Observed variations in air-sea exchange processes over Somali basin during monsoons 1988 and 1991

Abstract

In the north Indian Ocean, the Somali basin off the East coast of Africa (0°–15°N and 50°E–70°E) is well known for cold eddy pools and gyres during the height of the northern summer monsoon (July–September). One such well-known cold gyre that generally encircles this region is known as the “Great Whirl”. This Great Whirl is generally observed over an area 4°N–10°N, 52°E–58°E during August and September. The sea surface temperature (SST) at its centre ranges between 22 and 25°C depending upon the monsoon wind forcing. In this article, we report two case studies regarding the variability of the surface marine meteorological parameters and the surface fluxes over the Somali basin using three-hourly surface marine meteorological data collected under the Joint INDO-USSR Monsoon Experiment during August and September MONSOON-88 and MONSOON-91. The observations have shown that the centres of the Great Whirl are observed almost at the same location (i.e., 8.1°N, 56.2°E in 1988 and 8.7°N, 55.9°E in 1991) for both ...