Research Projects

Understanding the coastal ocean circulation along the northern Indian Ocean (NIO) is crucial for monitoring tides, marine ecosystems, port management, oil spill effects, fisheries, sediment deposition, erosion prevention, and cyclone prediction. The NIO broadens towards the north with wide continental shelves, leading to shallow Gulfs and estuaries along the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. These domains are known for significant amplification of major and shallow water tides due to complex coastal geometry and bottom bathymetry. Recent studies have observed non-linear tidal distortions within the GoKh during the pre-monsoon season using High-Frequency Radar surface currents. Seasonal circulation variability has been investigated with an indication to tidal mixing. Near-fortnightly, fortnightly, and monthly tidal signals are also significant in these Gulfs and estuaries. Interaction between major and shallow water tidal constituents leads to non-linear tidal distortions due to unequal durations in sea levels rise and fall or differences in scale of ebb and flood currents. Investigating the nature of tidal asymmetry is important for generating residual sediment transport and large-scale morphological changes in tidally active domains like Gulfs and estuaries. This proposal aims to understand higher-resolution coastal ocean circulation features using HFR surface currents, develop a higher-resolution coastal ocean hydrodynamic model based on improved bathymetry, and investigate various types of tidal asymmetry within these Gulfs and estuaries along the coastal NIO. The work is based on multiple high frequency observations and a higher-resolution three-dimensional coastal ocean numerical model.