Extension of atmospheric aerosols over ocean around peninsular India in the southwest monsoon season

Abstract

Measurements of atmospheric electric conductivity aboard ORV Sagarkanya were conducted during her cruise around the Indian peninsula during the southwest monsoon season when the persistent southwesterly surface winds exist over the region. Observations show that extension of aerosol pollution over sea may be highly dependent on the wind direction with respect to the coastline. The conductivity values near the western coast are more than twice the values at roughly the same distance away from the eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. The increase in conductivity with distance observed along all the three legs of the cruise in the Bay of Bengal, as the ship moves away from the coast, exhibits the importance of the age of air mass in determining the values of conductivity over sea.