Modeling the circulation and sediment transport in the Beibu Gulf

Water circulation and sediment transport in the Beibu Gulf are important for its environmental protection and resource exploitation.By employing the Regional Ocean Modeling System（ROMS）,we studied the seasonal variation of circulation,sediment transport and long-term morphological evolution in the Beibu Gulf.The simulation results show that the circulation induced by tide and wind is cyclonic both in winter and summer in the gulf and that the wind-driven circulation is stronger in winter than that in summer.The sediment concentration is higher in the Qiongzhou Strait,west of the Hainan Island and the coast of Vietnam and the Leizhou Peninsula.The sediment is transported westwards in winter and eastwards in summer in the Qiongzhou Strait.The west entrance of the Qiongzhou Strait is dominated by westward transport all the year round.The sediment discharged by rivers is deposited near the river mouths.The simulated result demonstrates that the sediment transport is mainly controlled by tidal induced bottom resuspension in the Beibu Gulf.Four characteristics are summarized for the distribution patterns of erosion and deposition.（1） The erosion and deposition are insignificant in most area of the gulf.（2） Sediment deposition is more significant in the mouths of Qiongzhou Strait.（3） The erosion is observed in the seabed of Qiongzhou Strait.（4） Erosion and deposition occur alternatively in the west of Hainan Island.

Warm–dry collocation of recent drought in southwestern China tied to moisture transport and climate warming

This study aims to investigate the recent drought in southwestern China and its association with environmental changes in moisture transport （MT） and atmospheric circulation. Climatic Research Unit grid data, in situ observations in China, and ERA-interim reanalysis are used to study the characteristics of the drought and the associated mechanism. Recent precipitation trends show a pattern of ＂Northern wetting and Southern drying＂, similar to the anti-phase of the climate pattern prevailing during 1980--2000 in China's Mainland; southwestern China incurred a severe drought during 2009-20l 3. Wavelet analysis reveals that the drought coincides with a warm-dry phase of temperature and precipitation on a period of about 20 years and beyond 100 years, where contributions account for 43% and 57% of the deficiency of the precipitation, averaged for 2003-2012, respectively. A further investigation reveals that the drought results chiefly from the decline of the southwestern monsoon MT toward southwestern China, in addition to mid-latitude circulation changes, which leads to more blockings near the Ural Mountains and the Sea of Okhotsk in the rainy season and negative anomalies around Lake Baikal and northeast China in the dry season. These anomalies are likely to be correlated with global sea surface temperature changes and need to be studied further.

Low-frequency variability of the shallow meridional overturning circulation in the South China Sea

The low-frequency variability of the shallow meridional overturning circulation（MOC） in the South China Sea（SCS） is investigated using a Simple Ocean Data Assimilation（SODA） product for the period of 1900-2010. A dynamical decomposition method is used in which the MOC is decomposed into the Ekman, external mode, and vertical shear components. Results show that all the three dynamical components contribute to the formation of the seasonal and annual mean shallow MOC in the SCS. The shallow MOC in the SCS consists of two cells： a clockwise cell in the south and an anticlockwise cell in the north; the former is controlled by the Ekman flow and the latter is dominated by the external barotropic flow, with the contribution of the vertical shear being to reduce the magnitude of both cells. In addition, the strength of the MOC in the south is found to have a falling trend over the past century, due mainly to a weakening of the Luzon Strait transport（LST） that reduces the transport of the external component. Further analysis suggests that the weakening of the LST is closely related to a weakening of the westerly wind anomalies over the equatorial Pacific, which leads to a southward shift of the North Equatorial Current（NEC） bifurcation and thus a stronger transport of the Kuroshio east of Luzon.

The Response of Anomalous Vertically Integrated Moisture Flux Patterns Related to Drought and Flood in Southern China to Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly

With the extreme drought(flood)event in southern China from July to August in 2022(1999)as the research object,based on the comprehensive diagnosis and composite analysis on the anomalous drought and flood years from July to August in 1961-2022,it is found that there are significant differences in the characteristics of the vertically integrated moisture flux(VIMF)anomaly circulation pattern and the VIMF convergence(VIMFC)anomaly in southern China in drought and flood years,and the VIMFC,a physical quantity,can be regarded as an indicative physical factor for the"strong signal"of drought and flood in southern China.Specifically,in drought years,the VIMF anomaly in southern China is an anticyclonic circulation pattern and the divergence characteristics of the VIMFC are prominent,while those are opposite in flood years.Based on the SST anomaly in the typical draught year of 2022 in southern China and the SST deviation distribution characteristics of abnormal draught and flood years from 1961 to 2022,five SST high impact areas(i.e.,the North Pacific Ocean,Northwest Pacific Ocean,Southwest Pacific Ocean,Indian Ocean,and East Pacific Ocean)are selected via the correlation analysis of VIMFC and the global SST in the preceding months(May and June)and in the study period(July and August)in 1961-2022,and their contributions to drought and flood in southern China are quantified.Our study reveals not only the persistent anomalous variation of SST in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean but also its impact on the pattern of moisture transport.Furthermore,it can be discovered from the positive and negative phase fitting of SST that the SST composite flow field in high impact areas can exhibit two types of anomalous moisture transport structures that are opposite to each other,namely an anticyclonic(cyclonic)circulation pattern anomaly in southern China and the coastal areas of east China.These two types of opposite anomalous moisture transport structures can not only drive the formation of drought(flood)in southern China but also exert its influence on the persistent development of the extreme weather.

A species-transport model for circulation in a leading-edge vortex

In this study,we propose a model to predict circulation growth along the span of a rotating wing,in which circulation transport is represented as species transport.Fluid particles entering the vortex shear layer at the leading edge are initialized as vorticity-containing mass and are advected by the flow along the span.A circulation budget is presented,consisting of a generation and transport term,the latter derived from the vorticity transport equation,which leaves only two unknowns for the modeller to determine:the shear-layer thickness and the spanwise flow distribution.We find that the model is insensitive to the value chosen for the shear-layer thickness,as varying the thickness by an order of magnitude only changes the output by a few percent.Meanwhile,we use Bernoulli equation in a rotating coordinates system as a basic model for spanwise flow.To verify the accuracy of the model,the predicted circulation values are compared against experimental circulation values and show good agreement to measurements close to the axis of rotation,which corresponds to the spanwise locations at which the spanwise flow model best matches experimental data.It is suggested,therefore,that this model produces accurate results subject to an appropriate spanwise flow model.