Effect of Southern Swells on the Waves in the Northern Indian Ocean

Winds and associated waves have strong impacts on the physics, chemistry and biology of the coastal and open ocean. Swells are long waves which have been generated by very strong winds, far away from the current location. However, they have high energies and therefore capable of causing detrimental impact on delicate marine operations very far away from where they are generated. The study of swells has always been challenging as even today they are the most poorly predicted part of the sea state. An attempt has been made to account for the effect of swells from southern Indian Ocean to Northern Indian Ocean by different simulations using third generation wave model MIKE 21 SW for significant wave heights with discretized wind fields over the domain. The study indicates that swells generated in the Southern Indian Ocean freely propagate towards Northern Indian Ocean with more influence on the Bay of Bengal, particularly the west coast of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, with less impact in the Arabian Sea. Seasonal analysis showed a higher swell propagation in the southwest monsoon season as compared to the other seasons.