Arabian Sea Fronts and Barrier Layers
Abstract
Watermass interleaving, subduction, and barrier layer formation at thermohaline fronts in the Northern Arabian Sea will be investigated using adaptive sampling with autonomous instrumentation. In the Arabian Sea, salinity plays an important role in stratification of the upper ocean. Salinity?stratified stable “barrier” layers inhibit entrainment of cool thermocline water into the mixed layer and thus allow faster warming of the surface ocean in spring; this, in turn, has a pronounced local climate effect and may control the onset of the summer monsoon. In the Northern and Central Arabian Sea, such barrier layers are thought to be formed via subduction of the high?salinity waters originating in the north and east of the basin under the relatively fresh Bay of Bengal water. Details of the subduction process, however, are not known. I propose to conduct autonomous adaptive surveying of the structure and scales of interleaving features in Central Arabian Sea using the pool of autonomous instruments jointly?operated by the NASCar team. Surface drifters and profiling floats will be used to establish an advecting frame of reference, in which multi?scale nested surface and subsurface surveys will be conducted with ocean gliders. At the same time, the broader NASCar array of profiling floats will provide the context of the watermass structure in the basin and to improve the regional climatology of barrier layer occurrence and extent.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2016
- Source ID
- N000141512317
Entities
People
- Andrey Y. Shcherbina
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Washington