Thermal and haline fronts in the Yellow/East China Seas: Surface and subsurface seasonality comparison
Abstract
Seasonal variability of surface and subsurface thermal/haline fronts in the Yellow/
East China Seas (YES) has been investigated using three-dimensional monthly-mean
temperature and salinity data from U.S. Navy’s Generalized Digital Environmental
Model (Version 3.0). The density-compensated Cheju-Yangtze Thermal/Haline Front
has (northern and southern) double-tongues. The northern tongue is most evident
throughout the depth from December to April. The southern tongue is persistent at
the subsurface with conspicuous haline fronts. The thermal (haline) frontal intensity
of the northern tongue is controlled mainly by the temperature (salinity) variation on
the shoreward (seaward) side of the front. The cold water over the Yangtze Bank is
influential in generating the southern tongue and intensifying the Tsushima Thermal
Front. The year-round Cheju-Tsushima Thermal Front is evident throughout the depth
and intensifies from July to December. The northern arc of the Yangtze Ring Haline
Front is manifest in spring and is sustained until summer, whereas the southern one
is fully developed in summer because of eastward migration of the Yangtze Diluted
Water. The area showing strong frontal intensity in the Chinese Coastal Haline Front
shifts seasonally north and south along the Zhejiang-Fujian coast. The Generation
and evolution of YES fronts are closely associated with YES circulation (inferred
from the linkage of the water masses). Moreover, the subsurface temperature/salinity
evolution on the fronts in the Yellow Sea differs from that in the East China Sea
owing to local factors such as wintertime vertical mixing and a summertime strong
thermocline above the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water.
Description
surface and subsurface seasonality comparison. Journal of Oceanography, Oceanographic Society of Japan, 62, 617-638
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.Collections
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