Impact of temperature inversions on SST evolution in the South-Eastern Arabian Sea during the pre-summer monsoon season

Abstract

Temperature inversions are known to occur in the nearsurface ocean regime where salinity stratification is large enough to influence the density field. However, they have not been known as features that alter near-surface processes significantly to influence the sea surface temperature (SST). From the analysis of new observed datasets as well as of state-of-the-art numerical model outputs, this paper shows that heat trapped within a temperature inversion makes significant contribution to warming of the SST in the South-Eastern Arabian Sea during the pre-southwest monsoon season. Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.