Numerical study of the seasonal salinity budget of the upper ocean in the Bay of Bengal in 2014

Impact factors on the salinity budget, especially the eddy salt fluxes and smaller-scale diffusive salt fluxes for the upper 50 m of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) in 2014 are investigated using a box model based on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) daily outputs. The model results reproduce that the precipitation and river runoffs are the dominant factors modulating the sharp salinity decrease during the summer monsoon season. The analysis shows that the salinity increase after the summer monsoon is mostly due to the meridional advective and diffusive salt fluxes. The vertical advective salt flux, which is sensitive to the different signals of the wind stress curl, plays an important role in balancing the salinity change induced by the meridional advective salt flux during both the summer and winter monsoon seasons. Distinctive spatial mesoscale structures are presented in the eddy salt flux throughout the year, and their contributions are sizeable (over 30% in the meridional direction and about 10%–30% in the vertical direction). The meridional eddy salt flux is larger in the monsoon seasons than that in the inter-monsoon seasons, and in a positive pattern near the western boundary during the winter monsoon and autumn inter-monsoon. The vertical eddy salt flux makes an important contribution to the salinity budget, especially along the coastal area and around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The vertical eddy salt flux becomes large when a tropical cyclone passes the area.