Open-boundary conditions for the wind-driven barotropic circulation model of the Arabian Sea

Abstract

Using vertically integrated numerical model, specification of different open-boundary conditions and its sensitivity for the simulation of wind-driven ocean circulation in the eastern Arabian Sea is studied. The model is mainly driven by climatological monthly mean winds. Except the gravity wave radiation condition, all the other open boundary conditions used in this study perform adequately at transmitting wave energy and its response is entirely acceptable in the wind stress experiments. The experiments show that the circulation can be drastically changed simply by using different open boundary conditions. Due to its highly reflective nature, gravity wave condition produces a high sea surface elevations and also oscillates substantially more than using any other condition. The results also suggest that modified Orlanski radiation (explicit) open boundary condition is probably the best choice for barotropic ocean circulation models.