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On the nature of meandering of the springtime western boundary current in the Bay of Bengal

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title On the nature of meandering of the springtime western boundary current in the Bay of Bengal
 
Creator Gangopadhyay, A.
BharatRaj, G.N.
Chaudhuri, A.H.
Babu, M.T.
Sengupta, D.
 
Subject western boundary currents
hydrography
satellite altimetry
current rings
 
Description We present evidence that the springtime western boundary current (WBC) in the Bay of Bengal is a continuous northward-flowing current from about 12 degrees N to 17 degrees N, which then separates from the coast at around 18 degrees N. We first revisit a hydrographic data set collected in 1987 from a potential vorticity perspective, and then analyze absolute dynamic height maps from satellite altimeters during the period 2000-2010. The altimetric maps suggest that the mean configuration of the WBC is that of an intense current with two anticyclonic eddies on the offshore side, which are part of the basin-wide anticyclonic circulation. The WBC consistently separates from the coast at around 18 degrees N in all years between 2000 and 2010. The path of the eastward-flowing mean stream after separation appears to be consistent with isolines of f/H and with Ertel's potential vorticity, based on an analysis of the hydrographic data from 1987.
 
Date 2013-09-06T07:38:54Z
2013-09-06T07:38:54Z
2013
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Geophysical Research Letters, vol.40(10); 2013; 2188-2193
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/4344
 
Language en
 
Rights An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright [2012] AGU. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/grl.50412, 2013
 
Publisher American Geophysical Union