scholarly journals Intraseasonal Variability of Air–Sea Fluxes over the Bay of Bengal during the Southwest Monsoon

2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (17) ◽  
pp. 7087-7109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Sanchez-Franks ◽  
Elizabeth C. Kent ◽  
Adrian J. Matthews ◽  
Benjamin G. M. Webber ◽  
Simon C. Peatman ◽  
...  

In the Bay of Bengal (BoB), surface heat fluxes play a key role in monsoon dynamics and prediction. The accurate representation of large-scale surface fluxes is dependent on the quality of gridded reanalysis products. Meteorological and surface flux variables from five reanalysis products are compared and evaluated against in situ data from the Research Moored Array for African–Asian–Australian Monsoon Analysis and Prediction (RAMA) in the BoB. The reanalysis products: ERA-Interim (ERA-I), TropFlux, MERRA-2, JRA-55, and CFSR are assessed for their characterization of air–sea fluxes during the southwest monsoon season [June–September (JJAS)]. ERA-I captured radiative fluxes best while TropFlux captured turbulent and net heat fluxes Qnet best, and both products outperformed JRA-55, MERRA-2, and CFSR, showing highest correlations and smallest biases when compared to the in situ data. In all five products, the largest errors were in shortwave radiation QSW and latent heat flux QLH, with nonnegligible biases up to approximately 75 W m−2. The QSW and QLH are the largest drivers of the observed Qnet variability, thus highlighting the importance of the results from the buoy comparison. There are also spatially coherent differences in the mean basinwide fields of surface flux variables from the reanalysis products, indicating that the biases at the buoy position are not localized. Biases of this magnitude have severe implications on reanalysis products’ ability to capture the variability of monsoon processes. Hence, the representation of intraseasonal variability was investigated through the boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation, and we found that TropFlux and ERA-I perform best at capturing intraseasonal climate variability during the southwest monsoon season.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjam van der Mheen ◽  
Erik van Sebille ◽  
Charitha Pattiaratchi

Abstract. A large percentage of global ocean plastic waste enters the northern hemisphere Indian Ocean (NIO). Despite this, it is unclear what happens to buoyant plastics in the NIO. Because the subtropics in the NIO is blocked by landmass, there is no subtropical gyre and no associated subtropical garbage patch in this region. We therefore hypothesise that plastics "beach" and end up on coastlines along the Indian Ocean rim. In this paper, we determine the influence of beaching plastics by applying different beaching conditions to Lagrangian particle tracking simulation results. Our results show that a large amount of plastic likely ends up on coastlines in the NIO, while some crosses the equator into the southern hemisphere Indian Ocean (SIO). In the NIO, the transport of plastics is dominated by seasonally reversing monsoonal currents, which transport plastics back and forth between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. All buoyant plastic material in this region beaches within a few years in our simulations. Countries bordering the Bay of Bengal are particularly heavily affected by plastics beaching on coastlines. This is a result of both the large sources of plastic waste in the region, as well as ocean dynamics which concentrate plastics in the Bay of Bengal. During the intermonsoon period following the southwest monsoon season (September, October, November), plastics can cross the equator on the eastern side of the NIO basin into the SIO. Plastics that escape from the NIO into the SIO beach on eastern African coastlines and islands in the SIO or enter the subtropical SIO garbage patch.


Ocean Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 1317-1336
Author(s):  
Mirjam van der Mheen ◽  
Erik van Sebille ◽  
Charitha Pattiaratchi

Abstract. A large percentage of global ocean plastic waste enters the Northern Hemisphere Indian Ocean (NIO). Despite this, it is unclear what happens to buoyant plastics in the NIO. Because the subtropics in the NIO are blocked by landmass, there is no subtropical gyre and no associated subtropical garbage patch in this region. We therefore hypothesize that plastics “beach” and end up on coastlines along the Indian Ocean rim. In this paper, we determine the influence of beaching plastics by applying different beaching conditions to Lagrangian particle-tracking simulation results. Our results show that a large amount of plastic likely ends up on coastlines in the NIO, while some crosses the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere Indian Ocean (SIO). In the NIO, the transport of plastics is dominated by seasonally reversing monsoonal currents, which transport plastics back and forth between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. All buoyant plastic material in this region beaches within a few years in our simulations. Countries bordering the Bay of Bengal are particularly heavily affected by plastics beaching on coastlines. This is a result of both the large sources of plastic waste in the region and the ocean dynamics that concentrate plastics in the Bay of Bengal. During the intermonsoon period following the southwest monsoon season (September, October, November), plastics can cross the Equator on the eastern side of the NIO basin into the SIO. Plastics that escape from the NIO into the SIO beach on eastern African coastlines and islands in the SIO or enter the subtropical SIO garbage patch.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Kinzel ◽  
Marc Schröder ◽  
Karsten Fennig ◽  
Axel Andersson ◽  
Rainer Hollmann

