Yearly impact of submonthly rain fluctuations on the Indian Ocean salinity

We investigate the impact of submonthly rain fluctuations on the daily-to-interannual variations of the salinity in the tropical Indian Ocean. A three-year record of daily observed precipitation and wind are used to force an Indian Ocean model in two experiments that differ only by their rain forcing, which is either daily-(Exp_day) or monthly- (Exp_month) averaged. Results show that submonthly precipitations significantly impact the Surface Layer Salinity (SLS) in the northern and eastern Bay of Bengal during the wet season from May to November. In September when the Bay reaches its SLS minimum, the Andaman Sea is saltier by as much as 1.3 psu for Exp_day. The frequency shift between the submonthly rain forcing and the yearly salinity response is due to accumulation in time of nonlinear mechanisms: sudden rain deficits increase the SLS by entraining salty waters from below, whereas rain excesses are inefficient to decrease the salinity of the thick surface layer.