Search Results
Abstract
The Sri Lanka Dome is a cyclonic recirculation feature in the Southwest Monsoon Current system in the southern Bay of Bengal. Cooler sea surface temperature (SST) in the vicinity of this system is often denoted as the Bay of Bengal “Cold Pool.” Although the wind shadow of Sri Lanka creates a region of strong positive wind stress curl, both sea level height dynamics and the distribution of cool SST cannot be explained by wind stress curl alone via traditional Ekman pumping. Moreover, the Cold Pool region is often aligned with the eastern portion of the Sri Lanka Dome, as defined by sea surface height. Previous work has attributed the spatial SST pattern to lateral advection. In this analysis, we explore whether low-latitude weakly nonlinear “vorticity” Ekman pumping could be an explanation for both cooling and observed changes in sea level height in the southwest Bay of Bengal. We show that weakly nonlinear upwelling, calculated from ERA5 and AVISO geostrophic currents, collocates with changes in sea level height (and presumably isopycnals). While the SST signal is sensitive to several factors including the net surface flux, regional upwelling explains changes in AVISO sea level height if the nonlinear terms are included, in both the Sri Lanka Dome and the region of the Southwest Monsoon Current.
Abstract
The Sri Lanka Dome is a cyclonic recirculation feature in the Southwest Monsoon Current system in the southern Bay of Bengal. Cooler sea surface temperature (SST) in the vicinity of this system is often denoted as the Bay of Bengal “Cold Pool.” Although the wind shadow of Sri Lanka creates a region of strong positive wind stress curl, both sea level height dynamics and the distribution of cool SST cannot be explained by wind stress curl alone via traditional Ekman pumping. Moreover, the Cold Pool region is often aligned with the eastern portion of the Sri Lanka Dome, as defined by sea surface height. Previous work has attributed the spatial SST pattern to lateral advection. In this analysis, we explore whether low-latitude weakly nonlinear “vorticity” Ekman pumping could be an explanation for both cooling and observed changes in sea level height in the southwest Bay of Bengal. We show that weakly nonlinear upwelling, calculated from ERA5 and AVISO geostrophic currents, collocates with changes in sea level height (and presumably isopycnals). While the SST signal is sensitive to several factors including the net surface flux, regional upwelling explains changes in AVISO sea level height if the nonlinear terms are included, in both the Sri Lanka Dome and the region of the Southwest Monsoon Current.
Abstract
The daily formation of near-surface ocean stratification caused by penetrating solar radiation modifies heat fluxes through the air–sea interface, turbulence dissipation in the mixed layer, and the vertical profile of lateral transport. The transport is altered because momentum from wind is trapped in a thin near-surface layer, the diurnal warm layer. We investigate the dynamics of this layer, with particular attention to the vertical shear of horizontal velocity. We first develop a quantitative link between the near-surface shear components that relates the crosswind component to the inertial turning of the along-wind component. Three days of high-resolution velocity observations confirm this relation. Clear colocation of shear and stratification with Richardson numbers near 0.25 indicate marginal instability. Idealized numerical modeling is then invoked to extrapolate below the observed wind speeds. This modeling, together with a simple energetic scaling analysis, provides a rule of thumb that the diurnal shear evolves differently above and below a 2 m s−1 wind speed, with limited sensitivity of this threshold to latitude and mean net surface heat flux. Only above this wind speed is the energy input sufficient to overcome the stabilizing buoyancy flux and thereby induce marginal instability. The differing shear regimes explain differences in the timing and magnitude of diurnal sea surface temperature anomalies.
