Durand Fabien auteur aut IRD Shankar D. auteur aut IRD Montégut C. D. B. auteur aut IRD Shenoi S. S. C. auteur aut IRD Blanke B. auteur aut IRD Madec G. auteur aut IRD text journalArticle eng text/pdf reformatted digital access The effect of salinity on the formation of the barrier layer ( BL) in the southeastern Arabian Sea ( SEAS) is investigated using an ocean general circulation model. In accordance with previous studies, the runoff distribution and the India-Sri Lanka passage have a strong impact on the realism of the salinity simulated in the area at seasonal time scales. The model simulates a BL pattern in fairly good agreement with available observations. Eulerian and Lagrangian approaches show that the BL is formed by two complementary processes, the arrival of low-salinity surface waters that are cooled en route to the SEAS and downwelling of waters mostly local to the SEAS in the subsurface layers. The surface waters are partly of Bay of Bengal origin and are partly from the SEAS, but are cooled east and south of Sri Lanka in the model. That the downwelled subsurface waters are warm and are not cooled leads to temperature inversions in the BL. The main forcing for this appears to be remotely forced planetary waves. specialized 021 020 20 10 2109-2120 2007 0894-8755 https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010040656 10.1175/JCLI4112.1 0894-8755 [F B010040656] https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010040656 https://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/2024-12/010040656.pdf IRD - Base Horizon / Pleins textes 2007-09-04 2024-12-24 fdi:010040656 fre