Abstract
The Bay of Bengal (BOB) is known to possess complex thermodynamics which show distinct seasonal patterns. Surface heat fluxes in the BOB are very much dependant on upper ocean heat exchanges and wind. Sensible heat flux (SHF) is also one among those fluxes that depends on air-sea temperature difference and wind. However, this study further proves that a strong relationship exists between barrier layer thickness (BLT) and SHF variability that has not been focussed on in earlier literatures. This study also investigates the seasonal as well as inter-annual variability of SHF and its relationship with BLT and sea surface temperature (SST) patterns in more detail with statistical analyses. It is found that both SST and BLT are responsible for the evolution of SHF signal in the BOB although their effects are spatially distributed. During the post monsoon period, freshwater induced enhanced BLT is more related to SHF than the summer time when effect of SST is found to be dominant. During Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) years, the correlation between SHF and BLT in the eastern BOB is more pronounced compared to SHF and SST. The western BOB however is dominated by SST variations for the respective IOD phase which also contribute to SHF signals there. Northernmost BOB shows high standard deviation due to river discharge effects.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ashok K, Chan WL, Motoi T, Yamagata T (2004) Decadal variability of the Indian Ocean dipole. Geophys Res Lett 31(24):L24207. doi:10.1029/2004GL021345
Ashok K, Guan Z, Yamagata T (2003) A look at the relationship between the ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 81(1):41–56
Cai W, Zheng XT, Weller E, Collins M, Cowan T, Lengaigne M, Yu W, Yamagata T (2013) Projected response of the Indian Ocean Dipole to greenhouse warming. Nat Geosci 6:999–1007
Carton JA, Giese BS (2008) A reanalysis of ocean climate using Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA). Mon Weather Rev 136(8):2999–3017
Chacko N, Ravichandran M, Rao RR, Shenoi SSC (2012) An anomalous cooling event observed in the Bay of Bengal during June 2009. Ocean Dyn 62:671–681
Cheng X, Xie SP, McCreary JP, Qi Y, Du Y (2013) Intraseasonal variability of sea surface height in the Bay of Bengal. J Geophys Res-Oceans 118(2):816–830
Chowdary JS, Gnanaseelan C (2007) Basin-wide warming of the Indian Ocean during El Niño and Indian Ocean dipole years. Int J Clima 27(11):1421–1438
Felton CS, Subrahmanyam B, Murty VSN, Shriver JF (2014) Estimation of the barrier layer thickness in the Indian Ocean using Aquarius Salinity. J Geophys Res-Oceans 119(7):4200–4213
Ghoshal T, Sil S, Chakraborty A (2014a) An inter-comparison of daily and monthly in situ, satellite derived and reanalyzed sea surface temperature climatology fields over the Bay of Bengal. Mar Geod 37(1):65–76
Ghoshal T, Jana S, Chakraborty A (2014b) Implication of empirical orthogonal function analysis to objectively analyzed sea surface temperature data of Bay of Bengal. Indian J Geomarine Sci 43(1):39–44
Girishkumar MS, Ravichandran M, McPhaden MJ, Rao RR (2011) Intraseasonal variability in barrier layer thickness in the south central Bay of Bengal. J Geophys Res-Oceans 116(C3):C03009. doi:10.1029/2010JC006657
Leena P (2000) Dynamic and thermodynamic structure of the monsoon boundary layer over India. Ph.D. Thesis, Cochin University of Science and Technology, 76 p
Li T, Zhang Y, Lu E, Wang D (2002) Relative role of dynamic and thermodynamic processes in the development of the Indian Ocean dipole: an OGCM diagnosis. Geophys Res Lett 29(23): 251–254
Ma Z, Fei J, Huang X, Cheng X (2015) Contributions of surface sensible heat fluxes to tropical cyclone. Part I: evolution of tropical cyclone intensity and structure. J Atmos Sci 72(1):120–140
