arXiv subjects

Bishakhdatta Gayen

Publications and source records attributed to Bishakhdatta Gayen.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A Moisture-Vorticity Theory for the Boreal Summer Quasi-Biweekly Oscillation

We develop a moisture vorticity theory for the boreal summer quasi-biweekly oscillation (QBWO) in the tropics and analyze it with the aid of GPT-5.5. The model is formulated on a weak-temperature-gradient slow manifold, in which moisture anomalies diagnose the divergent circulation while the rotational circulation evolves through Rossby wave dynamics and vortex stretching. The key coupling is controlled by eddy advection of the background moisture gradient, with the projection $(\mathbf{k}\cdot\nabla\bar q)$ modifying propagation and the cross-gradient factor $(\mathbf{k}\times\nabla\bar q)_z$ controlling moisture extraction and growth. In the weak-coupling regime, which is relevant for the real-world situation, the QBWO is a Doppler-shifted Rossby mode whose growth or decay is determined by phase-coherent moisture extraction and subsequent vortex stretching; moisture damping weakens this feedback but does not introduce a sharp threshold in the minimal linear model. In terms of subtropical geographical locations, this renders the QBWO unstable over the Bay of Bengal with an intraseasonal growth rate and co-located vorticity and moisture anomalies, and it decays over relatively drier regions such as Central and West Africa with a quadrature relation between vorticity and moisture anomalies. The equations also admit a strong-coupling regime where the system approaches a moist-vortex limit. The theory interprets the QBWO as a Rossby-moisture-vorticity instability whose regional behavior depends on background moisture-gradient geometry, coupling strength, damping, and mean-flow advection.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2025

Impact of Background Conditions on the Structure and Propagation of the Boreal Summer Quasi-Biweekly Oscillation

We examine the westward-propagating quasi-biweekly oscillation (QBWO) during boreal summer, with a focus on how background moisture and winds shape its structure and propagation. In dry regions, convection lags the circulation by nearly a quarter cycle, whereas in very moist regions it becomes nearly in-phase and extends across the QBWO gyre. As the background moistens, moisture anomalies increasingly align with the QBWO circulation. Despite differences in environmental moisture and wind conditions, several structural features remain robust: outgoing longwave radiation and moisture anomalies stay collocated, moisture and pressure-velocity anomalies remain vertically upright, and the filtered winds retain a first-baroclinic mode structure. A vorticity budget shows that, although the planetary vorticity-gradient term is important, both planetary stretching and horizontal advection are needed to explain the vorticity tendency- and their relative importance shifts with the moisture regime. In dry and moderately moist regions with easterly mean flow, mean winds primarily advect vorticity anomalies. In contrast, in very moist regions with westerly flow, anomalous winds instead advect the background vorticity. An analogous transition occurs in the moisture budget: in dry and moderately moist environments, zonal mean flow advection dominates, but in very moist regions, strong background moisture gradients allow eddy advection of the mean moisture field to become the leading term. In the moist regime, vertical advection, precipitation, and evaporation also contribute substantially to the moisture tendency. Overall, the QBWO behaves like a mean-flow-driven linear mode in dry and moderately moist regions with easterly background winds, but shifts toward a regime dominated by eddy advection of background vorticity and moisture in very moist regions characterized by westerly flow.

physics.ao-ph↗

arXiv2022

Eddy-freshwater Interaction using Regional Ocean Modeling System in the Bay of Bengal

Eddy-freshwater interaction is studied in the north Bay of Bengal (BoB) with a high-resolution simulation using the Regional Ocean Modeling System. Following observations, the model simulates the trapping and homogenization of river water by a cyclonic mesoscale eddy on a sub-monthly time scale from October-November of 2015. As fresh river water is trapped in the eddy, it is characterized by strong vertical and lateral gradients in salinity. Within a few weeks, these gradients relax along with the progressive homogenization of freshwater within the eddy. A mixed layer salinity budget shows the importance of ageostrophic vertical advection in addition to lateral advection during the evolution of salinity within the eddy. An analysis of the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) budget in the upper ocean indicates the development of barotropic and baroclinic instabilities. The vertical profiles of EKE conversion terms reveal that the surface freshwater was involved in the evolution of baroclinic instability within the mixed layer. In addition, an eddy available potential energy (EPE) budget shows that the entrainment of the river water raises the EPE, which is due to an increase in lateral salinity gradients across the eddy during the trapping event. Subsequently, the salinity homogenization leads to a decrease in the EPE, and its rate of decay is modulated by a correlation between surface buoyancy fluxes and density anomalies. Finally, reanalysis data show similar trapping and homogenization events across multiple years, highlighting the importance of this mechanism of subseasonal freshwater evolution in the BoB.

physics.ao-ph↗