throughflow
nounEtymology From through + flow.
2
Geography, Hydrology, Natural sciences The movement of an identifiably separate body of water through a larger body (such as a current of fresh water through salt water).
- 2001, Harry L. Bryden, Shiro Imawaki, 6.1: Ocean Heat Transport, Gerold Siedler, John Church, John Gould (editors), Ocean Circulation and Climate: Observing and Modelling the Global Ocean, Harcourt Science and Technology (Academic Press), page 464, As for the Pacific, the unknown size of the Indonesian Throughflow complicates quantitative estimates of heat transport divergence in the Indian Ocean. Because the Throughflow entering the Indian Ocean is warm (about 20°C) relative to its temperature as it exits the Indian Ocean across the southern boundary at 32°S, the overall effect of the Throughflow is to lead to an ocean heat transport convergence over the Indian Ocean.
- Related terms
- throughfall