Observed year-to-year sea surface salinity variability in the Bay of Bengal during the 2009–2014 period

The present study describes the observed sea surface salinity (SSS) interannual variability in the Bay of Bengal over the 2009–2014 period. It is based on an original compilation of all available in situ SSS observations in that region, assembled in a 2°-resolution trimonthly gridded field. We find that year-to-year SSS variability is particularly strong in the north-eastern part of the bay. Over recent years, this variability takes the form of two successive and opposite phases: a saltening phase from mid-2009 to late 2010, immediately followed by a freshening phase from late 2010 to late 2011. The typical magnitude of each anomalous spell is about one in the practical salinity scale, making this area one of the most variable of the tropical oceans at interannual timescales. A simple mixed-layer salt budget indicates that year-to-year large-scale SSS variability in the Northern Bay of Bengal is primarily driven by freshwater flux variability with a correlation of 0.68, with rather independent contributions from precipitation and river run-off. The oceanic surface circulation variability contributes less systematically to the large-scale SSS evolution in the Northern Bay of Bengal over the entire record with a correlation of 0.13, despite a strong contribution at times, in particular, during the 2011 positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) freshening.