Current is present and carries water of low salinity along the Java 

 coast. The low salinity water originates to the southwest of Sumatra 

 vhere high rainfall causes a continual decrease of the salinity of 

 the passing water. The lowest values of salinity occur in January 

 at the end of the main rainy season. Near the coast of Australia, 

 the salinity increases to over 35 %o and does not vary much through- 

 out the year. The greatest variation in salinity is found near the 

 Java coast in the range of the Java Coastal Current where the annual 

 variation is more than 1.0 ^o. 



Subsurface Water. Below the surface waters, the Indian Equatorial 

 Water Mass penetrates Into the Bay of Bengal and is present at depths 

 greater than 100 to 150 meters. This water mass is formed as the 

 result of mixing between hlgh-sallnlty water from the Arabian Sea 

 and North Indian Ocean deep water. In the central and southern parts 

 of the bay, the Indian Equatorial Water is present to depths of about 

 1,000 meters. Its temperature decreases with depth from about 15°C 

 to 5'*C, and the salinity remains quite constant between 35-0 and 

 34. 1 1. 



In the Indo-Australlan Basin, three different water masses have 

 been identified by Rochford'"' at intermediate depths. Maxima and 

 minima in the temperature-salinity diagrams, in conjunction with 

 performed phosphate, were used for identification of the major paths 

 of spreading. These three water masses which make up the inter- 

 mediate water of the Indo-Australi^n Basin are (l) the Antarctic 

 Intermediate Water, (2) the North-West Indian Intermediate Water, 

 and (3) the Banda Intermediate Water. 



■""D. J. Rochford, "Hydrology of the Indian Ocean," Australian 

 Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research , XII (1961), pp. 129-1^9. 



31 



