Abstract

Mesoscale eddies are a well-recognized feature of the global oceans, being of dynamical relevance to various ocean processes and of significance to transport of various species. In the last few decades, advancements in satellite observations of the sea surface have revealed mesoscale and sub-mesoscale eddy features in many parts of the ocean. An objective definition and detection of eddies has, however, remained a challenge, thus resulting in unreliable estimates of eddy formation, evolution and dissipation. In this study, we present an implementation of a Lagrangian averaged vorticity deviation (LAVD) based method to detect and characterize eddies in the Bay of Bengal (BoB), a freshwater-dominated semi-enclosed basin in the northern Indian Ocean. Systematic sensitivity studies are performed to identify parameter values that result in robust eddy detection in the BoB, and finite-time coherence in material transport associated with the LAVD-based eddies is demonstrated. LAVD-based eddy detection is then used to statistically characterize the Sri Lanka dome (SLD) eddy, an annual mesoscale cyclonic eddy of dynamical and physical importance in the southern BoB. Analysing satellite-based ocean surface currents from 27 years (1993–2019) of data, the inter-annual variability in the SLD formation, its spatio-temporal evolution and dissipation are elucidated. On an average, SLD has a lifetime of 15 weeks and a maximum area of 5 square degrees, with the longest lifetime of 38 weeks in 1996 and a maximum area of 12 square degrees in 1998. Long-lived SLDs are shown to spatially excurse into the BoB, potentially influencing large-scale transport of physical and biogeochemical properties. A potential correlation between large SLD lifetime and large variations in the monthly evolution of Dipole Mode Index and NINO3.4 is highlighted. An SSH-based Eulerian eddy detection method is also implemented to understand its efficacy in identifying materially coherent eddies in the BoB region. The paper concludes with a summary of our results, and a brief discussion of potential applications of LAVD-based eddy detection in the northern Indian Ocean.

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