Intrusion of the Bay of Bengal water into the Arabian Sea during winter monsoon and associated chemical and biological response

Abstract

Situated in similar latitudes and subjected to similar atmospheric forcing, the tropical basins of the Arabian Sea looses fresh water due to excess evaporation over precipitation while Bay of Bengal receives freshwater via excess rain and river run off. The hydrological imbalance thus created on an annual scale will have to be balanced by the inter‐basin exchange. In winter this happens through the intrusion of Bay of Bengal waters into the Arabian Sea, when the southward flowing East India Coastal Current carrying low salinity waters from the northern Bay feeds into the West India Coastal Current flowing north along the shelf in the Arabian Sea. Advection of nutrients by this intrusion triggers enhanced levels of chlorophyll near the southern part of the western shelf of India and may play a role in altering the biogeochemistry of this intense hypoxic region.