Somali Current and Eddies in

Western Indian Ocean

.

By
Tukaram Zore
OVERVIEW OF SOMALI CURRENT AND EDDIES

• The Arabian sea is a unique region of the ocean, where the circulation switches
direction annually under the influence of strong monsoon winds.

• The Somali current is characterized by seasonal changes due to the Southwest

monsoon and the Northeast Monsoon.

• The eddies transport global heat and ocean characteristics like salinity and
biodiversity.

• Observed by using satellite observation of fluctuation in sea surface height.

Findlater Jet induce condition favourable for Somali currents

A schematic indicating major anticyclonic circulation features
and eddies formation along Somalia coast by: during the Southwest monsoon using NOAA AVHRR 30-year
seasonal mean sea surface temperatures from June to September
during 1985-2015 with OSCAR seasonal mean currents from 1993-
A. Presence of Rossby wave 2016.
Trott et al., 2017
B. Significant costal upwelling
C. Barotropic instability
Bathymetric maps (m) of the northe rn Indian Ocean ove rlaid with streamlines of the mean
surface (15‐m depth) circulation computed from a monthly drifter climatology, for (a) the
southwest monsoon (JJA) and (b) the northeast monsoon (DJF).

Pierre et al., 2018 Monthly winds (vectors; m s 21 ) and wind stress

curl (color shading; N/m^3 ) from QuikSCAT
(August 1999 – September 2009).

Beal et al., 2013

Mean seasonal cycle (solid lines) and ± one standard deviation around
the mean (dashed lines) of the eddy characte ristics shown in Figure 1.
EKE = eddy kinetic energy
Trott et al., 2018

Mean spatial distribution of eddy characteristics during summe r monsoon

season (June–Septembe r) for AEs (left column) and CEs (right column). (a
and b) Number of eddies; (c and d) radius (in kilometre), (e and f) amplitude
(in centimetre), (g and h) EKE (in cm2/s2), and (i and j) numbe r of eddy
generation.
Trott et al., 2018
DYNAMICS OF SOMALI CURRENT
Model Description
• Parallel Ocean Program (POP) Model from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

• Horizontal Resolution: 11 km

• Vertical Resolution: 42 z-levels in the vertical, with vertical grid spacing of roughly 10m over the top 100 m
of the water column.

• POP initialize from rest using potential temperature and salinity from the World Hydrographic Program
Special Analysis Centre climatology.
Annual Cycle of Somali Current

• In November at the northeast coast of Africa the

southwesterly is very weak and replace by growing
northeasterlies. This results into break down of northward
Somali current. The north of 2° Somali current becomes
turbulent.

• In the northern part where the Great Whirl is located, the

Somali Current flows southward only from late November
to early February.

• Near the equator, the annual cycle of the Somali Current is

closely connected to the inertial overshoot of the EACC in
the Southern Hemisphere and it only exhibits southward
flow for a short period during boreal spring.

• In between (2°N and 5°N), the surface flow tracks with the Climatological (2005–2009) monthly surface (averaged in the top 100 m) velocity. Shaded
color, and arrows show the velocity from POP. The red line that follows the coast shows the
monsoon reversal. location of the 2° offshore boundary used in the offshore average. POP = Parallel Ocean
Program.
Momentum Budget
• Zonal Direction: Here v = (u,v,w) = (u, w), which is the three-dimensional
velocity; f is the Coriolis parameter; η is the SSH; Ph is the
pressure in the baroclinic mode; and ρo is the background
ocean density. The overbar means time averaging over a
• Meridional Direction: prescribed period, which is a day in this study.

Here ∇z is the vertical curl operator; Rζ is the residual

• Vorticity Budget term, which is approximately the time tendency term (𝛿 tζ)
By taking the curl of equations (1) and (2), of the vertical relative vorticity ζ; β is the meridional
derived the vertical relative vorticity equation: gradient of the Coriolis parameter.
Along/Cross Isobar Coordinates

• In addition to the alongshore component, there are seasonal

offshore currents in the Somali Current system, which are
usually part of the geostrophic subgyres near the coast.

• Near surface isobars are used to determine the shape of the

gyres and path of the flow.

• The angle α shows the relationship between the along- shore

direction and the along-isobar direction.

