Eastern Indian Ocean Upwelling Research Initiative (EIOURI)

EIOURI is an international, multidisciplinary research collaboration, focusing on physical and biogeochemical/ecological aspects of upwelling systems in the eastern Indian Ocean (EIO).
The EIO is a location of active interactions between the ocean and atmosphere, with impacts on the Asian-Australian monsoons and other regional and global climate variations. In turn, monsoonal winds and rainfall as well as exchanges of water mass with surrounding regions (including unique throughflow from the Pacific) modify physical and biogeochemical conditions in the EIO. Upwelling is a key process modulating these upper-ocean conditions and connecting physical and biogeochemical/ecological aspects. However, our understanding of characteristics and mechanisms of upwelling, and roles of upwelling in large-scale variations in the ocean and climate systems are still limited, mainly due to scarcity of physical and biogeochemical in situ observations. EIOURI is therefore proposed to investigate ocean variability associated with the upwelling systems in the EIO, for a period of five years starting in December 2015, as one of core programs of the International Indian Ocean Expedition-2.