Are eddies nature’s trigger to enhance biological productivity in the Bay of Bengal?
IR@NIO: CSIR-National Institute Of Oceanography, Goa
View Archive Info| Field | Value | |
| Creator |
PrasannaKumar, S.
Nuncio, M. Kumar, A. Sardessai, S. DeSouza, S.N. Gauns, M. Ramaiah, N. Madhupratap, M. |
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| Date |
2006-06-12T06:03:08Z
2006-06-12T06:03:08Z 2004 |
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| Identifier |
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol.31(7)
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/113 |
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| Description |
The Bay of Bengal is traditionally considered to be a less productive basin compared to the Arabian Sea. Despite the contrasting chlorophyll and primary productivity pattern, sediment trap data shows that annual fluxes of organic carbon reach comparable rates in both the basins. The traditional mechanisms of nutrient supply to the upper ocean waters cannot account for this. We propose eddy pumping as a possible mechanism of vertical transfer of nutrients across the halocline to the oligotrophic euphotic zone during summer monsoon when upper ocean is highly stratified. This would induce rapid biological uptake and in turn significantly increase biological production. In the northern Bay, riverine input acts as an additional source of nutrients and augments the subsurface nutrient injection to the euphotic zone by eddy pumping. Notwithstanding this, the lower than expected primary production in the north suggests the possible role of riverine sediment in limiting the sunlight for photosynthesis.
This work was supported by the Department of Ocean development under the program Bay of Bengal Process Studies (BOBPS). Authors Nuncio and Jayu acknowledge the financial support from CSIR |
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| Format |
733818 bytes
application/pdf |
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| Language |
en
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| Publisher |
American Geophysical Union
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| Rights |
An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright [2004] American Geophysical Union
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| Subject |
Eddies and mesoscale processes
Circulation and Hydrography Stratification Chlorophyll and phytoplankton Nutrients River input Fresh water flux Bay of Bengal |
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| Title |
Are eddies nature’s trigger to enhance biological productivity in the Bay of Bengal?
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| Type |
Article
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