Injection of oxygenated Persian Gulf Water into the southern Bay of Bengal

Sheehan, Peter M F ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4906-5724, Webber, Ben G M ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8812-5929, Sanchez-Franks, Alejandra, Matthews, Adrian J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0492-1168, Heywood, Karen J ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9859-0026 and Vinayachandran, P N (2020) Injection of oxygenated Persian Gulf Water into the southern Bay of Bengal. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (14). ISSN 0094-8276

[thumbnail of Injection of oxygenated Persian Gulf Water into the southern Bay of Bengal]
Preview
PDF (Injection of oxygenated Persian Gulf Water into the southern Bay of Bengal) - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (9MB) | Preview

Abstract

Persian Gulf Water (PGW) is an oxygenated, high-salinity water mass that has recently been detected in the Bay of Bengal (BoB). However, little is known about the transport pathways of PGW into the BoB. Ocean glider observations presented here demonstrate the presence of PGW in the southwestern BoB. Output from an ocean reanalysis product shows that this PGW signal is associated with a northward-flowing filament of high-salinity water. Particle tracking experiments reveal two pathways: one in the eastern Arabian Sea that takes a minimum of 2 years and another in the western Arabian Sea that takes a minimum of 3 years. The western pathway connects to the BoB via equatorial currents. The greatest influx of PGW occurs between 82° and 87°E during the southwest monsoon. We propose that injection of PGW to the BoB oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) contributes to keeping oxygen concentrations in the BoB above the level at which denitrification occurs.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: bay of bengal,persian gulf,ocean gliders,oxygen-minimum zones,particle tracking,water masses,geophysics,earth and planetary sciences(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1908
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science > School of Mathematics (former - to 2024)
Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences (former - to 2024)
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climatic Research Unit
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Fluids & Structures
Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Numerical Simulation, Statistics & Data Science
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 10 Jun 2020 00:28
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2024 12:42
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/75502
DOI: 10.1029/2020GL087773

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item