The upper-ocean response to typhoons as measured at a moored acoustic Doppler current profiler

A moored acoustic Doppler current profiler(ADCP) data,satellite-derived sea surface wind data,and the chlorophyll-a concentration were used to examine the influence of typhoon events on the upper ocean in the central Luzon Strait. The data were collected between August 27 and October 6,2011. Large changes in ocean dynamics and marine life were recorded in the upper layers over the short term during the transit of each of the three violent typhoons that passed over the region during the study period. The geostrophic flow during the period of ADCP monitoring was comparable to the Ekman flow,recently shown to be prominent in the upper layer. Based on the influence of the three typhoon events that swept the Luzon Strait or traversed Luzon Island on their way to the South China Sea,we postulated a typhoon-induced upwelling around the ADCP and found that upward isothermal displacements reached 11.8–39.0 m,which was confirmed by the sea-level anomaly data recorded at the same time. This variability in the upper ocean may play an important role in biological activity,especially in offshore deep-sea regions.