Comparison of AMSR-2 wind speed and sea surface temperature with moored buoy observations over the Northern Indian Ocean

The Northern Indian Ocean (NIO) is unique due to seasonal reversal of wind patterns, the formation of vortices and eddies which make satellite observations arduous. The veracity of sea surface wind (SSW) and sea surface temperature (SST) products of sun-synchronous AMSR-2 satellite are compared with high-temporal moored buoy observations over the NIO. The two year-long (2013–2014) comparisons reveal that the root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of AMSR-2 SST and SSW is \(<0.4{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}\) and \(<1.5\hbox { ms}^{-1}\), respectively, which are within the error range prescribed for the AMSR-2 satellite (\(\pm 0.8{^{\circ }}\hbox {C}\), \(\pm 1.5\hbox { ms}^{-1})\). The SST–wind relation is analyzed using data both from the buoy and satellite. As a result, the low-SST is associated with low-wind condition (positive slope) in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal (BoB), while low SST values are associated with high wind conditions (negative slope) over the southern BoB. Moreover, the AMSR-2 displayed larger slope for SST–wind relation and could be mainly due to overestimation of SST and underestimation of wind as compared to the buoy. The AMSR-2 SSW exhibited higher error during post-monsoon followed by monsoon season and could be attributed to the high wind conditions associated with intense oceanic vortices. The study suggests that the AMSR-2 products are reliable and can be used in tropical air–sea interactions, meso-scale features, and weather and climate studies.     

‘Thermohaline front’ off the east coast of India and its generating mechanism

Physical oceanography measurements reveal a strong salinity (0.18 psu km⁻¹) and temperature (0.07 °C km⁻¹) front off the east coast of India in December 1997. T–S diagrams suggest lateral mixing between the fresh water at the coast and the ambient warmer, saltier water. This front seems to be the result of southward advection of fresh and cool water, formed in the northern Bay of Bengal during the monsoon, by the East Indian Coastal Current, as suggested by the large-scale salinity structure in the SODA re-analysis and the anti-cyclonic gyre in the northwestern Bay of Bengal during winter. The data further reveals an offshore front in January, which appears to be the result of a meso-scale re-circulation around an eddy, bringing cold and freshwater from the northern Bay of Bengal further away from the shore. Our cruise data hence illustrates that very strong salinity fronts can appear in the Bay of Bengal after the monsoon, as a result of intense coastal circulation and stirring by eddies.

     

Experimental investigation of hydrodynamic force coefficients over AUV hull form

Extensive use of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) in oceanographic applications necessitates investigation into the hydrodynamic forces acting over an AUV hull form operating under deeply submerged condition. This paper presents a towing tank-based experimental study on forces and moment on AUV hull form in the vertical plane. The AUV hull form considered in the present program is a 1:2 model of the standard hull form Afterbody1. The present measurements were carried out at typical speeds of autonomous underwater vehicles (0.4-1.4 m/s) by varying pitch angles (0-15°). The hydrodynamic forces and moment are measured by an internally mounted multi-component strain gauge type balance. The measurements were used to study variation of axial, normal, drag, lift and pitching moment coefficients with Reynolds number (Re) and angle of attack. The measurements have also been used to validate results obtained from a CFD code that uses Reynolds Average Navier-Stokes equations (ANSYS™ Fluent). The axial and normal force coefficients are increased by 18% and 195%; drag, lift and pitching moment coefficients are increased by 90%, 182% and 297% on AUV hull form at α=15° and Re_v=3.65×10⁵. These results can give better idea for the efficient design of guidance and control systems for AUV.     

‘Thermohaline front’ off the east coast of India and its generating mechanism

Physical oceanography measurements reveal a strong salinity (0.18 psu km^?1) and temperature (0.07 °C km^?1) front off the east coast of India in December 1997. T–S diagrams suggest lateral mixing between the fresh water at the coast and the ambient warmer, saltier water. This front seems to be the result of southward advection of fresh and cool water, formed in the northern Bay of Bengal during the monsoon, by the East Indian Coastal Current, as suggested by the large-scale salinity structure in the SODA re-analysis and the anti-cyclonic gyre in the northwestern Bay of Bengal during winter. The data further reveals an offshore front in January, which appears to be the result of a meso-scale re-circulation around an eddy, bringing cold and freshwater from the northern Bay of Bengal further away from the shore. Our cruise data hence illustrates that very strong salinity fronts can appear in the Bay of Bengal after the monsoon, as a result of intense coastal circulation and stirring by eddies.     

Active fin control for yacht using virtual instrumentation

Virtual instrumentation represents a PC based control system which incorporates manipulation of data acquired from physical transducers in specific ways using a very high level graphical environment. The deployment of this non-traditional approach is demonstrated in this paper by application to design of a fin control system for a yacht. One of the disadvantages of the traditional stabilizer system is the enormous hardware involved in the controllers and instrumentation panels, which make maintenance and troubleshooting difficult. With the help of virtual instrumentation, design of the stabilization controller and instrumentation panels can be carried out much more effectively, in comparison with the traditional hardware approach. A multi-disciplinary approach is adopted here and it consists of the assessment of the hydrodynamic coefficients of the yacht using a numerical package, representation of the hydrodynamic coefficients by suitable polynomial functions, identification of the time dependent fundamental frequency in the roll disturbance signal sample, generation of control signal for an appropriate fin angle based on the fin lift characteristics of the chosen fin and employment of feedback control to maintain the fin at the appropriate angle for maximum control. Once the ship based hydrodynamic coefficients are generated, the entire control algorithm is developed in the virtual instrumentation mode using LabVIEW environment. The effectiveness of the system is verified through laboratory tests on a yacht hull form. The control algorithm permits choice of frequency dependent hydrodynamic coefficients by use of a harmonic distortion analyzer in the virtual instrumentation environment.     

Internal Tides in the Coastal Waters of NE Arabian Sea: Observations and Simulations

Time series of temperature and salinity collected from a station in the NE Arabian Sea during March, April, May, October, and November was utilized to explain the behavior of internal tides. Analysis revealed the existence of semi-diurnal internal tides and high frequency (HF) internal waves (IW). It was observed that the amplitudes of HF IWs were determined by the degree of stratification in the thermocline. Corresponding to an increase in the density gradient in thermocline (0.016 kg/m⁴ in April to 0.14 kg/m⁴ in October), the temperature fluctuations due to internal tides increased from <0.2°C to >1.5°C, respectively. Brunt-Vaiisala frequency also showed similar variations (～10 cph to 22 cph). Within the thermocline, semi-diurnal internal tides caused fluctuations of >10m in the isotherm depths. A linear regression equation was fitted to parameterize the amplitude of HF IWs and its upper frequency limit in terms of thermocline gradient. The IW and one-dimensional models simulated the presence of internal tides and diurnal cycling in the temperature field, respectively. Coupling of these models showed improvement in the simulation of temperature.     

Triggering of earthquakes at Koyna,India and hammer drilling for the pilot borehole

Natural Hazards - Koyna located near the West Coast of India is an outstanding case of artificial water reservoir-triggered seismicity. It is observed that annually earthquakes get triggered in the...