Role of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in eddy formation along western boundary of the Bay of Bengal.

Eddies along western boundary of the Bay of Bengal (WBoB) play an important role in regulating regional climate and marine productivity of the north Indian Ocean. In this paper, role of Andaman and Nicobar islands (ANIs) in the formation of eddies along the WBoB is studied using an ocean general circulation model. Our analysis shows that, in the absence of ANIs, there is a significant reduction in the total number of mesoscale eddies in this region. The impact is particularly evident for the cyclonic eddies as a reduction of ~50% can be noticed in the absence of the islands. In contrast, influence of ANIs on anticyclonic eddies is not homogeneous in the WBoB; while absence of ANIs significantly increases anticyclonic eddies in the central part of the WBoB, a decrease can be noticed in the southern part. We further show that the reduction in number of cyclonic eddies along the WBoB is primarily driven by reduced baroclinic and barotropic instabilities. This process is more conspicuous during winter (October-January) season compared to summer (June-September) and spring (February-May) seasons.