| A primitive equation baroclinic circulation model has been configured for use in the North Indian Ocean. This model provides an additional tool for use in improving our understanding of dynamical and thermodynamic processes in this region. After a spin-up period using climatological winds, the model was used to generate a hindcast for 1993-1995 using synoptic forcing. MCSST observations and SSH anomalies have been assimilated into the model. The model captures many of the significant oceanographic features of the region including reversals of equatorial currents, reversing subsurface currents, the Laccadive High, the Great Whirl, and the reversing Somali Current.; The data generated are suitable for studying a wide variety of oceanographic processes. An important feature of the model used here is the inclusion of salinity and fresh water fluxes. This provides an opportunity to investigate the exchange of salt between saline Arabian Sea and the unusually fresh Bay of Bengal via the currents of the Equatorial Indian Ocean. The Equatorial currents of the Indian Ocean, both at the surface and below, are unlike those found in the Atlantic and Pacific. The high vertical resolution of the model allows for the investigation of the vertical structure of these currents, with special attention being paid to the Equatorial Undercurrent.; The model results provide a quantitative estimate of the salt exchanged between the eastern and western Indian Ocean. The Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are regions of water mass formation, while the surface salinity of the equatorial Indian Ocean is a function of the current direction, and therefore a function of the original source of the surface water. The results presented here also show a westward flowing Equatorial Undercurrent, which is unique to the Indian Ocean. This undercurrent is related to the surface Wyrtki Jet which is present on the equator during the transition between monsoon seasons. |
