Saranya J S

MSc Thesis [2019 – 2021]: Marine heat waves in the Indian Ocean

Affiliation: College of Climate Change and Environmental Science, Kerala Agriculture University

Quick Summary of M.Sc. Thesis

In her M.Sc. thesis, Saranya documented the marine heatwaves (MHWs) in the tropical Indian Ocean and their interaction with the Indian summer monsoon. Her research investigated the genesis and trend of MHWs in the Indian Ocean from 1982 to 2018 and their impact on regulating the Indian summer monsoon. The study shows that the rapid warming in the Indian Ocean significantly affected the number of MHWs. At the same time, El Nino events significantly impacted the incidence of MHWs throughout the monsoon season. The western Indian Ocean area had the most significant rise in MHWs, followed by the north Bay of Bengal. Locally, MHWs are caused by increased solar radiation, wind relaxation, and decreased evaporative cooling. Reduced winds in the western Indian Ocean further limit heat transmission by ocean currents from near-equatorial regions to the north. The results show that MHWs in the western Indian Ocean and the north Bay of Bengal reduce monsoon rainfall across the central Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, the MHWs in the Bay of Bengal is associated with the increasing monsoon rainfall across southwest India.

Publications [Google Scholar]:

Saranya, J. S., M. K. Roxy, Panini Dasgupta, and Ajay Anand, 2022, Genesis and trends in marine heatwaves over the tropical Indian Ocean and their interaction with the Indian summer monsoon, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 127, e2021JC017427 [pdf].