ORCID Profile
0000-0002-4746-8335
Current Organisation
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
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Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 28-03-2023
DOI: 10.1029/2022JC019439
Abstract: Eddy‐freshwater interaction is studied in the north Bay of Bengal (BoB) with a high‐resolution simulation using the Regional Ocean Modeling System. Following observations, the model simulates the trapping and homogenization of river water by a cyclonic mesoscale eddy on a submonthly time scale from October to November 2015. As fresh river water is trapped in the eddy, it is characterized by strong vertical and lateral gradients in salinity. Within a few weeks, these gradients relax along with the progressive homogenization of freshwater within the eddy. A mixed‐layer salinity budget shows the importance of ageostrophic vertical advection in addition to lateral advection during the evolution of salinity within the eddy. An analysis of the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) budget in the upper ocean indicates the development of barotropic and baroclinic instabilities. The vertical profiles of EKE conversion terms reveal that the surface freshwater was involved in the evolution of baroclinic instability within the mixed layer. In addition, an eddy available potential energy (EPE) budget shows that the entrainment of the river water raises the EPE, which is due to an increase in lateral salinity gradients across the eddy during the trapping event. Subsequently, the salinity homogenization leads to a decrease in the EPE, and its rate of decay is modulated by a correlation between surface buoyancy fluxes and density anomalies. Finally, reanalysis data show similar trapping and homogenization of freshwater events across multiple years, highlighting the importance of this mechanism on the subseasonal time scale in the BoB.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 13-12-2021
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 06-2021
DOI: 10.1029/2021JC017180
Abstract: Freshwater from rivers influences Indian summer monsoon rainfall and tropical cyclones by stratifying the upper layer and warming the subsurface ocean in the Bay of Bengal (BoB). Here, we use in situ and satellite data with reanalysis to showcase how river water experiences a significant increase in salinity on sub‐seasonal timescales. This involves the trapping and homogenization of freshwater by a cyclonic eddy in the Bay. Using a specific ex le from 2015, river water is shown to enter an eddy along its attracting manifolds within a period of 2 weeks. This leads to the formation of a highly stratified subsurface layer within the eddy. When freshest, the eddy has the largest sea‐level anomaly, spins fastest, and supports strong lateral gradients in salinity. Subsequently, observations reveal a progressive increase in salinity inside the eddy within a month. In particular, salty water spirals in, and freshwater is pulled out across the eddy boundary. Lagrangian experiments elucidate this process, whereby horizontal chaotic mixing provides a mechanism for the rapid increase in surface salinity. A salinity budget also suggests that horizontal advection explains much of the change in mixed layer salinity. Further, the adjustment of this freshwater eddy triggers submesoscale dynamics which appear to be an integral part of the process of salinity homogenization. This pathway is distinct from vertical diffusive mixing and is likely to be important for the evolution of salinity in the BoB.
Location: India
Location: United States of America
No related grants have been discovered for Nihar Paul.