Observations of the Ekman balance at 8°30′ N in the Arabian Sea during the 1995 southwest monsoon

Abstract

The Ekman transport is estimated from two sets of hydrographic and shipboard acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) velocity observations made during June and September 1995, during the southwest monsoon in the Arabian Sea. Both sets of measurements were made along latitude 8°30′ N, designated as World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) line I1W, from Somalia to Sri Lanka. The Ekman transport estimates calculated from ageostrophic velocity were southward: 17.6±2.4 106 m3 s-1 in June and 7.9±2.7 106 m3 s-1 in September. These direct estimates were in good agreement with those predicted by the Ekman balance using both shipboard and climatological winds. The vertical structure of the ageostrophic velocity and the stratification were quite different between the two occupations of the transect. The wind-driven momentum was confined to a very shallow layer in June (about 50 m) and the surface layer was strongly stratified, with a maximum salinity layer at depths between 50 and 70 m. The ageostrophic velocity penetrated much deeper in September (to about 160 m) and the pycnocline was correspondingly deeper. In both cases, the Ekman transport penetrated beneath the mixed layer, to the top of the pycnocline. Copyright 1997 by the American Geophysical Union.