Publication Date:
2016-04-01
Description:
A thin layer of fresh water from summer monsoon rain and river runoff in the Bay of Bengal (BoB) has profound influence on air-sea interaction across the south Asian region, but the mechanisms that sustain the low-salinity layer are as yet unknown. Using the first long time series of high-frequency observations from a mooring in the north BoB and satellite salinity data, we show that fresh water from major rivers is transported by large-scale flow and eddies, and shallow salinity stratification persists from summer through winter. The moored observations show frequent 0.2-1.2 psu salinity jumps with time scales of 10 minutes to days, due to O(1-10) km sub-mesoscale salinity fronts moving past the mooring. In winter, satellite sea surface temperature shows 10 km-wide filaments of cool water, in line with moored data. Rapid salinity and temperature changes at the mooring are highly coherent, suggesting slumping of salinity-dominated fronts. Based on these observations, we propose that sub-mesoscale fronts may be one of the important drivers for the persistent fresh layer in the north BoB.
Print ISSN:
0094-8276
Electronic ISSN:
1944-8007
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
Permalink