THE SOLOMON SEA LOCATED IN THE LOW LATITUDE SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC OCEAN IS AN IMPORTANT PATHWAY CONNECTING THE SUBTROPICS TO THE EQUATORIAL REGIONS. THE FLOW THROUGH THE SOLOMON SEA IS RESPONSIBLE FOR BALANCING VOLUME TRANSPORT IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN SUBTROPICAL CELL. HOWEVER VARIABILITY OF THE VOLUME TRANSPORT AND THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF THE CURRENT ARE NOT WELL UNDERSTOOD. QUANTIFYING TRANSPORT THROUGH THE SOLOMON SEA AND UNDERSTANDING ITS VARIABILITY IS IMPORTANT TO CLIMATE PREDICTION AND DIRECTLY SUPPORTS THE NASA GOAL TO IMPROVE THE ABILITY TO PREDICT CLIMATE CHANGE BY BETTER UNDERSTANDING THE ROLES AND INTERACTIONS OF THE OCEAN ATMOSPHERE AND LAND. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY IS TO EXAMINE THE VARIABILITY AND DYNAMICS OF THE TRANSPORT THROUGH THE SOUTHERN ENTRANCE OF THE SOLOMON SEA ON INTRASEASONAL AND LONGER TIMESCALES AS WELL AS THE ASSOCIATED VERTICAL STRUCTURE. THE STUDY HIGHLIGHTS THE USE OF NASA SATELLITE ALTIMETRY AND WINDS IN A COMPLEMENTARY WAY TO IN-SITU OBSERVATIONS FROM MOORINGS AND BOTTOM PRESSURE WITH INVERTED ECHO SOUNDERS TO MEASURE AND UNDERSTAND THE VOLUME TRANSPORT. THE ROLE OF ROSSBY WAVES IN MODIFYING THE INFLOW WILL BE EXAMINED USING SATELLITE ALTIMETRY. THE REMOTELY SENSED SURFACE ATMOSPHERIC WINDS WILL BE ANALYZED TO EXAMINE EKMAN TRANSPORT AND THE WIND-DRIVEN DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH THE VARIABILITY. PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS STRONGLY SUPPORTS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTIMATING VOLUME TRANSPORT FROM THE COMBINED USE OF SATELLITE ALTIMETRY AND THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE EXTRACTED FROM LIMITED-TIME IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS. THIS CAN EXTEND THE CALCULATION OF THE VOLUME TRANSPORT THROUGH THE SOUTHERN SOLOMON SEA FROM 1992 WHEN SATELLITE ALTIMETRY WAS FIRST AVAILABLE. THIS WILL ADVANCE UNDERSTANDING OF THE INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY OF THE LOCAL CIRCULATION. MOREOVER THE IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS WILL COVER THE 2015-2016 EL NI O ALLOWING AN INVESTIGATION OF ITS IMPACT ON THE TRANSPORT. GLOBAL STRONGLY EDDY-ACTIVE OCEAN GENERAL CIRCULATION MODELS WILL ALSO BE EXPLORED TO OBTAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE DYNAMICS IN THE SOUTHWESTERN PACIFIC AND THE ROLE IN TRANSPORT VARIABILITY IN THE SOLOMON SEA ON THE GENERAL CIRCULATION. THE INFLOW INTO THE SOUTHERN SOLOMON SEA DETERMINES VOLUME TRANSPORT SUPPLYING THE EQUATORIAL PACIFIC; THUS HAVING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE ITS VARIABILITY AND THE ASSOCIATED DYNAMICS OF THE INFLOW WILL HELP IMPROVE OUR ABILITY TO PREDICT CLIMATE CHANGE.