Impact of continental meteorology and atmospheric circulation in the modulation of Aerosol Optical Depth over the Arabian Sea

Time series analysis of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) derived from NOAA-AVHRR data during the period 1996-1999 and the MODIS data during 2000-2009 over the Arabian Sea revealed a systematic biennial variability in the high AOD during summer months. The variability is more prominent over the northern and central parts of the Arabian Sea and became less significant towards southern latitudes. The possible mechanisms for these are examined by estimating the source strength over coastal Arabia and AOD flow rate through the western boundary of the Arabian Sea. Both these show clear signatures of biennial variability with same phase as AOD for most of the years. This result indicates that the observed biennial variability in AOD is likely to be the outcome of combined effects of biennial variability in wind generated sea-salt aerosols and dust transported from Arabia.