Mixed Layer Heat and Fresh Water Balance in North Bay of Bengal (18N, 90E) Using a Seaglider and Mooring

V P Thangaprakash1, M S Girishkumar1, Shivaprasad. S1, Dipanjan Chaudhuri2, N Sureshkumar1, M. Ravichandran1, Debasis Sengupta3 and Robert A Weller4, (1)Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, India, (2)Indian Institute of Science, Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Bangalore, India, (3)Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, (4)Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
Abstract:
The Bay of Bengal (BoB) receives the large quantity of freshwater by excess precipitation over evaporation and runoff. This large freshwater flux into the BoB leads to strong haline stratification in the near surface layer, which have significant impact on the evolution of near thermo-haline structure and air-sea interactions process in those areas. However, lack of systematic measurements of observations, the factors that are modulating near mixed layer salinity and temperature in these freshwater pool in the northern BoB is not yet understood clearly.

Under OMM - ASIRI (Ocean mixing and monsoon - Air sea interaction regional initiatives in the Northern Indian Ocean) programme, 3 month repeated hydrographic survey using seaglider in a butterfly (or bowtie) track centered around a mooring in the North Bay of Bengal (18N, 89E) equipped with near surface ASIMET sensors and subsurface temperature and salinity measurements, which provides unprecedental data source to quantify the relative contribution of different process on the evolution of near surface thermo-haline field through mixed layer heat and salt budget. The results of the analysis will be presented.

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