Persistence of Cold Wedges in the Somali Current System
Abstract
The Somali Current system in the western Arabian Sea reverses seasonally with the South Asian Monsoon and is associated with localized upwelling cells or cold wedges during the summer southwest monsoon. Drifter trajectories in boreal summer and fall 2014 provide rare observational evidence that the northward Somali Current and associated cold wedges can persist into the boreal fall intermonsoon period. The near‐surface circulation and sea surface temperatures further suggest that the wedge‐like surface signatures may intermittently be capped and then reappear at a later time. Our observations show that the northward Somali Current system rapidly decayed within 1 week after the onset of the winter northeast monsoon and the arrival of a cyclonic eddy at the coast in early November 2014. This eddy may not only have affected regional ocean‐atmosphere interactions but also biogeochemical processes and the marine ecosystem through the transport of water properties and locally induced upwelling.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Feb 22, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1029/2022gl101876
Entities
People
- Luca R. Centurioni
- Theresa Paluszkiewicz
- Verena Hormann
Organizations
- NOAA Research
- Office of Naval Research
- University of California, San Diego