EKAMSAT

EKAMSAT

The Northern Indian Ocean (NIO), including Bay of Bengal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka EEZ, is a critical moisture source for the southwest monsoon, which influences the health and livelihoods of the billions of people inhabiting South Asia. The role of coincident evolution of the atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL) and air-sea exchange and ocean dynamics in the maintenance and collapse of the NIO mini warm pool is still an open question although previous studies have pointed toward the importance of salinity-stratified barrier layers—a remnant signature of lateral stirring between the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal waters. The proposed research effort will provide a new modeling and observation framework for resolving coupled model biases in the region. Fieldwork and modeling will be designed to address the following questions: What processes control the maintenance and dissipation of the NIO warm pool? How does variation in warm pool strength and stability in the ABL modulate local air-sea fluxes? What processes are misrepresented in coupled models leading to short-term to sub-seasonal to climate time scales moisture & precipitation dry biases in forecasts? Our international partner is with India, Sri Lanka, and Maldives for this air-sea interaction program and the joint program is called EKAMSAT.