Seasonal and intra-seasonal thermocline variability in the central South China Sea
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Authors
Liu, Qinyu
Jia, Yinglai
Wang, Qi
Chu, Peter C.
Liu, Penghui
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2001-12
Date
2001-12
Publisher
Language
Abstract
Seasonal and intraseasonal variability of thermocline
and relative surface height in the central South China
Sea (SCS) are investigated using time series data of temperature
from three buoys and sea surface height anomaly
data from TOPEX/POSEIDON and ERS-1/ERS-2 satellites(
T/P-ERS) from Feb. 1998 through Mar. 1999. We
found that the thermocline becomesde eper and thinner in
winter, owing to a great loss of the heat on the sea surface.
Thisf eature is more evident in the northern than the southern
part of the central SCS. The intraseasonal variation of
the thermocline ismain ly controlled by the geostrophic vorticity
and is out-of-phase with sea surface height (SSH). Furthermore,
we find a double-thermocline phenomenon occurs
in the SCS: In spring, owing to maximum net downward
heat flux at the surface, with the new thermocline appearing
above 80 m and the old thermocline keeping under 80 m deep.
Type
Article
Description
Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union
Series/Report No
Department
Oceanography
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Citation
Liu, Q.,Y. Jia, P. Liu, Q. Wang, and P.C. Chu, 2001: Seasonal and intra-seasonal thermocline variability in the central South China Sea (paper download). Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union, 28, 4467-4470.
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.