| THERMAL DOMES IN THE BAY OF BENGAL: PHYSICS, PHYTOPLANKTON BLOOMS AND IMPLICATIONSP. N. VINAYACHANDRANCentre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore 560 012, INDIAThe Bay of Bengal is a semi-enclosed tropical ocean basin that isdriven by monsoonal winds, rainfall and river discharge. The seasonalcirculation in the Bay of Bengal is forced additionally by thewinds in the equatorial Indian Ocean. The upper layer circulationin the Bay of Bengal consists of an anticyclonic gyre during thepremonsoon months of February-April, flanked by a polewardeast Indian coastal current (EICC). The EICC flows equatorwardduring the northeast monsoon months of November-January. Duringthe summer monsoon (June-September) the EICC flows equatorwardin the northern parts of the Indian coast and poleward farther north.Model simulations show two cyclonic gyres which are characterized by upslopingof isotherms within them and hence called thermal domes. The firstthermal dome forms east of Sri Lanka during the southwest monsoonand the second in the southwestern Bay of Bengal during northeast monsoon.Observational evidences for the domes are present in satellite derivedsea surface height anomaly maps. Satellite derived ocean color imagesshow that the most productive areas in the open Bay of Bengal are inthe vicinity of the domes. The implications of the domes to the meridionalcells in the Indian are being investigated.1. PO52. The Physical Oceanography of the Indian Ocean3. Bay of Bengal, Thermal Domes, Phytoplankton Blooms4. 016365 Dr. P. N. Vinayachandran, Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic5. O6. PC7. NO8. P. N. Vinayachandran9. Invited talk |
|
|