observational data are used to compute drift and geostrophic current components and to evaluate water transport in the upper 0–800 m ocean layer. Water circulation in the south-western Indian Ocean has been shown to differ from the circulation in similar areas of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The West Australian current, closing the anticyclonic gyre, is an intervening flow. On the other hand, within the upper 200 m layer, the current flows southward along the West Australian coast, thereby producing specific hydrological conditions in that region. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin. |