Study on the characteristics of the Indonesian seas using satellite remote-sensing data for 1998–2007

Abstract

This study analyses the characteristics of the Indonesian seas using satellite remote-sensing data for the 10-year period from 1998 to 2007. Statistical properties and monthly average data or climatological data of sea surface temperature (SST), wind speed (WS), wind direction (WD), chlorophyll (CH) and sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) for the Indonesian seas are investigated. The results indicate negative dependence between SST and WS. The correlation between SST and WS has a 1-month phase difference. CH and SSHA are considered local data and reveal no apparent characteristics for the Indonesian seas as a whole. Seasonal changes of the indices, coupled with a north–south change, are observed. This analysis confirms several characteristics of the Indonesian seas.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Watanabe Memorial Foundation for the Advancement of Technology, the DIKNAS Scholarship from the Indonesian Government and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Government of Japan. We express our sincere gratitude to these organizations. We appreciate the enthusiastic support of Dr Kensuke Takeuchi, who helped us make our data scientifically sound.

We also thank Remote Sensing Systems for SST, WS and WD data; the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for CH data; and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for SSHA data.