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dc.contributor.authorShetye, S.R.
dc.contributor.authorGouveia, A.D.
dc.contributor.authorShankar, D.
dc.contributor.authorShenoi, S.S.C.
dc.contributor.authorVinayachandran, P.N.
dc.contributor.authorSundar, D.
dc.contributor.authorMichael, G.S.
dc.contributor.authorNampoothiri, G.
dc.date.accessioned2009-01-21T11:16:56Z
dc.date.available2009-01-21T11:16:56Z
dc.date.issued1996
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Geophysical Research (C: Oceans), Vol.101; 14011-14025p.
dc.identifier.urihttp://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/2259
dc.description.abstractThe Bay of Bengal, a semienclosed tropical basin that comes under the influence of monsoonal wind and freshwater influx, is distinguished by a strongly stratified surface layer and a seasonally reversing circulation. We discuss characteristics of these features in the western Bay during the norteast monsoon, when the East India Coastal Current (EICC) flows southward, using hydrographic data collected during December 1991. Vertical profiles show uniform temperature and salinity in a homogeneous surface layer, on average, 25 m deep but shallower northward and coastward. The halocline, immediately below, is approximately 50 m thick; salinity changes by approximately 3 parts per thousand. About two thirds of the profiles show temperature inversions in this layer. Salinity below the halocline hardly changes, and stratification is predominantly due to temperature variation. The halocline is noticeably better developed and the surface homogeneous layer is thinner in a low-salinity plume that hugs the coastline along the entire east coast of India. The plume is, on average, 50 km wide, with isohalines sloping down toward the coast. Most prominent in the geostrophic velocity field is the equatorward EICC. Its transport north of about 13 degrees N, computed with 1000 dbar as the level of reference, varies between 2.6 and 7.1 x 10 sup(6) m sup(3) s sup(-1) ; just south of this latitude, a northwestward flow from offshore recurveys and merges with the coastal current. At the southern end of the region surveyed, the transport is 7.7 x 10 sup(6) m sup(3) s sup(-1) . Recent model studies lead us to conclude that the EICC during the northeast monsoon is driven by winds along the east coast of India and Ekman pumping in the interior bay. In the south, Ekman pumping over the southwestern bay is responsible for the northwestward flow that merges with the EICC
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAmerican Geophysical Union
dc.rightsCopyright [1996]. All efforts have been made to respect the copyright to the best of our knowledge. Inadvertent omissions, if brought to our notice, stand for correction and withdrawal of document from this repository.
dc.subjecthydrography
dc.subjectocean circulation
dc.subjectmonsoons
dc.subjectvertical profiles
dc.subjecttemperature
dc.subjectsalinity
dc.subjecthalocline
dc.subjectcoastal currents
dc.subjectekman pumping
dc.titleHydrography and circulation in the western Bay of Bengal during the northeast monsoon
dc.typeJournal Article


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