The energy in the semi-annual spectral peaks tends to decay in amplitude from west to east. This signal is strongest in Lombok and Sumba Straits, and the energy does not appear to penetrate across the Savu Sea to Savu Strait and Timor Passage, or east to Ombai Strait. Intraseasonal energy emerged as an unexpectedly pervasive feature in our pressure gauge data. As part of his Ph. D. thesis work, Jackson Chong, used an analytical model to predict coastal sea level changes due to wind forcing and found that intraseasonal signals at Bali are generated by both remote equatorial forcing and local wind forcing. The remote signals are at times enhanced by local winds.
Intraseasonal variability is also evident in the ocean interior downstream from the straits.
Bray, et al. With continued monitoring, the network could be very useful towards understanding the response of the throughflow to the strong interannual variations in the equatorial Pacific. Publications Bray, N. A., S. Hautala, J.C. Chong and J. Pariwono, Large-scale sea level, thermocline, and wind variations in the Indonesian throughflow region. Bray, N.A. , J.C. Chong, S.E. Wijffels, M. Fieux, S. Hautala, G. Meyers, W.M.L. Morawitz, Characteristics of the Indo-Pacific throughflow in the eastern Indian Ocean. Chong, J.C., J. Sprintall, S. Hautala, W. Morawitz, N.A. Bray, and W. Pandoe, Throughflow surface variability in the outflow straits of Indonesia, submitted to Geophysical Research Letters, 1999.