Nano- and microplankton in the northern Arabian Sea during the Southwest Monsoon, August–September 1995 A US–JGOFS study

AbstractA prolonged high-salinity event in the northern Arabian Sea, to the east of the Gulf of Oman, during 2014–17 was identified based on Argo datasets. The prolonged event was manifested as enhanced spreading of the surface Arabian Sea high-salinity water and the intermediate Persian Gulf water. We used satellite altimetric data and geostrophic current data to understand the oceanic processes and the salt budget associated with the high-salinity event. The results indicated that the strengthened high-salinity advection from the Gulf of Oman was one of the main causes of the salinity increase in the northern Arabian Sea. The changes of the seasonally dependent eddies near the mouth of the Gulf of Oman dominated the strengthened high-salinity advection during the event as compared with the previous 4-yr period: the westward shifted cyclonic eddy during early winter stretched to the remote western Gulf of Oman, which carried the higher-salinity water to the northern Arabian Sea along the south coast of the Gulf. An anomalous eddy dipole during early summer intensified the eastward Ras Al Hadd Jet and its high-salinity advection into the northern Arabian Sea. In addition, the weakened low-salinity advection by coastal currents along the Omani coast caused by the weakened southwest monsoon contributed to the maintenance of the high-salinity event. This prolonged high-salinity event reflects the upper-ocean responses to the monsoon change and may affect the regional hydrography and biogeochemistry extensively.

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Atmospheric summer circulation and coastal upwelling in the Arabian Sea during the Holocene and the last glaciation

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1016/0033-5894(91)90018-z ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 72-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 133

Author(s):

Frank Sirocko ◽

Michael Sarnthein ◽

Heinz Lange ◽

Helmut Erlenkeuser

Keyword(s):

Arabian Sea ◽

Coastal Upwelling ◽

Monsoon Season ◽

Sediment Cores ◽

Southwest Monsoon ◽

Accumulation Rates ◽

Summer Circulation ◽

The Holocene ◽

Dust Flux ◽

Northern Arabian Sea

AbstractAccumulation rates of biogenic and lithogenic components were studied in 39 turbidite-free, well-dated sediment cores from the northern Indian Ocean to define the proportions of fluvial and eolian input and to reconstruct Quaternary patterns of coastal upwelling. The majority of dust deposited in the western Arabian Sea during the Holocene (about 100 × 106t yr−1) is advected from Arabia by northwesterly winds, which overlie the low-level southwest monsoon. The glacial increase in dust flux to 160 × 106t yr−1 culminated in the northern Arabian Sea, most probably due to (i) entrainment of dust, rich in chlorite, dolomite, and lithogenic carbonate in the then-dry Persian Gulf, and (ii) a southward shift of the mean position of the southwest monsoon during glacial summer. This shift is recorded in reduced accumulation rates of biogenic opal and increased rates of marine carbonate off Somalia and Oman. Both the terrigenous and biogenic sediment records show that the northwesterly winds and the southwest monsoon persisted over the last 27,000 yr, as well as the Asian continental summer heat low. However, the glacial seasonal time span of the southwest monsoon season was much reduced, most likely because of a delay in the seasonal onset of the southwest monsoon.

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