Arabian Sea Project at the University of Maine: April 25, 2008

Friday, April 25, 2008

April 25, 2008

Carrie is finishing up a poster based on her work with the Arabian sea project so today I worked on making a schematic for her. The original was of the winter-time snow cover in the Himalayas and how it effects the strength of the monsoon winds but it did not fit the style of her poster so I made a replicate of it on Power Point. I have to say, I am quite pleased with it.
Hopefully I'll either be beginning to put my Power point together or I'll be continuing to add to my outline.

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Short Summary of background information

There is a profound connection between the monsoon winds, the snow covering the Himalayas and the productivity of the fisheries in the Arabian Sea. The bi-annual monsoons are driven by the thermal gradient that is created by the heating and cooling of the continent and the pressure difference that is created (SW in the summer and NW in the winter.)

The amount of "snow cover" in the Himalayan mountains has an effect on this gradient. If there is a positive snow anomaly, more energy goes into melting which in turn weakens the strength of the monsoon. Adversely, if there is a negative snow anomaly, the monsoon winds are stronger which leads to increased rainfall.

At the same time, the strength of the monsoon winds effect the upwelling of nutrients and the subsequent primary productivity.

Scientists have noticed a decrease in snow cover due to global climate change. Because of this within the last 7 years the intensified monsoons have created increased phytoplankton blooms. The increased blooms have the potential to benefit the local fisheries or hurt them because of the anoxic water created.

Joaquim Goes, Helga do Rosario Gomes, Prasad Thoppil and John Fasulo have been been collecting data in the Arabian sea since last spring (2007) in order to determine the effects.