ABSTRACT

The surface meteorology and air-sea exchanges of heat, freshwater, and momentum at a site in the northern Bay of Bengal are described. A fourteen-month record collected from a well-instrumented surface mooring spans the summer and winter monsoon seasons and the two intermonsoon periods; it also includes the passage of cyclone Komen to the north of the mooring. The role of local air-sea interaction in governing the structure of the upper ocean and setting sea surface temperature and salinity and mixed layer depth is explored. Freshwater from cyclone Komen and subsequent riverine inputs dramatically shoal the surface mixed layer. The shallowness of the mixed layer subsequently reduces the heating of the surface layer by allowing significant penetrating shortwave radiation through its base. The cool, capping layer limits the heat available to the atmosphere during the remainder of the summer monsoon.