Publications des scientifiques de l'IRD

Kurian N., Lengaigne Matthieu, Vissa G. V., Vialard Jérôme, Pous S., Peter A. C., Durand Fabien, Naik S. (2013). Processes of India's offshore summer intraseasonal sea surface temperature variability. Ocean Dynamics, 63 (4), p. 329-346. ISSN 1616-7341.

Titre du document
Processes of India's offshore summer intraseasonal sea surface temperature variability
Année de publication
2013
Type de document
Article référencé dans le Web of Science WOS:000318515600002
Auteurs
Kurian N., Lengaigne Matthieu, Vissa G. V., Vialard Jérôme, Pous S., Peter A. C., Durand Fabien, Naik S.
Source
Ocean Dynamics, 2013, 63 (4), p. 329-346 ISSN 1616-7341
Active and break phases of the Indian summer monsoon are associated with sea surface temperature (SST) fluctuations at 30-90 days timescale in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. Mechanisms responsible for basin-scale intraseasonal SST variations have previously been discussed, but the maxima of SST variability are actually located in three specific offshore regions: the South-Eastern Arabian Sea (SEAS), the Southern Tip of India (STI) and the North-Western Bay of Bengal (NWBoB). In the present study, we use an eddy-permitting 0.25 degrees regional ocean model to investigate mechanisms of this offshore intraseasonal SST variability. Modelled climatological mixed layer and upper thermocline depth are in very good agreement with estimates from three repeated expendable bathythermograph transects perpendicular to the Indian Coast. The model intraseasonal forcing and SST variability agree well with observed estimates, although modelled intraseasonal offshore SST amplitude is underestimated by 20-30 %. Our analysis reveals that surface heat flux variations drive a large part of the intraseasonal SST variations along the Indian coastline while oceanic processes have contrasted contributions depending of the region considered. In the SEAS, this contribution is very small because intraseasonal wind variations are essentially cross-shore, and thus not associated with significant upwelling intraseasonal fluctuations. In the STI, vertical advection associated with Ekman pumping contributes to similar to 30 % of the SST fluctuations. In the NWBoB, vertical mixing diminishes the SST variations driven by the atmospheric heat flux perturbations by 40 %. Simple slab ocean model integrations show that the amplitude of these intraseasonal SST signals is not very sensitive to the heat flux dataset used, but more sensitive to mixed layer depth.
Plan de classement
Sciences fondamentales / Techniques d'analyse et de recherche [020] ; Limnologie physique / Océanographie physique [032]
Description Géographique
OCEAN INDIEN
Localisation
Fonds IRD [F B010060891]
Identifiant IRD
fdi:010060891
Contact