Characteristics of thermal finestructure in the southern Yellow Sea and the East China Sea from airborne expendable bathythermograph measurements
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Authors
Park, Sunghyea
Chu, Peter C.
Subjects
Yellow/East China Seas
AXBT
synoptic thermal fronts
thermal finestructures
mixing
AXBT
synoptic thermal fronts
thermal finestructures
mixing
Advisors
Date of Issue
2008
Date
2008
Publisher
Language
Abstract
Four surveys of airborne expendable bathythermograph with horizontal spacing of
about 35 km and vertical spacing of 1 m extending from the surface down to 400 m
deep are used to analyze thermal finestructures and their seasonality in frontal zones
of the southern Yellow Sea and the East China Sea. Finestructure characteristics are
different not only among fronts but also along the same front, implying different mixing
mechanisms. Summer thermocline intrusions with thickness from few to 40 meters,
generated by the vertically-sheared advection, are identified along the southern
tongue of the Cheju-Yangtze Front (especially south of Cheju Island). The
finestructures south of the Yangtze Bank (i.e. the western tip of the southern tongue)
produced by strong along-frontal currents are not as rich as elsewhere in the southern
tongue. The Cheju-Tsushima Front presents mixed finestructures due to confluent
currents from various origins. The irregular-staircase finestructures in the
Kuroshio region (below the seasonal thermocline), driven by double-diffusive mixing,
show seasonal invariance and vertical/horizontal coherence. The strength of mixing
related to finestructure is weaker in the Kuroshio region than in the Cheju-
Tsushima Front or south of Cheju Island. The profiles in the Tsushima Warm Current
branching area show large (~50 m thick), irregular-staircase structures at the
upper 230 m depth, which coincides roughly with the lower boundary of the maximum
salinity layer. The finestructure at depths deeper 230 m is similar to that in the
Kuroshio region. The possible mechanisms for generating the finestructures are also
discussed.
Type
Article
Description
Journal of Oceanography, Oceanographic Society of Japan, 64, 859-875.
Series/Report No
Department
Oceanography
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
This research was sponsored by the Naval Oceanographic Office, Office of Naval Research, and Naval Post- graduate School.
Funder
Format
Citation
Park, S., and P. C. Chu, 2008: Characteristics of thermal finestructure in the southern Yellow Sea and the East China Sea from airborne expendable bathythermograph measurements. (paper download) Journal of Oceanography, Oceanographic Society of Japan, 64, 859-875.
Distribution Statement
Rights
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.