Study of seasonal current variability in the Arabian Sea using Geosat altimeter data

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Abstract
The study of ocean circulation is required in climatic research, weather forecasting, navigation etc. Studying this phenomenon over larger spatial and temporal scales by conventional methods is very difficult. The advent of satellite altimetry gave ample opportunity to study ocean circulation repeatedly over larger areas. In this study Geosat altimeter derived sea level observations have been used to obtain monsoon departure current vectors over the Arabian Sea using geostrophic approximation. Current variability on the annual and seasonal bases is also studied. The circulation features are of the expected order. However, the departure current speeds near the Somali region are underestimated due to the limitation of the data. High current variabilities are present at places where large variations in current magnitude prevail.