Seasonal evolution of oceanic upper layer processes in the northern Bay of Bengal following a single Argo float

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2019. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geophysical Research Letters 46(10), (2019): 5369-5377, doi: 10.1029/2019GL082078.Seasonal evolution of the barrier layer (BL) and temperature inversion in the northern Bay of Bengal and their role on the mixed layer temperature (MLT) is examined using observations from a single Argo during December 2013 to July 2017. During fall, low salinity at surface generates BL in this region. It thickens to almost 80 m in winter enhanced by deepening of isothermal layer depth due to remote forcing. During winter, surface cooling lowers near‐surface temperature, and thus, the subsurface BL experiences a significant temperature inversion (~2.5 °C). This temperature inversion diffuses to distribute heat within ML and surface heating begins deep penetration of shortwave radiation through ML during spring. Hence, the ML becomes thermally well stratified, resulting in the warmest MLT. The Monin‐Obukhov length attains its highest value during summer indicating wind dominance in the ML. During spring and fall, upper ocean gains heat allowing buoyancy to dominate over wind mixing.A. S. and S. S. thank financial support from Space Application Centre (SAC), Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Government of India (Grant: SAC/EPSA/4.19/2016). This study was also supported by the first phase of Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), Government of India grant to establish a Bay of Bengal Coastal Observatory (BOBCO) at IITBBS (Grant: RP088). Authors acknowledged NCPOR Contribution number J ‐ 03/2019‐20 for this work. The authors are grateful to the reviewers and the Editor for constructive suggestions. The figures are generated using Matlab. The data source and availability are given in the Text S1.2019-10-2