Surface-level moisture transport over the Indian Ocean during Southwest monsoon months using NOAA/HIRS data

Abstract

Surface-level moisture transport over the Indian Ocean has been computed using NOAA/HIRS data for the years 1980, 1981 and 1984. The global relation between monthly mean surface-level humidity and precipitable water (Liu, 1986) has been applied for the computation of surface-level humidity using monthly mean satellite-derived water vapour. The monthly mean surface wind fields over the Indian ocean provided by Florida State University have been used for the surface-level moisture flux computations. Our analysis indicates net positive surface-level moisture flux divergence over the Arabian Sea and negative moisture flux divergence over the Bay of Bengal. It has also been found that evaporation over the Arabian Sea is a variable quantity and forms a significant part of the net moisture budget over the Arabian Sea. The relative contribution of cross-equatorial flux and evaporation from the Arabian Sea has been studied for all three years.