Exploring the Importance of the Mindoro‐Sibutu Pathway to the Upper‐Layer Circulation of the South China Sea and the Indonesian Throughflow

Abstract

©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Using a high-resolution (0.1° × 0.1°) regional ocean model, this study investigates the impact of strait transport variability on the South China Sea (SCS) circulation and Indonesian throughflow, with a focus on the Mindoro-Sibutu pathway via the Sulu Sea, upon closing various straits within the Maritime Continent. Closing the Sibutu Strait reduces the Luzon Strait throughflow into the SCS by 75%, and the Mindoro–Sibutu deep exchange is reversed, thus flowing into the SCS. No significant change occurs over the shallow Sunda Shelf of the southern SCS, which is primarily driven by local monsoon winds. The impact of closing the Karimata Strait is limited to the Sunda Shelf and the Java Sea. The Sibutu Strait throughflow is fundamental in governing the SCS's low salinity, buoyancy, and upper layer injection into the Makassar Strait, which is the primary component of the Indonesian throughflow, thus inhibiting the transport within the upper 200 m of the throughflow. Closing both the Sibutu and Karimata Straits increases the southward Makassar Strait throughflow transport by ~3 Sv, which is derived entirely from the Mindanao Current.