Physical control of primary productivity on a seasonal scale in central and eastern Arabian Sea |
| |
| Authors: | S Prasanna Kumar M Madhupratap M Dileep Kumar M Gauns P M Muraleedharan V V S S Sarma S N De Souza |
| |
| Institution: | (1) National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, 403 004 Goa, India |
| |
| Abstract: | Usingin situ data collected during 1992–1997, under the Indian programme of Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), we show that the biological
productivity of the Arabian Sea is tightly coupled to the physical forcing mediated through nutrient availability. The Arabian
Sea becomes productive in summer not only along the coastal regions of Somalia, Arabia and southern parts of the west coast
of India due to coastal upwelling but also in the open waters of the central region. The open waters in the north are fertilized
by a combination of divergence driven by cyclonic wind stress curl to the north of the Findlater Jet and lateral advection
of nutrient-rich upwelled waters from Arabia. Productivity in the southern part of the central Arabian Sea, on the other hand,
is driven by advection from the Somalia upwelling. Surface cooling and convection resulting from reduced solar radiation and
increased evaporation make the northern region productive in winter. During both spring and fall inter-monsoons, this sea
remains warm and stratified with low production as surface waters are oligotrophic. Inter-annual variability in physical forcing
during winter resulted in one-and-a-half times higher production in 1997 than in 1995. |
| |
| Keywords: | Primary production upwelling winter cooling Ekman-pumping nutrient transport Arabian Sea |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
