Question

Why productivity is low in bay of bengal?

Answer 1

The Bay of Bengal is traditionally considered to be a less productive basin compared to the Arabian Sea. We explore the reasons for this in the central Bay during summer when both are subjected to strong monsoon forcing. Copious rainfall and river water freshen the upper layers of the Bay by 3-7 psu during summer, and SST was warmer by 1.5-2oC than in the central Arabian Sea. This leads to a strongly stratified surface layer. The weaker winds over the Bay are unable to erode the strongly stratified surface layer, thereby restricting the turbulent wind-driven vertical mixing to a shallow depth of < 20m. This inhibits any possible introduction of nutrients from below, situated close to the mixed layer bottom, into the upper layers. While advection of nutrients rich water into the euphotic zone makes the Arabian Sea highly productive, this process is unlikely in the Bay of Bengal.
(PDF) Why is the Bay of Bengal less productive during SM as compared to the Arabian Sea?. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/27666895_Why_is_the_Bay_of_Bengal_less_productive_during_SM_as_compared_to_the_Arabian_Sea [accessed Jul 01 2018].