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Vertical distribution of temperature, salinity and density in the upper 500 metres of the north equatorial Indian Ocean during the north-east monsoon period

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Vertical distribution of temperature, salinity and density in the upper 500 metres of the north equatorial Indian Ocean during the north-east monsoon period
 
Creator Rao, L.V.G.
Jayaraman, R.
 
Subject Oceanography and Limnology
monsoons
equatorial circulation
vertical distribution
density
salinity
temperature
ISW, Indian Ocean
 
Description In the 4th and 5th scientific cruises of INS KISTNA under the Indian Programme of IIOE, five sections were worked out in the North Equatorial Indian Ocean during Jan-Feb 1963. Using the physical oceanographic data collected in these cruises, the vertical profiles of temperature, salinity and density (sigma t) for the upper 500 metres are prepared in the case of each section and the vertical distribution of each parameter is discussed. Two water masses-the low salinity water of Bay of Bengal (S 34.0 ppt; sigma t 22.0) and the high salinity water associated with the typical subsurface salinity maximum of the Equatorial Indian Ocean and the Salinity Maximum E (S 35.4 ppt) reported by Rochford, are identified in the upper 150 metres. The former water is found at the surface between 5 degrees N and 8 degrees N in the middle part and north of 5 degrees N in the eastern part of the region under study, while the latter water mass is observed in most of the regions, north as well as south of the equator. The deepening of this high salinity water up to 150 - 190 m depth under the Bay of Bengal Water in the northern region of the middle part is noteworthy. At the subsurface levels below 150 m, the Indian Ocean Equatorial Water (T = 4 - 16 degrees C; S = 34.8-35.2ppt is encountered as a major water mass, while the Persian Gulf High Salinity) Water (S35.2ppt at an average depth of about 200 m and the Red Sea High Salinity Water (S35.3 ppt) at depths greater than 450 m are traced only in a few specific regions with limited extents. Two regions of divergence-one between 50 m level and 150 m level within 2 degrees south of the equator at 61-63 degrees E and the other in the upper 150 m off the East Coast of Ceylon (along 83 degrees E), are observed. The former is attributed to the presence of Equatorial Undercurrent, probably flowing in an East and North-easterly direction across this region, while the latter is connected to the divergence between the southern boundary of anticyclonic circulation of Bay of Bengal and the northern boundary of North Equatorial Current off the East Coast of Ceylon
 
Date 1993-12-08T09:56:27Z
2017-09-29T13:47:25Z
1993-12-08T09:56:27Z
2017-09-29T13:47:25Z
1968
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Bulletin of National Institute of Sciences of India, vol.38; 1968; 123-147
0027-9528
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/5996
 
Language en
 
Relation B Natl Inst Sci India
 
Publisher National Institute of Sciences of India