Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal

Internal waves (IWs) are generated in all the oceans, and their amplitudes are large, especially in regions that receive a large amount of freshwater from nearby rivers, which promote highly stratified waters. When barotropic tides encounter regions of shallow bottom-topography, internal tides (know...

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Main Authors: Bulusu Subrahmanyam, V.S.N. Murty, Sarah B. Hall
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-07-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/14/3474
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author Bulusu Subrahmanyam
V.S.N. Murty
Sarah B. Hall
author_facet Bulusu Subrahmanyam
V.S.N. Murty
Sarah B. Hall
author_sort Bulusu Subrahmanyam
collection DOAJ
description Internal waves (IWs) are generated in all the oceans, and their amplitudes are large, especially in regions that receive a large amount of freshwater from nearby rivers, which promote highly stratified waters. When barotropic tides encounter regions of shallow bottom-topography, internal tides (known as IWs of the tidal period) are generated and propagated along the pycnocline due to halocline or thermocline. In the North Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Andaman Sea receive a large volume of freshwater from major rivers and net precipitation during the summer monsoon. This study addresses the characteristics of internal tides in the BoB and Andaman Sea using NASA’s Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project’s high-resolution (1/48° and hourly) salinity estimates at 1 m depth (hereafter written as ECCO salinity) during September 2011–October 2012, time series of temperature, and salinity profiles from moored buoys. A comparison is made between ECCO salinity and NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) salinity and Aquarius salinity. The time series of ECCO salinity and observed salinity are subjected to bandpass filtering with an 11–14 h period and 22–26 h period to detect and estimate the characteristics of semi-diurnal and diurnal period internal tides. Our analysis reveals that the ECCO salinity captured well the surface imprints of diurnal period internal tide propagating through shallow pycnocline (~50 m depth) due to halocline, and the latter suppresses the impact of semi-diurnal period internal tide propagating at thermocline (~100 m depth) reaching the sea surface. The semi-diurnal (diurnal) period internal tides have their wavelengths and phase speeds increased (decreased) from the central Andaman Sea to the Sri Lanka coast. Propagation of diurnal period internal tide is dominant in the northern BoB and northern Andaman Sea.
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spelling doaj.art-4a71849afd6847bcb4b0e6d55526b00e2023-11-18T21:11:17ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922023-07-011514347410.3390/rs15143474Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of BengalBulusu Subrahmanyam0V.S.N. Murty1Sarah B. Hall2School of the Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USAPhysical Oceanography Division, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)—National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Regional Centre, Visakhapatnam 530017, IndiaSchool of the Earth, Ocean and Environment, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USAInternal waves (IWs) are generated in all the oceans, and their amplitudes are large, especially in regions that receive a large amount of freshwater from nearby rivers, which promote highly stratified waters. When barotropic tides encounter regions of shallow bottom-topography, internal tides (known as IWs of the tidal period) are generated and propagated along the pycnocline due to halocline or thermocline. In the North Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and the Andaman Sea receive a large volume of freshwater from major rivers and net precipitation during the summer monsoon. This study addresses the characteristics of internal tides in the BoB and Andaman Sea using NASA’s Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project’s high-resolution (1/48° and hourly) salinity estimates at 1 m depth (hereafter written as ECCO salinity) during September 2011–October 2012, time series of temperature, and salinity profiles from moored buoys. A comparison is made between ECCO salinity and NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) salinity and Aquarius salinity. The time series of ECCO salinity and observed salinity are subjected to bandpass filtering with an 11–14 h period and 22–26 h period to detect and estimate the characteristics of semi-diurnal and diurnal period internal tides. Our analysis reveals that the ECCO salinity captured well the surface imprints of diurnal period internal tide propagating through shallow pycnocline (~50 m depth) due to halocline, and the latter suppresses the impact of semi-diurnal period internal tide propagating at thermocline (~100 m depth) reaching the sea surface. The semi-diurnal (diurnal) period internal tides have their wavelengths and phase speeds increased (decreased) from the central Andaman Sea to the Sri Lanka coast. Propagation of diurnal period internal tide is dominant in the northern BoB and northern Andaman Sea.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/14/3474Bay of BengalAndaman Seainternal tidesinternal wavesECCO salinitySMAP
spellingShingle Bulusu Subrahmanyam
V.S.N. Murty
Sarah B. Hall
Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal
Remote Sensing
Bay of Bengal
Andaman Sea
internal tides
internal waves
ECCO salinity
SMAP
title Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal
title_full Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal
title_fullStr Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal
title_full_unstemmed Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal
title_short Characteristics of Internal Tides from ECCO Salinity Estimates and Observations in the Bay of Bengal
title_sort characteristics of internal tides from ecco salinity estimates and observations in the bay of bengal
topic Bay of Bengal
Andaman Sea
internal tides
internal waves
ECCO salinity
SMAP
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/15/14/3474
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