Study of 19-year Satellite Sea Surface Temperature Variability along the West Coast of India

Abstract

The seasonal and interannual variation of upwelling along the west coast of India between 8°N and 24°N was studied for the period 1985 through 2003 using NOAA-AVHRR sea surface temperature data. The seasonal migration of pronounced upwelling, which follows the seasonal shift of the winds in southwest monsoon period and northeast monsoon, was confined. The temporal mean sea surface temperature images clearly show the upwelling season, as does the seasonal sea surface temperature anomaly. These dominate features of the upwelling system are also the most variable, with most of the variance being explained by the seasonal cycle. Quasi-cyclic behavior of seas surface temperature on interannual scales has also been observed.

Keywords:

• Upwelling
• advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR)
• sea surface temperature

Acknowledgements

This research forms part of the author's Ph.D. completed at the Andhra University and funding thereof by the Indian Space Research Organization under RESPOND Program. I thank Jet Propulsion Laboratory providing AVHRR data set and also two anonymous reviewers for their critical and valuable comments. I would like to thank William J. Emery for valuable suggestions which greatly helped to improve the paper.