The Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) is a globally important ocean current that fuels heat and buoyancy fluxes throughout the Indo-Pacific and is known to co-vary in strength with the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) at interannual timescales. A climate system with a less well-quantified impact on the ITF is the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM), which drives less saline surface waters from the South China Sea (SCS) into the Makassar Strait, obstructing surface ITF flow.