Abstract
The daily formation of near-surface ocean stratification caused by penetrating solar radiation modifies heat fluxes through the air–sea interface, turbulence dissipation in the mixed layer, and the vertical profile of lateral transport. The transport is altered because momentum from wind is trapped in a thin near-surface layer, the diurnal warm layer. We investigate the dynamics of this layer, with particular attention to the vertical shear of horizontal velocity. We first develop a quantitative link between the near-surface shear components that relates the crosswind component to the inertial turning of the along-wind component. Three days of high-resolution velocity observations confirm this relation. Clear colocation of shear and stratification with Richardson numbers near 0.25 indicate marginal instability. Idealized numerical modeling is then invoked to extrapolate below the observed wind speeds. This modeling, together with a simple energetic scaling analysis, provides a rule of thumb that the diurnal shear evolves differently above and below a 2 m s−1 wind speed, with limited sensitivity of this threshold to latitude and mean net surface heat flux. Only above this wind speed is the energy input sufficient to overcome the stabilizing buoyancy flux and thereby induce marginal instability. The differing shear regimes explain differences in the timing and magnitude of diurnal sea surface temperature anomalies.
Abstract
In low winds (
Abstract
In low winds (
Abstract
In the Bay of Bengal, the warm, dry boreal spring concludes with the onset of the summer monsoon and accompanying southwesterly winds, heavy rains, and variable air–sea fluxes. Here, we summarize the 2018 monsoon onset using observations collected through the multinational Monsoon Intraseasonal Oscillations in the Bay of Bengal (MISO-BoB) program between the United States, India, and Sri Lanka. MISO-BoB aims to improve understanding of monsoon intraseasonal variability, and the 2018 field effort captured the coupled air–sea response during a transition from active-to-break conditions in the central BoB. The active phase of the ∼20-day research cruise was characterized by warm sea surface temperature (SST > 30°C), cold atmospheric outflows with intermittent heavy rainfall, and increasing winds (from 2 to 15 m s−1). Accumulated rainfall exceeded 200 mm with 90% of precipitation occurring during the first week. The following break period was both dry and clear, with persistent 10–12 m s−1 wind and evaporation of 0.2 mm h−1. The evolving environmental state included a deepening ocean mixed layer (from ∼20 to 50 m), cooling SST (by ∼1°C), and warming/drying of the lower to midtroposphere. Local atmospheric development was consistent with phasing of the large-scale intraseasonal oscillation. The upper ocean stores significant heat in the BoB, enough to maintain SST above 29°C despite cooling by surface fluxes and ocean mixing. Comparison with reanalysis indicates biases in air–sea fluxes, which may be related to overly cool prescribed SST. Resolution of such biases offers a path toward improved forecasting of transition periods in the monsoon.
Abstract
In the Bay of Bengal, the warm, dry boreal spring concludes with the onset of the summer monsoon and accompanying southwesterly winds, heavy rains, and variable air–sea fluxes. Here, we summarize the 2018 monsoon onset using observations collected through the multinational Monsoon Intraseasonal Oscillations in the Bay of Bengal (MISO-BoB) program between the United States, India, and Sri Lanka. MISO-BoB aims to improve understanding of monsoon intraseasonal variability, and the 2018 field effort captured the coupled air–sea response during a transition from active-to-break conditions in the central BoB. The active phase of the ∼20-day research cruise was characterized by warm sea surface temperature (SST > 30°C), cold atmospheric outflows with intermittent heavy rainfall, and increasing winds (from 2 to 15 m s−1). Accumulated rainfall exceeded 200 mm with 90% of precipitation occurring during the first week. The following break period was both dry and clear, with persistent 10–12 m s−1 wind and evaporation of 0.2 mm h−1. The evolving environmental state included a deepening ocean mixed layer (from ∼20 to 50 m), cooling SST (by ∼1°C), and warming/drying of the lower to midtroposphere. Local atmospheric development was consistent with phasing of the large-scale intraseasonal oscillation. The upper ocean stores significant heat in the BoB, enough to maintain SST above 29°C despite cooling by surface fluxes and ocean mixing. Comparison with reanalysis indicates biases in air–sea fluxes, which may be related to overly cool prescribed SST. Resolution of such biases offers a path toward improved forecasting of transition periods in the monsoon.
