SOMALI CURRENT

surface current of the western Indian Ocean, caused during the northern summer months by the blowing of the southwest monsoon along the coast of East Africa, moving coastal waters northeastward along with it for about 950 miles (1,500 km). At longitude 610 N (off Somalia), the northeastward Somali flow turns eastward as the Monsoon Current. With the monsoon's reversal to the northeast in September, the current begins to weaken until, in the winter, it disappears entirely to be replaced by a slow southwestward drift.