Fig. 1

Monthly averaged surface flow distribution in the BOB. Panels (a~f) represent the mean geostrophic current of each two months from January to December in the climate state of the AVISO data. The black arrows indicates the geostrophic current, while the shading indicates the velocity of geostrophic current. The blue solid line is the selected irregular section, about 100 km from the west boundary of the BOB, which can be considered parallel to the coastline"

Fig. 2

Monthly variation of surface currents along the irregular section (solid blue line in Fig. 1). Monthly surface currents from the data of AVISO (a), OSCAR (b), and OFES (c). Shading represents the projected velocity along the coastline, and the northward flow along the coastline is positive"

Fig. 3

Seasonal variations of AVISO surface geostrophic current (a, b, c) and OFES projected velocity along the coastline along the irregular section (solid blue line in Fig. 1) (d, e, f). February to May (a, d); June to August (b, e); October to December (c, f). Shading represents the projected velocity along the coastline, and the northward flow along the coastline is positive"

Fig. 4

Three-dimensional cross-section distribution of monthly mean meridional velocity in the BOB. We show the seasonal mean meridional current of February - May (a), June - August (b), and October - December (c) from OFES data"

Fig. 5

Seasonal variation of wind stress curl and time series of sea-surface height in the BOB. (a, b, c) Seasonal mean 10-m wind field (black arrow) and wind stress curl field (shading) of ECMWF data from February - May, June - August, and October - December. (d) Distribution of selected stations along the BOB coast and three sections of 7°N, 11°N, and 15°N. (e) Time series of sea-surface height of stations along the BOB coast. (f) Corresponding time-station lag regression of the observed sea-surface height with respect to the normalized sea-surface height at the stations indicated by blue star (90°E, 0) in Fig. 5d. (g, h, i) Time series of sea-surface height cross the 7°N, 11°N, and 15°N sections (black solid line in Fig. 5d)"

Fig. 6

Spatial distribution of correlation coefficients between the AVISO geostrophic current and ECMWF wind. (a) Average from February to May; (b) Average from June to August; and (c) Average from October to December"

Fig. 7

Spatial distribution of the mean flow field, temperature field (a, b, c), and salinity field (d, e, f) in the upper 100 m of the east coast of India. (a, d) average from February to May; (b, e) average from June to August; and (c, f) average from October to December. The black arrow represents the current velocity, and the red solid line represents the general range of the EICC"

Fig. 8

Annual average contributions of meridional heat transport (a) and salt transport (b) to the BOB in the upper 100 m of the EICC. The positive (negative) contribution indicates that EICC is beneficial to the increase (decrease) of temperature or salinity in the BOB"

Fig. 9

Seasonal average contributions of meridional heat transport (a, b, c) and salt transport (d, e, f) to the BOB in the upper 100 m of the EICC. (a, d) average from February to May; (b, e) average from June to August; and (c, f) average from October to December"

Fig. 10

Contributions of heat and salt transports to the BOB at three transects 50 ~ 150 km from the east coast of India (area shown by black solid line in Fig. 9e)"