WEATHER MONITORING IMPROVED IN TIMOR SEA

CSIRO scientists have installed deep water monitoring instruments in the seas off the northern Australian city of Darwin. [ABC: file photo]

RADIO AUSTRALIA NEWS

Scientists have installed deep water monitoring instruments in the seas off the northern Australian city of Darwin to better predict weather patterns.

Three monitoring stations have been positioned in the Timor Passage and the Ombai Strait, north of Darwin.

The stations are up to three kilometres long and stretch from the ocean floor to 40 metres below the surface.

Bernadette Sloyan, from Australia's national science agency CSIRO, says the stations will help oceanographers see how water movement influences weather and environment.

"The Indonesian throughflow is a major component of the global ocean circulation and it's measuring how much water from the Pacific Ocean is moving into the Indian Ocean," she said.

"The movement of that water has impacts on seasonal forecasts for [the] Australian region and the global climate in general."