Tasman leakage in a fine-resolution ocean model

Tasman leakage, the westward flow of thermocline waters south of Australia from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, is one of the lesser-studied of the inter-ocean exchanges. Here, some of the properties of the Tasman leakage are inferred from Lagrangian particles integrated using the three-dimensional velocity fields of the 1/10 degree resolution OFES model. The mean Tasman leakage in this model is 4.2Sv, with a standard deviation of 4.3Sv. The heat flux associated with this leakage lies in the range 0.08-0.18 PW. There is large variability in the Tasman leakage on both sub-weekly and inter-annual scales, but no trend over the 1983-1997 period. Despite the large weekly variability, with peaks of more than 20Sv, it appears that less than half of the Tasman leakage is carried within eddies.