The Indian Ocean dipole – the unsung driver of climatic variability in East Africa

2006/12/21 by Rob Marchant, Cassian Mumbi, C.T. Mumbi +3
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Biology #Climate change #Climate variability and models #Climatology #Ecology #Ecosystem #El Niño Southern Oscillation #Environmental planning #Geography #Geology #Indian Ocean Dipole #Indian ocean #Marine and coastal ecosystems #Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes #Oceanography #Tanzania

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.2006.00707.x

crossref issued 2006/12/21 · crossref published 2006/12/21 · crossref published-online 2006/12/21 · openalex publication_date 2006/12/21 · crossref created 2006/12/21 · crossref published-print 2007/03/01 · crossref deposited 2023/10/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · crossref indexed 2026/07/31 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Abstract A growing body of evidence suggests that an independent ocean circulation system in the Indian Ocean, the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD), is partly responsible for driving climate variability of the surrounding landmasses. The IOD had traditionally been viewed as an artefact of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) system although increasingly the evidence is amassing that it is separate and distinct phenomenon. We review the causes of the IOD, how it develops within the Indian Ocean, the relationships with ENSO, and the consequences for East African climate dynamics and associated impacts on ecosystems, in particular along the Eastern Arc Mountains of Kenya and Tanzania. We evaluate current research initiatives focussed on characterizing and constraining the IOD and examine how effective these will be in determining climate change impacts on East African ecosystems and how such predictive capacity can be used in developing policy.

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