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Southeastern Arabian Sea Salinity variability: mechanisms and influence on surface temperature

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Abstract

Previous studies suggest that the winter surface freshening in the southeastern Arabian Sea (SEAS) contributes to the development of very high Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) thereby influencing the following summer monsoon onset. Here, we use forced and coupled simulations with a regional ocean general circulation model to explore the SEAS Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) variability mechanisms and impact on the monsoon. Both configurations capture the main SEAS oceanographic features, and confirm that the winter SSS decrease results from horizontal advection of Bay of Bengal freshwater by the cyclonic circulation around India during fall. A coupled model sensitivity experiment where salinity has no effect on mixing indicates that the salinity stratification reduces the SEAS mixed layer cooling by vertical processes by 3 °C seasonally. Salinity however enhances mixed layer cooling by a similar amount through concentrating negative winter surface heat fluxes into a thinner mixed layer, resulting in no climatological impact on SST and summer monsoon rainfall. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is the main driver of the winter SEAS SSS interannual variability (r ~ 0.8). Salty anomalies generated in the western Bay of Bengal during fall by positive IOD events are indeed transported by the cyclonic climatological coastal circulation, reaching the SEAS in winter. By this time, warm IOD-induced SST anomalies in the SEAS are already decaying, and the SEAS SSS anomalies hence do not contribute to their development. Overall, our model results suggest a weak climatological and interannual impact of the SEAS winter freshening on local SST and following monsoon onset.

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Data Availability

The observed SSS data used in this study is from ESA-CCI + SSS V3 monthly product (https://climate.esa.int/fr/odp/#/project/sea-surface-salinity). SST data is from OI-SST V2 (https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/gridded/data.noaa.oisst.v2.highres). SLA data is from AVISO dataset (www.aviso.oceanobs.com/fr/accueil/index.html). Mixed layer and Barrier layer data is from Ifremer (https://cerweb.ifremer.fr/deboyer/mld/home.php).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Director of CSIR-NIO (“CSIR- National Institute of Oceanography, India”) for providing the facilities and encouragement for the completion of this work. We also thank Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (“IRD”, France) for the support to the collaboration on Indian Ocean research with the CSIR-NIO This is NIO contribution number 7045.

Funding

The authors acknowledge the support from EEQ/2021/001123 project funded by DST-SERB, CCI + Sea Surface Salinity project funded by ESA (European Space Agency) and by the SMOS CNES project funding. Keerthi MG is supported through a postdoctoral fellowship from CNES & CNRS, France.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Oceanography Division, CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, India

    V. P. Akhil

  2. MARBEC, University of Montpellier, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, Sete, France

    M. Lengaigne

  3. School of Environmental Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin, India

    K. S. Krishnamohan

  4. LOCEAN-IPSL, Sorbonne Universités-CNRS-IRD-MNHN, Paris, France

    M. G. Keerthi & J. Vialard

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VPA, ML, MGK and JV conceived and developed the study. VPA and KSK performed the data analysis and made the plots. VPA, ML and JV made the interpretation of the results and wrote the manuscript. ML and JV supervised the whole research.

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Correspondence to V. P. Akhil.

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Akhil, V.P., Lengaigne, M., Krishnamohan, K.S. et al. Southeastern Arabian Sea Salinity variability: mechanisms and influence on surface temperature. Clim Dyn 61, 3737–3754 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06765-z

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