A steady state model of the Somali current including forcing by both the curl and the divergence of the wind stress is discussed. The model equations are linear, but the results presented are for the one nonlinear case. The grid resolution was 12 km in the zonal and 24 km in the meridional direction. The streamfunction and velocity potential of the current are presented for forcing by divergence and compared with a situation when only the curl is present. The results indicate that a two-gyre system appears in July, a representative month for the summer monsoon, only when divergence is included. Computations with available data indicate that the divergence is comparable in magnitude to the curl near the location of the Somali current. The model produces three other important features: (i) strong upwelling off the east coast of Africa, (ii) downwelling over central Arabian sea and (iii) a strong eastward current in the upper layer towards the interior of the Arabian sea near 12°N.

The paper presents an analysis of four Indian tide-gauge records. The stations were: Bombay, Madras, Cochin and Vishakhapatnam (Vizag). They were selected because of their reliability.

There was no evidence of a monotonic rising trend at all four stations. The test by Mann and Kendall (loc. cit.) showed a rising trend at Bombay from 1940 to 1986 and at Madras from 1910 to 1933. The other records did not reveal a significant trend.

The records reveal evidence of long-period cycles (50–60 year period), with shorter cycles (4.5 to 5.7-year period) riding on them. Spectral peaks corresponding to shorter cycles passed a false alarm probability test at 95% level of significance. The peaks were identified by computing periodograms and by maximizing the entropy of the time series.

ARIMA models suggest a third order autoregressive model for Bombay and Madras (1953–1986). The remaining records only had a moving average component.

Monthly tide-gauge data of Bombay reveal a 13.4-month cycle which was statistically significant. This was close to the 14.7-month Chandler wobble. But, an interaction between a 13.4-month and an annual cycle could not fully explain the observed short period cycles.

Finally, the paper summarizes evidence to indicate that a pattern exists between fluctuations of monsoon rain and relative sea level at Bombay.

This paper studies tidegauge records of stations on the Indian coastline. An analysis of trends did not reveal a monotonie trend. Trends were seen for limited periods at only five of the eight stations on the Indian coast. A spectral analysis of annual records produced evidence of long period cycles with shorter cycles riding on them. The shorter cycles had a period of 5.0 years. The spectra of monthly records revealed evidence of a pole tide and an annual cycle. The amplitude of the pole tide was estimated to be around 7.5 mm. This was larger than the equilibrium tide. A spectral analysis of monthly rainfall at Bombay, a station on the Indian west coast, also showed a 13.9 month cycle and a (3,1,0) autoregressive model. But the coherence between monthly rainfall and relative sealevel fluctuations was low.