CoAuthors

W. Timothy Liu (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA)

The hydrodynamics of the northern Indian ocean is dominated by the annual reversal of salinity advection between the more saline Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal freshened by river discharge. The advection is supposedly driven by the seasonal change of monsoon, but there is slight phase difference between change of surface current and local wind. There are hypotheses that the current is remotely forced through Kevin and Rossby Waves. The westward propagation of sea level anomalies and geostrophic current as manifestation of Rossby Waves in the north Indian Ocean has been well observed by the radar altimeters. We have also developed statistical models, with which we have mapped ocean surface carbon parameters using satellite observations. We found ocean surface salinity, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, and total alkalinity, exhibit westward propagation, with sea level, albeit at different speeds in different seasons. The underlying reasons of these differences in term of monsoon influence, local and remote, are being explored.