On the role of a monsoon factor in the variability of currents in the Indian Ocean

On the basis of long series of contemporary instrumental measurements, the dynamics of waters in the western boundary current of the Indian Ocean is studied. For the first time, the background (quasi-stationary) circulation is estimated, and summer and winter monsoon components of the velocity field are detected. It is shown that the features of water dynamics of the Somali Current pattern are caused by the intensification of circulation during the summer phase, when the background and monsoon velocity fields with the same sign of vorticity are superimposed on each other. During the winter phase, on the contrary, superposition of background and monsoon circulations, with the opposite signs, is associated with a weakening of the resultant velocity of the currents.