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Inhibition of mixed-layer deepening during winter in the northeastern Arabian Sea by the West India coastal current

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Inhibition of mixed-layer deepening during winter in the northeastern Arabian Sea by the West India coastal current
 
Creator Shankar, D.
Remya, R.
Vinayachandran, P.N.
Chatterjee, Abhisek
Behera, A.
 
Subject Meteorology and climatology
Oceanography and limnology
Oceanography and limnology
 
Description Though the deep mixed layers (MLs) that form in the northeastern Arabian Sea (NEAS) during the winter monsoon (November–February) have been attributed to convective mixing driven by dry, cool northeasterly winds from the Indian subcontinent, data show that the deepest MLs occur in the northern NEAS and the maxima of latent-heat and net heat fluxes in the southern NEAS. We use an oceanic general circulation model to show that the deep MLs in the NEAS extend up to ~20°N till the end of December, but are restricted poleward of ~22°N (~23°N) in January (February). This progressive restriction of the deep mixed layers within the NEAS is due to poleward advection of water of lower salinity by the West India Coastal Current (WICC). The deep MLs are sustained till February in the northern NEAS because convective mixing deepens the ML before the waters of lower salinity reach this region and the wind stirring and convective overturning generate sufficient turbulent energy for the ML to maintain the depth attained in January. Though the atmospheric fluxes tend to cool the ML in the southern NEAS, this cooling is countered by the warming due to horizontal advection. Likewise, the cooling due to entrainment, which continues in the southern NEAS even as the ML shallows during January-February, is almost cancelled by the warming caused by a downwelling vertical velocity field. Therefore, the SST changes very little during December-February even as the ML shallows dramatically in the southern NEAS. These deep MLs of the NEAS also preclude a strong intraseasonal response to the intraseasonal variability in the fluxes. This role of horizontal advection implies that the ML depth in the NEAS is determined by an interplay of physical processes that are forced differently. The convective mixing depends on processes that are local to the region, but the advection is due to the WICC, whose seasonal cycle is primarily forced by remote winds. By inhibiting the formation of deep MLs in the southern NEAS, the WICC limits the region of formation of the high-salinity water masses of this region. Since the deep MLs in the NEAS have been linked to the high chlorophyll concentration there, our results imply that the conventional approach of averaging over boxes for studying the impact of physics on biogeochemistry can mask important details that are due to advection because it is the advective component of any budget that is most affected by the averaging process
 
Date 2016-10-13T12:21:21Z
2016-10-13T12:21:21Z
2016
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Climate Dynamics, vol.47(3); 2016; 1049-1072
no
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/5016
 
Language en
 
Relation Clim_Dyn_47_1049.jpg
 
Rights An edited version of this paper was published by Springer. This paper is for R & D purpose and Copyright [2016] Springer.
 
Publisher Springer