Sonic Layer Depth estimated from XBT temperatures and climatological salinities

Sonic layer depth (SLD) plays an important role in antisubmarine warfare in terms of identifying the shadow zones for submarine safe parking. SLD is estimated from sound velocity profiles (SVP) which is in turn obtained from temperature and salinity (T/S) profiles. Given the limited availability of salinity data in comparison to temperature, SVPs need to be obtained from alternate methods. In the present work, to make use of voluminous temperature data sets from XBT, CTD and other source for estimating SLD, we propose a method of utilizing XBT measurements and World Ocean Atlas climatological salinities to compute SVP and then extract SLD. This approach is demonstrated by utilizing T/S data from Argo floats in the Arabian Sea (40° – 80° E and 0 – 30° N). SLD is estimated from SVP obtained from Argo T/S profiles first and again by replacing the Argo salinity with climatological salinity. It is found that in more than 90% of cases, SLD matched exactly, with the root mean square deviation ranging from 3 – 12 m with an average of 7 m

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Altimetry for the future: building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion

Relation between Sonic Layer and Mixed layer depth in the Arabian Sea

1264-1271Seasonal evolution of the sonic layer depth and its relation to mixed layer depth in the Arabian Sea is studied. Monthly sonic layer depth climatology is constructed using Argo temperature and salinity and compared with mixed layer depth. Sonic layer depth showed semiannual variability with peaks during June – August and December – February and lows during pre and post monsoon season. Sonic layer depth is observed to be shallower than mixed layer depth over most of the Arabian Sea except in the southeastern Arabian Sea during winter owing to temperature inversions. Sonic layer and mixed layer depth is observed to have high correlation (> 0.85) over most of the Arabian Sea indicating a good relationship between them, except in south eastern Arabian Sea. SLD is found to be deeper than MLD only in the southeastern AS (SEAS) during the winter season due to the presence of temperature inversions (TI) which are common phenomenon during that period. Advection of cooler low-salinity water over warmer salty SEAS water leads to the formation of TI in SEAS. Sound velocity being sensitive to temperature, results in deepening of SLD in this region. This can be used to understand relation between them to a great degree of accuracy and estimate one from the other

Coastal Upwelling in the Western Bay of Bengal: Role of Local and Remote Windstress

Monsoon winds drive upwelling along the eastern coast of India. This study examined the role of coastally trapped Kelvin waves in modulating the seasonal variability of local alongshore windstress (AWS)-driven coastal upwelling along the western Bay of Bengal. The winds generated AWS resulting in a positive cross-shore Ekman transport (ET) from March to the end of September, which forced coastal upwelling along the eastern coast of India. However, coastally trapped Kelvin waves could also modulate this process by raising or lowering the thermocline. Remotely sensed windstress, sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) were used to compute the AWS (the wind-based proxy upwelling index) and an SST-based proxy upwelling index (UISST). A new parametric method of the estimation of coastal angles was developed to estimate the AWS and ET. Coastal upwelling and the Kelvin waves were identified based on the climatology of SSHA, AWS, and UISST, in addition to a complex principal component (CEOF) analysis of the SSHA. The UISST and AWS were found to be closely correlated along the southern section of the east coast of India (between Kavali and Point Calimere), where the coastal upwelling was largely local AWS-driven. However, along the northern section of the coast (between Kashinagara and Kakinada), coastal upwelling was triggered by the first upwelling Kelvin wave, sustained by the local AWS, and then terminated by the first downwelling Kelvin wave. This analysis illustrated that remote equatorial windstress caused coastal upwelling along the northern part of the Indian east coast, while it was primarily locally driven in the southern coast. The findings are helpful in better understanding the mechanisms modulating coastal upwelling along the western Bay of Bengal. These would provide useful insights into the primary productivity and the air–sea interactions in the region

Coastal Upwelling in the Western Bay of Bengal: Role of Local and Remote Windstress

Monsoon winds drive upwelling along the eastern coast of India. This study examined the role of coastally trapped Kelvin waves in modulating the seasonal variability of local alongshore windstress (AWS)-driven coastal upwelling along the western Bay of Bengal. The winds generated AWS resulting in a positive cross-shore Ekman transport (ET) from March to the end of September, which forced coastal upwelling along the eastern coast of India. However, coastally trapped Kelvin waves could also modulate this process by raising or lowering the thermocline. Remotely sensed windstress, sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface height anomaly (SSHA) were used to compute the AWS (the wind-based proxy upwelling index) and an SST-based proxy upwelling index (UISST). A new parametric method of the estimation of coastal angles was developed to estimate the AWS and ET. Coastal upwelling and the Kelvin waves were identified based on the climatology of SSHA, AWS, and UISST, in addition to a complex principal component (CEOF) analysis of the SSHA. The UISST and AWS were found to be closely correlated along the southern section of the east coast of India (between Kavali and Point Calimere), where the coastal upwelling was largely local AWS-driven. However, along the northern section of the coast (between Kashinagara and Kakinada), coastal upwelling was triggered by the first upwelling Kelvin wave, sustained by the local AWS, and then terminated by the first downwelling Kelvin wave. This analysis illustrated that remote equatorial windstress caused coastal upwelling along the northern part of the Indian east coast, while it was primarily locally driven in the southern coast. The findings are helpful in better understanding the mechanisms modulating coastal upwelling along the western Bay of Bengal. These would provide useful insights into the primary productivity and the air–sea interactions in the region

Influence of urbanization on winter surface temperatures in a topographically asymmetric Tropical City, Bhubaneswar, India

Abstract Urban areas experience significant alterations in their local surface energy balance due to changes in the thermal properties of impervious surfaces, albedo, land use, and land cover. In addition, the embedded influence of urbanization and heat-trapping in the urban canopy cause city temperature warmer compared to its surroundings peri-urban regions. However, the influence of urbanization on winter surface temperatures remains unclear. In this study, the urbanization influence on winter surface temperature in Bhubaneswar, a tropical two-tier city in India, is assessed using a high-resolution (4 km × 4 km) urban canopy model coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting model. Numerical experiments are conducted with no urban coupling (CTL) and with coupling of a single-layer urban canopy model (UCM) for the winters of 2004 and 2015. The study suggests that both model simulations exhibit a similar warm bias in mean surface temperature (~ 2.2 °C), but UCM’s surface temperature better agrees with the observations compared to CTL. The warm bias in both experiments is primarily contributed by a higher nighttime warm bias (~ 3.2 °C). The study reveals that urbanization contributes to ~ 0.4 °C increase in surface temperature in 2015, especially in the eastern lowland regions of the city, while the impact is minimal in 2004. In the western region, the influence is nullified, possibly due to lower surface specific humidity affecting longwave radiation in a higher terrain setting. This study underscores the significance of terrain and local microclimate conditions in shaping winter urban surface temperatures, shedding light on the complex interplay between urbanization and climate