Observation of internal waves in the Andaman Sea by ERS SAR

Abstract

The Andaman Sea of the Indian Ocean is known to be a site in the world's ocean where extraordinarily large internal solitons are encountered. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the ERS-1/2 satellites acquired by the receiving station in Singapore reveal that the large internal solitons previously detected by in-situ oceanographic measurements in the western approaches of the Strait of Malacca between Phuket (Thailand) and the northern coast of Sumatra (Indonesia) are generated at shallow banks in the western part of the Andaman Sea. When propagating onto the shelf of the Malayan Peninsula, their spatial separation decreases and their shape becomes irregular, but they remain solitons of depression.