A Time Series of Expendable Bathythermograph Sections Across the East Australian Current

Abstract

Expendable bathythermograph sections of temperature were made eastward from Sydney to 156� E. at 2-week intervals over the period July 1969 to July 1975. The mean seasonal cycles of temperature at the surface and at 240 m depth are presented, as well as the time series of 240 m temperature. The results suggest a westward movement of disturbances and also imply a connection between measurements in the deep ocean and events on the continental shelf. The histogram of temperature at 240 m at 152� E. is very different from that at 154� E., the latter being distinctly bimodal. These histograms are compared with that of mean sea level at Lord Howe Island which is also bimodal.