THE MONSOON IN THE ARABIAN SEA:IMPLICATIONS FROM RADIOLARIAN FLUXES TO THE DEEP SEA

Evolution of Monsoon climate can be attributed to high altitude topography of the Himalaya—Tibetan Plateau. It is important to decipher the modern Monsoon processes in the Indian Ocean so that we will have a better understanding of global evolution of paleoclimate. An international collaborative effort has been expended since 1986 to collect marine particle fluxes in the Arabian Sea where significant amount of organic carbon is fixed annually. Such high biological productivity is mainly due to monsoonal upwelling that occurs twice a year in the region. The southwest (SW) Monsoon occurs in June to September and the northeastern (NE) Monsoon occurs in November to February with a varying degree depending on the regions. PARFLUX sediment traps were deployed in the bathypelagic zone (2800～3000m) at three locations (Western[16°20′N, 60°30′E], Central[14°31′N, 64°46′E], and Eastern[15°31′N, 68 43′E] Stations) representing different patterns and degrees of the Arabian Sea particle fluxes.