Geostrophic Spirals Generated by the Horizontal Diffusion of Vortex Stretching in the Yellow Sea

Horizontal velocity spirals with a clockwise rotation(downward looking) rate of 1.7?m^(-1), on average, were observed in the western and northern Yellow Sea from December 2006 to February 2007. With the observed thermal wind relation,the beta-spiral theory was used to explain the dynamics of spirals. It was found that the horizontal diffusion of geostrophic vortex stretching is likely to be a major mechanism for generating geostrophic spirals. Vertical advection associated with surface/bottom Ekman pumping and topography-induced upwelling is too weak to support these spirals. Strong wind stirring and large heat loss in wintertime lead to weak stratification and diminish the effects of vertical advection. The cooling effect and vertical diffusion are offset by an overwhelming contribution of horizontal diffusion in connection with vortex stretching. The Richardson number-dependent vertical eddy diffusivity reaches a magnitude of 10^(-4) m^2 s^(-1) on average. An eddy diffusivity of 2870 m^2 s^(-1) is required for dynamic balance by estimating the residual term. This obtained value of 10-4 m^2 s^(-1) is in good agreement with the estimation in terms of observed eddy activities. The suppressed and unsuppressed diffusivities in the observation region are 2752 and 2881 m^2 s^(-1), respectively, which supports a closed budget for velocity rotation.

Circulation in the South China Sea is in a state of forced oscillation:Results from a simple reduced gravity model with a closed boundary

The South China Sea(SCS)is a narrow semi-enclosed basin,ranging from 4°–6°N to 21°–22°N meridionally.It is forced by a strong annual cycle of monsoon-related wind stress.The Coriolis parameter f increases at least three times from the southern basin to the northern basin.As a result,the basin-cross time for the first baroclinic Rossby wave in the southern part of the basin is about 10-times faster than that in the northern part,which plays the most vitally important role in setting the circulation.At the northernmost edge of SCS,the first baroclinic Rossby wave takes slightly less than 1 year to move across the basin,however,it takes only 1–2 months in the southernmost part.Therefore,circulation properties for a station in the model ocean are not solely determined by the forcing at that time instance only;instead,they depend on the information over the past months.The combination of a strong annual cycle of wind forcing and large difference of basin-cross time for the first baroclinic Rossby wave leads to a strong seasonal cycle of the circulation in the SCS,hence,the circulation is dominated by the forced oscillations,rather than the quasi-steady state discussed in many textbooks.The circulation in the SCS is explored in detail by using a simple reduced gravity model forced by seasonally varying zonal wind stress.In particular,for a given time snap the western boundary current in the SCS cannot play the role of balancing mass transport across each latitude nor balancing mechanical energy and vorticity in the whole basin.In a departure from the steady wind-driven circulation discussed in many existing textbooks,the circulation in the SCS is characterized by the imbalance of mechanical energy and vorticity for the whole basin at any part of the seasonal cycle.In particular,the western boundary current in the SCS cannot balance the mass,mechanical energy,and vorticity in the seasonal cycle of the basin.Consequently,the circulation near the western boundary cannot be interpreted in terms of the wind stress and thermohaline forcing at the same time.Instead,circulation properties near the western boundary should be interpreted in terms of the contributions due to the delayed wind stress and the eastern boundary layer thickness.In fact,there is a clear annual cycle of net imbalance of mechanical energy and vorticity source/sink.Results from such a simple model may have important implications for our understanding of the complicated phenomena in the SCS,either from in-situ observations or numerical simulations.

Dynamics of seasonal and interannual variability of the ocean bottom pressure in the Southern Ocean

Seasonal and interannual variability of ocean bottom pressure(OBP)in the Southern Ocean was investigated using Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment(GRACE)data and a Pressure Coordinate Ocean Model(PCOM)based on mass conservation.By comparing OBP,steric sea level,and sea level,it is found that at high latitudes the OBP variability dominates the sea level variability at seasonal-to-decadal time scales.The diagnostic OBP based on barotropic vorticity equation has a good correlation with the observations,indicating that wind forcing plays an important role in the variability of the OBP in the Southern Ocean.The unique interannual patterns of OBP in the Southern Ocean are closely associated with El Niño-Southern Oscillation(ENSO)and Southern Annular Mode(SAM).Regression analysis indicates that ENSO and SAM influence the OBP through altering the Ekman transport driven by surface wind.The leading pattern of OBP from PCOM are very similar to observations.Sensitive experiments of PCOM show that surface wind forcing explains the observed OBP variability quite well,confirming the importance of wind forcing and related oceanic processes.In the eastern South Pacific,the averaged OBP shows a decrease(increase)trend before(after)2011,reflecting the reverse trend in westerly wind.In the South Indo-Atlantic Ocean,the averaged OBP has a weak increase trend during 2003–2016.