Sk. Dube et al., MEAN MONTHLY WIND-DRIVEN CLIMATOLOGICAL CIRCULATION MODEL OF THE BAY OF BENGAL, Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Earth and planetary sciences, 102(1), 1993, pp. 185-202
A special feature of the Bay of Bengal circulation is its seasonal var
iation in response to the monsoonal winds. In the case of the Bay of B
engal, observationally very little is known about the large scale circ
ulation. Theoretically, the problem of driving the circulation in the
Bay of Bengal is more complex than that in other basins because of the
presence of large quantities of fresh water discharge from Ganga-Brah
maputra-Meghna river systems, and also because the atmospheric driving
forces even within a season are highly variable with frequent occurre
nces of tropical disturbances. Exploring the nature of the circulation
in the Bay of Bengal is a problem of great importance in itself as we
ll as for the critical role this region plays in the genesis of tropic
al disturbances which are the main source of large scale rainfall over
the northern part of the Indian subcontinent. The surface circulation
of the Bay of Bengal may, therefore, help in understanding the variat
ion of rainfall over time scales ranging from the subseasonal to the i
nterannual. Keeping this in view, an attempt was made towards the deve
lopment of an oceanic climatological circulation model for the Bay of
Bengal, which explains the seasonal variability of the currents. The m
odel is fully non-linear and vertically integrated, with realistic bas
in geometry. The treatment of coastal boundaries involves a procedure
leading to a realistic curvilinear representation of the western and e
astern sides of the Bay of Bengal. This coastal representation has the
advantage of taking into account the finer resolution in the shallow
regions of the northern Bay. The model is forced by the monthly mean w
ind stress derived from 30 years (1950-79) of Comprehensive Oceanograp
hic Atmospheric Data Sets (COADS). Special emphasis is given to the so
uthern open boundary condition for the model. For this purpose, sensit
ivity experiments have been performed with six open boundary condition
s and a comparative study of the results has been made. These sensitiv
ity tests for the open boundary condition will help the development of
a suitable coupled ocean-atmosphere model for this region. The model-
generated main features are in general agreement with the known climat
ological circulation of the Bay of Bengal.