Abstract. Latent heat fluxes (LHF) are one of the main contributors to the global energy budget. As the density of LHF measurements over the global oceans is generally poor, the potential of remotely sensed LHF for meteorological applications is enormous. However, to date none of the available satellite products include estimates of systematic, random retrieval, and sampling uncertainties, all of which are essential for assessing their quality. Here, this challenge is taken on by applying regionally independent multi-dimensional bias analyses to LHF-related parameters (wind speed U, near-surface specific humidity qa, and sea surface saturation specific humidity qs) of the Hamburg Ocean Atmosphere Parameters and Fluxes from Satellite (HOAPS) climatology. In connection with multiple triple collocation analyses, it is demonstrated how both instantaneous (gridded) uncertainty measures may be assigned to each pixel (grid box). A high-quality in situ data archive including buoys and selected ships serves as the ground reference. Results show that systematic LHF uncertainties range between 15–50 W m-2 with a global mean of 25 W m-2. Local maxima are mainly found over the subtropical ocean basins as well as along the western boundary currents. Investigations indicate that contributions by qa (U) to the overall LHF uncertainty are in the order of 60 % (25 %). From an instantaneous point of view, random retrieval uncertainties are specifically large over the subtropics with a global average of 37 W m-2. In a climatological sense, their magnitudes become negligible, as do respective sampling uncertainties. Time series analyses show footprints of climate events, such as the strong El Niño during 1997/98. Regional and seasonal analyses suggest that largest total (i.e., systematic + instantaneous random) LHF uncertainties are seen over the Gulf Stream and the Indian monsoon region during boreal winter. In light of the uncertainty measures, the observed continuous global mean LHF increase up to 2009 needs to be treated with caution. First intercomparisons to other LHF climatologies (in situ, satellite) reveal overall resemblance with few, yet distinct exceptions.


MAUSAM ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-276
Author(s):  
H. N. SRIVASTAVA ◽  
K. C. SINHARAY ◽  
R. K. MUKHOPADHYAY

The study deals with the spatial and temporal variations of intra-seasonal oscillations in radio refractive index during southwest monsoon season over India and islands over Indian seas. Average daily radio refractive index data from 1 June to 30 September and that of the individual years for the period 1969-1986 were subjected to harmonic analysis to investigate the contributions of various periodicities in monsoon radio refractive index. The inter-annual variability of various intra-seasonal oscillations have been studied for each 5° latitudinal strip from 50 oN to 30° N with the help of variance explained by various frequency modes for different years. Variance explained by 30-60 day and 10-20 day modes were studied in relation to monsoon performance.   The northward and eastward propagation of30.60 day mod~ was noticed. The 10.20 day mode and seasonal mode dominate at latitudinal belts 5°N.10oN and 25°N-30°N respectively. Between 10°N and 25°N, both 30-60 day and 10-20 day modes occur.  


Author(s):  
Kanchan P. Rathoure

The area in question has diversified relief and amount of rainfall and soil types. It is dry region lies in east, irrigated region in north and tribal-dominant population dominant in the west. Ahmednagar district is situated partly in the upper Godavari basin and partly in the Bhīma basin occupying a somewhat central position in Maharashtra state. The climate of the district is characterized by a hot summer and general dryness throughout the year except during the southwest monsoon season (i.e., June to September). Physiographically the district forms part of Deccan Plateau. Part of Sahayadri hill ranges fall in the district. Here in this chapter, the author has elaborated about soil quality and ground water quality near IOCL Terminal Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, India.


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