Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2009, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (5): 66-74.doi: 10.11978/j.issn.1009-5470.2009.05.066cstr: 32234.14.j.issn.1009-5470.2009.05.066

• Marine physics • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Seasonal variability of salinity budget in the southeastern Arabian Sea

ZHANG Yu-hong1,2,XU Hai-ming1,DU Yan2,WANG Dong-xiao2   

  1. 1.College of Atmospheric Sciences,Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology,Nanjing 210044,China;2.Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Environmental Dynamic,South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS,Guangzhou 510301,China
  • Received:2009-04-28 Revised:2009-06-08 Online:2009-11-10 Published:2009-10-10
  • Contact: 杜岩 E-mail:duyan@scsio.ac.cn
  • Supported by:

    科学院知识创新工程项目(KZCX2-YW-BR-04;LYQY200807;KZCX2-YW-214;KZCX2-YW-Q11-02)

Abstract:

Based on the monthly mean data of Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) product, the authors analyze the seasonal salinity budget of surface layer in the southeastern Arabian Sea., The salinity variation in the region cannot be explained by surface freshwater flux. The salinity budgets in two typical regions show that horizontal advection dominates salinity variation, decreasing the salinity in winter and increasing it in summer, except for the coastal region off western India where the surface freshwater flux decreases salinity in summer. During winter, the northeast monsoon current advects fresher water from the Bay of Bengal into the Arabian Sea along the same latitude and then transports the low saline-water northward, resulting in salinity reduction in the surface layer of the southeastern Arabian Sea. During summer, southwest monsoon current advects high-salinity water in the northwestern Arabian Sea southeastward, increasing the salinity in the surface layer of the southeastern Arabian Sea. In the southeastern Arabian Sea, salinity variation of the surface layer is prominently stronger in winter than in summer.

Key words: southeastern Arabian Sea, salinity budget, seasonal variation, freshwater flux, horizontal advection