Park S, Deser C, Alexander MA (2005) Estimation of the surface heat flux response to sea surface temperature anomalies over the global oceans. J Climate 18(21):4582–4599
Qiu Y, Cai W, Li L, Guo X (2012) Argo profiles variability of barrier layer in the tropical Indian Ocean and its relationship with the Indian Ocean Dipole. Geophys Res Lett 39(8):L08605. doi:10.1029/2012GL051441
Rao RR, Kumar MG, Ravichandran M, Rao AR, Gopalakrishna VV, Thadathil P (2010) Interannual variability of Kelvin wave propagation in the wave guides of the equatorial Indian Ocean, the coastal Bay of Bengal and the southeastern Arabian Sea during 1993–2006. Deep-Sea Res Pt I 57(1):1–13
Rao SA, Behera SK, Masumoto Y, Yamagata T (2002a) Interannual subsurface variability in the tropical Indian Ocean with a special emphasis on the Indian Ocean dipole. Deep-Sea Res Pt II 49(7):1549–1572
Rao SA, Gopalakrishna VV, Shetye SR, Yamagata T (2002b) Why were cool SST anomalies absent in the Bay of Bengal during the 1997 Indian Ocean Dipole Event? Geophys Res Lett 29(11): 501–504
Saji NH, Goswami BN, Vinayachandran PN, Yamagata T (1999) A dipole mode in the tropical Indian Ocean. Nature 401:360–363
Sengupta D, Bharath Raj GN, Shenoi SSC (2006) Surface freshwater from Bay of Bengal runoff and Indonesian Throughflow in the tropical Indian Ocean. Geophys Res Lett 33(22):L22609. doi:10.1029/2006GL027573
Shenoi SSC, Shankar D, Shetye SR (2002) Differences in heat budgets of the near-surface Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal: implications for the summer monsoon. J Geophys Res 107:1–13
Taylor PK, Bradley EF, Fairall CW, Legler D, Schulz J, Weller RA, White GH (2001) Surface fluxes and surface reference sites. In: Koblinsky CJ, Smith NR (eds) Observing the oceans in the 21st century. GODAE Project Office/Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, pp 177–197
Thadathil P, Muraleedharan PM, Rao RR, Somayajulu YK, Reddy GV, Revichandran C (2007) Observed seasonal variability of barrier layer in the Bay of Bengal. J Geophys Res-Oceans 112(C2):C02009. doi:10.1029/2006JC003651
Torrence C, Compo GP (1998) A practical guide to wavelet analysis. B Am Meteorol Soc 79:61–78
Vialard J, Jayakumar A, Gnanaseelan C, Lengaigne M, Sengupta D, Goswami BN (2012) Processes of 30–90 days sea surface temperature variability in the northern Indian Ocean during boreal summer. Climate Dynam 38(9–10):1901–1916
Vinayachandran PN, Francis PA, Rao SA (2009) Indian Ocean Dipole: processes and impacts. Curr Trends Sci SV:569–589
Vinayachandran PN, Neema CP, Mathew S, Remya R (2012) Mechanisms of summer intra-seasonal sea surface temperature oscillations over Bay of Bengal. J Geophys Res 117(C1):C01005. doi:10.1029/2011JC007433
Vinayachandran PN, Shetye SR, Sengupta D, Gadgil S (1996) Forcing mechanisms of the Bay of Bengal circulation. Curr Sci India 71:753–763
Vissa NK, Satyanarayana ANV, Prasad Kumar B (2013) Comparison of mixed layer depth and barrier layer thickness for the Indian Ocean using two different climatologies. Int J Climatol 33(13): 2855–2870
Yu L, Jin X, Weller RA (2008) Multidecade global flux datasets from the Objectively Analyzed Air-sea Fluxes (OAFlux) Project: latent and sensible heat fluxes, ocean evaporation, and related surface meteorological variables. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, OAFlux Project Technical Report OA-2008-01, 64 p
Yu B, Boer GJ, Zwiers FW, Merryfield WJ (2011) Covariability of SST and surface heat fluxes in reanalyses and CMIP3 climate models. Clim Dynam 36(3–4):589–605
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cyriac, A., Ghoshal, T., Shaileshbhai, P.R. et al. Variability of sensible heat flux over the Bay of Bengal and its connection to Indian Ocean Dipole events. Ocean Sci. J. 51, 97–107 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-016-0009-9
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12601-016-0009-9