Impact of barrier layer on winter-spring variability of the southeastern Arabian Sea

In the present study, we use a coupled model to evaluate the effect of shallow salinity stratification on the sea surface temperature (SST) and on the monsoon onset in the southeastern Arabian Sea (SEAS). A 100-year control experiment shows that the coupled model reproduces the main climatic features in this region in terms of SST, precipitation and barrier layer (BL). A 100-year sensitivity experiment (where BL effects have been suppressed in the SEAS) shows that BL enhances the spring SST warming by 0.5 degrees C, and leads to a statistically significant increase of precipitation in May (3 mm/day) linked to an early (10 to 15 days) monsoon onset. This suggests that the BL extent may be a useful predictor of the summer monsoon onset in the area with a two-month lead-time. However the effect above is mostly concentrated in the SEAS, and there is no significant impact over continental India.

Keyword(s)

summer monsoon season, surface temperature, indian ocean, mixed layer, northeast monsoon, southwest monsoon, onset vortex, coupled GCM, mechanisms, evolution

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Masson S, Luo JJ, Madec G, Vialard Jerome, Durand F, Gualdi S, Guilyardi E, Behera S, Delecluse P, Navarra A, Yamagata T (2005). Impact of barrier layer on winter-spring variability of the southeastern Arabian Sea. Geophysical Research Letters. 32 (07703). 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004GL021980, https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00203/31422/

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