• Because of geostrophic balance dominates the boundary
current, α is close to 0° (180°) in the Northern Hemisphere
outside the equatorial deformation radius when the
alongshore current is northward (southward).
Fig a) Illustration of the along/cross‐isobar coordinates, with examples showing a
nearshore high‐pressure and low‐pressure system. The α is the angle between the
coastline and the along‐isobar direction. (b) Hovmöller diagram of the angle α (in
degree). The angle α is calculated from pressure averaged within 2° off the coast
and over the top 100 m. α is between −90° and 90° (shaded blue) for the case of
nearshore high pressure (pressure gradient is positive offshore) and between 90°
and 270° (shaded red) for low pressure (pressure gradient is negative offshore).
Cross-Isobar Momentum Budget
• Pressure gradient term is largely balanced by the Coriolis force
term.

• Nonlinear term is non-negligible in northern (above 5°N) and

southern (below 2°N) part of Somali current system.

• During the mature phase of the Great Whirl in August, the

nonlinear advection adds to the centrifugal pressure gradient
force from the anticyclonic subgyre to balance the Coriolis
term. During boreal fall and winter, the role of the nonlinear
term reverses.

• switch in sign of the nonlinear term during October/November

north of 5°N is because of the reversal of the angle α.

• In contrast to the southwest monsoon, the nonlinear term

Hovmöller diagram of the terms from momentum equations 1 and 2 projected onto
during northeast monsoon adds to the Coriolis force to balance the cross‐isobar direction, which is based on the surface to 100 m averaged
the pressure gradient force. pressure. For each panel, the corresponding momentum term is first projected onto
the cross‐isobar direction at each grid point, then averaged over a 2° wide band
offshore
Along-Isobar Momentum Budget

• Leading balance in along isobar direction is Ekman balance

between the wind stress (i.e., vertical diffusion) and the
Coriolis force.
• Northward propagating acceleration term during boreal
summer caused by along isobar nonlinear advection.
• May to late November, the nonlinear advection term remains a
leading term in the along-isobar direction.
• At the equator dynamic balance in along isobar direction is
between the inertial overshoot of the persistent northward flow
from the Southern Hemisphere and the local surface wind.
With the weakening of the local northeasterly winds, the
northward flowing EACC crosses the equator driven by
Hovmöller diagram of the terms from momentum equations 1 and 2 projected onto
advection. the along‐isobar direction, which is based on the surface to 100 m averaged
pressure. For each panel, the corresponding momentum term is first projected onto
the cross‐isobar direction at each grid point, then averaged over a 2° wide band
offshore
Vorticity Balance and the Annual Rossby Waves

• Early appearance of the northward geostrophic

alongshore current in late boreal winter/early boreal
spring is associated with the arrival of a downwelling
Rossby wave.

• at 5°N during boreal late winter and early spring,

advection of planetary vorticity and stretching of planetary
vorticity in equation, constitute the leading-order balance,
confirming that this is a long linear Rossby wave.

• Shorter and slower Rossby waves in the form of a balance

between the time tendency term and advection of
planetary vorticity. Some of these waves may originate
from the central Arabian Sea, rather than the eastern
boundary.
Hovmöller diagram of the climatological (2005–2009) annual cycle of the terms
in the vertical vorticity equation at 5°N. (a) Tendency of vertical relative
vorticity; (b) advection of planetary vorticity; (c) stretching of planetary
vorticity; (d) curl of nonlinear advection terms; (e) curl of horizontal diffusion
terms; and (f) curl of vertical diffusion terms.
SUMMARY
• The Somali current is part of the reversing monsoon circulation around and interior high/low in the Arabian sea.
• In the Somali Current region during the summer monsoon, AEs are on average have larger size, whereas CEs have higher
amplitudes and EKE.
• The majority of eddies are found in the northern Arabian Sea, but the strongest eddies are in the Somali Current outflow
region.
• Annual cycle of surface current and their momentum balance shows three different regimes of Somali current.
1. North of 5°N, the alongshore surface current is strongly affected by the life cycle of the Great Whirl.
2. Near the equator (from the equator to 2°N), where the Coriolis force is very weak, the Somali Current is strongly
affected by the balance between the inertial overshooting of the EACC and local winds.
3. Between the Great Whirl regime and the equatorial regime (from 2°N to 5°N), there is a transition regime, where
the momentum balance is nearly geostrophic and local wind forcing dominates over remote forcing, especially
during the northeast monsoon.
• Dynamically three regions are distinguishable by the role of nonlinearity and the importance of the Coriolis force.
• Nonlinearity plays a significant role in both the equatorial and Great Whirl regimes, while it is much less important in the
transition regime.
• In the Great Whirl region the nonlinear term is part of the inertial balance in that it helps the pressure gradient force to
balance the Coriolis force for maintaining the Great Whirl
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