Progress and Prospect on the Study of Tidal Mixing in the Indonesian Seas

The Indonesian Seas, which is located between the tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean, is one of the largest internal tide generation sites in global oceans. The dissipation of internal tides leads to strong tidal mixing, thereby reducing sea surface temperature in the Indonesian Seas and induce significant climate response through active airsea interaction. Moreover, the tidal mixing also plays important roles in regulating the Indonesian Throughflow and related mass and energy transport from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. Since the Arlindo Project, it is realized that the exceptionally strong tidal mixing in the Indonesian Seas is important for improving the simulation of the ocean circulation in numerical models. However, owing to insufficient in situ measurements of mixing and incomplete tidal mixing parametrization scheme, quantitative analysis on the distribution and variability of tidal mixing in the Indonesian Seas and sufficient consideration of tidal mixing in ocean and climate models are yet to be resoved. In this paper, the latest progress on the tidal mixing in the Indonesian Seas and its application in ocean and climate models are reviewed and the prospect of this topic is also proposed.