Friday 5 June 2015

New river found in Bay of Bengal

What's the news?
  • Uncommon geographical feature of River in sea has been found with the help of fishermen who helped in carrying out observations for almost 10 years. 
  • It has been meandering its way along the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) after summer monsoon
How it works?
  • In one line
    • The peculiar geography of the northern Indian Ocean that resulted in both a massive inflow of freshwater into the semi-enclosed northern BoB and the strong coastally trapped currents along the eastern coast of India were responsible for the formation of the river
    • Detailed
      • The large rivers — Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Irrawaddy, and three small others — Mahanadi, Godavari, and Krishna — together contribute approximately 1100 km of continental freshwater into the BoB between July and September
      • This very intense freshwater flux into a relatively small and semi-enclosed basin results in an intense dilution of the salt contained in seawater
      • The over 100 km-wide freshwater mass that is formed from river discharges and runoffs is transported down south by the East Indian Coastal Current, the western boundary current of the BoB. 
      • The freshwater signal generally becomes smaller and occurs later while progressing toward the southern tip of India
      • The movement of the freshwater mass begins at the end of the summer monsoon and survives for nearly two-and-a half months. 
      • It also travels over 1000 km from the northern BoB to the southern most tip of India, say scientists.
      • A large fraction of the monsoon shower reaches the ocean in the form of runoff and contributes to the freshwater flux into the BoB in equal proportion with rainfall over the ocean.
    Understanding this salinity distribution helps in understanding the way BoB's salinity may impact cyclones and regional climate.

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