Himadri Saini

More than 90% of the excess heat due to global warming during the recent decades has been absorbed by the oceans, with some of the largest trends in heat content observed in the Indian Ocean. Ocean dynamics and transport has a major role in distributing the excess heat due to the ocean warming. In this study, we examine the changes in heat transport (1959-2011) at different depths of the Indian Ocean. An anomalous cooling in the surface layer (up to 50m) is observed, extending from the western to the central Indian Ocean (54°E:96°E, 9°S:2°N), while the north of Arabian Sea is showing an increment of heat content within the same layer. The plausible explanations for this difference in heat content anomalies can be given by 1) intensified northward heat transport near the Somali region transporting most of the heat to the north, 2) although there is increased westward heat transport from the Indonesian region, which is reflected in the south equatorial flow, it is seen that the transport is northward north of equator and southward south of equator, causing the cooling between the region of the equatorial counter current and the south equatorial current. There is an increase in transport of heat southward, via the Agulhas current near Southeast Africa. It has been noted that Agulhas is also depicting positive heat content anomalies during the study period. The retroflection current moving eastward across the southern Indian Ocean is also showing a strong warming trend.