Project  SITE, South China Sea-Indonesian Seas Transport/Exchange
 Principal Investigator  Dr. R. Dwi Susanto (LDEO of Columbia University, New York)
 US-Grant  National Science Foundation (NSF)
 Collaborators
 Indonesia  Dr. Budi Sulistyo, Agency for Marine and Fisheries Research (BRKP), Jakarta
 China  Prof FANG Guohong, First Institute Oceanography, Qingdao
 Objectives
 *  To quantify the magnitude and variability of Karimata Strait flow that may affect the Indian Ocean Dipole, determine whether coastally trapped Kelvin waves can penetrate the Sunda Strait and how this affects Strait stratification and mixing and its interaction with water from the Java Sea.
*  To determine the role played by the Karimata Strait flow in the Indonesian throughflow (ITF) and the regional ocean stratification and circulation as well as climate variability in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
 Figure 1. Indonesian throughflow pathways from the Pacific to the Indian Oceans. INSTANT mooring locations (magenta lines) in the Makassar Strait, Lifamatola passage, Ombai and Lombok Strait and Timor passage (2003-2006). Trawl Resistant Bottom Mounted ADCPs in the Karimata Strait (blue and red stars in the top insert). A1 & A2 moorings from December 2007 to November 2008 and B1 to B3 moorings from May 2008-present.