Mixed Layer Budget Terms on Acoustic Propagation: A Study-based on the Butterfly Track Experiment in the South-Eastern Arabian Sea

A butterfly type of repeat track cruise was carried out in the South Eastern Arabian Sea (off Minicoy) onboard INS Saganlhwani during July 2016 to Aug 2016. We have also made use of the data from OMNI buoy, AD09, which is about 6 km close to the centre station of butterfly track. Air sea flux, the horizontal current data from AD09 and the time series data collected from the butterfly experiment were analysed to compute the mixed layer heat and salt budget. The short-term thermo-haline variability off Minicoy, relative contribution of heat/salt budget terms in MLD and its effects on acoustic propagation are addressed in this paper. In this study, most dominating term in the mixed layer heat budget estimation is net surface heat flux followed by the advective terms has been found. However the salinity in the mixed layer is dominated by the contribution of buoyancy mixing due to night time evaporative cooling. During the calm, sunny day, the so-called afternoon effect due to the diurnal heating restricts the sonar range. But during the windy day, the wind/wave mixing prevents the warming of the surface layer which in turn enhances the sonar range. Similarly, the night time cooling also enhance the acoustic propagation range. The presence of Arabian Sea High Salinity Watermass in the surface layer also enhances the acoustic propagation.