A decade of physical and biogeochemical measurements in the Northern Indian Ocean.
Abstract
The northern Indian Ocean consists of two tropical basins (Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal) and the equatorial region that comes under the influence of monsoonal wind reversal. We present the results from three Indian programmes since 1992 aimed at understanding the seasonal variability of physical and biogeochemical parameters. The results showed strongest seasonal cycle in the Arabian Sea with blooms during summer and winter. Upwelling, advection and wind-mixing drive the summer bloom, while the winter bloom was due to convective-mixing. In the Bay of Bengal mesoscale eddies enhanced the biological productivity. The data collected so far suggest very low chlorophyll biomass and productivity in the equatorial Indian Ocean. Though our understanding of the coupling between the physical and biogeochemical fields in the northern Indian Ocean over the seasonal scale have enhanced tremendously, a sustained regional observational network including repeat sections, moored arrays and drifters is needed for understanding the climate variability.
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