NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE SOMALI JET.

Abstract

It is shown that many of the observed features of the cross-equatorial low-level jet of the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Somalia can be numerically simulated by including the east African and Madagascar mountains, the beta effect, and a lateral forcing from the east around 75 degree E. The numerical model presented here is a one-level primitive equation model with a detailed bottom topography and a one-degree latitude grid size. When all the three above-mentioned parameter are included, features such as strong winds just downstream from the Madagascar mountains, an equatorial relative speed minimum, an intense jet off the Somali coast and a split of the jet over the northern Arabian Sea are simulated from an initial state of rest.