The Northern Embayments of the Indian Ocean and the Indonesian Throughflow [BoB-AS-ITF]

Lead PI: Professor Arnold L. Gordon

Unit Affiliation: Ocean and Climate Physics, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO)

June 2020 - July 2022
Inactive
Indian Ocean ; Bay of Bengal
Project Type: Research

DESCRIPTION: The proposal continues the pursuit of understanding the complex oceanography of the Bay of Bengal and its linkage with the tropical Indian Ocean. Using the 2003-2019 Argo profiles and surface drifter data, as well as the ASIRI and Miso-BoB ship based, glider and mooring data, along with reanalysis data and satellite based observations, these research topics will be developed for publication: 1. Relative importance to the regional freshwater budget of isopycnal stirring within the Bay of Bengal to the vertical exchange across the barrier layer separating the surface layer from the thermocline; 2. The ‘Freckled Face of BoB’, induced by the impact of the eddy field to SST and associated air-sea exchange of heat; 3. Pathways linking the low salinity Bay of Bengal to the salty Arabian Sea and the role of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) plume across the Indian Ocean near 10-15°S; 4. Andaman Sea water and Intrathermocline Eddies (ITE) within the Bay of Bengal. The research will delineate aspects of the eddy field and associated upper ocean stratification within the Bay of Bengal that will have a positive impact on DoD capabilities.

SPONSOR:

Office of Naval Research

FUNDED AMOUNT:

$117,309

KEYWORDS

oceanography ocean and climate physics

THEMES

Earth fundamentals