Pathways of Arabian Sea coastal upwelled water in the northern Indian Ocean using Tracers in a numerical model

Vinu K Valsala, CGER, NIES, Tsukuba, Japan, vinu.valsala@nies.go.jp (Presenting)
Shamil Maksyutov, CGER, NIES, Tsukuba, Japan, shamil@nies.go.jp

A non-linear 2.5 layer wind driven

ocean model coupled with a 1.5 layer analytical

model for upwelling is used to identify the spreading pathways of the

upwelled water from various regions of the western Arabian Sea. The

analytical estimates of coastal upwelling yield a good quantitative

measure of total upwelling in consistence with the observations.



A 65+/-5% of Somali upwelling water intrudes the

central Arabian sea and circulates anticyclonic

to the south and advects to the east

across the northern Indian Ocean, while a 30+/-5%

intrudes the northern part of the Arabian sea where it

shares with a 70+/-5% of Arabian coastal upwelled water.

The remaining water intrudes into the Gulf of Aden with a

10+/-5% of Arabian coastal upwelled water.

At any part of the year the central north equatorial Indian Ocean is

occupied with 70+/-5% of Somali upwelled water and a

20+/-5% of Arabian Sea coastal upwelled water showing

that the former spreads faster than the later.

The longer residence time

of upwelled water in the northern Arabian Sea may attest to

the high biological productivity there.

NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster:

• Award: NNX07AK82G
  Start Date: 2007-06-01