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 4.2 Sv, with a standard deviation of 4.3 Sv. 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 20 Sv, it appears that less than half of the Tasman leakage is carried within eddies. Key Points In the OFES model, Tasman leakage is on average 4.2 Sv, 30% of ITF flux Tasman leakage heat flux is between 0.08 and 0.18 PW, which is not insignificant Less then half of Tasman leakage is within eddies, which affects monitoring