The study on seasonal characteristics of water masses in the western East China Sea shelf area

On the basis of the CTD data and the modeling results in the winter and summer of 2009, the seasonal characteristics of the water masses in the western East China Sea shelf area were analyzed using a cluster analysis method. The results show that the distributions and temperature-salinity characteristics of the water masses in the study area are of distinct seasonal difference. In the western East China Sea shelf area, there are three water masses during winter, i.e., continental coastal water（CCW）, Taiwan Warm Current surface water（TWCSW） and Yellow Sea mixing water（YSMW）, but four ones during summer, i.e., the CCW, the TWCSW, Taiwan Warm Current deep water（TWCDW） and the YSMW. Of all, the CCW, the TWCSW and the TWCDW are all dominant water masses. The CCW, primarily characterized by a low salinity, has lower temperature, higher salinity and smaller spatial extent in winter than in summer. The TWCSW is warmer, fresher and smaller in summer than in winter, and it originates mostly from the Kuroshio surface water（KSW） northeast of Taiwan, China and less from the Taiwan Strait water during winter, but it consists of the strait water and the KSW during summer. The TWCDW is characterized by a low temperature and a high salinity, and originates completely in the Kuroshio subsurface water northeast of Taiwan.

Seasonal variation and formation mechanism of the South China Sea warm water

The South China Sea warm water (SCSWW) is identified as the warm water body withtemperature no less than 28*. There are three stages in the seasonal variation of the SCSWW. The SCSWW expands rapidly and deepens quickly in the developing stage. The warm water thickness decreases near the coast of Vietnam and increases near Palawan Island in the steady stage. The SCSWW flinches southward while its thickness off Palawan Island remains no less than 50 m in the flinching stage. The maximum thickness of the SCSWW is always located near the southeastern SCS. The seasonal variation of the SCSWW has a close relationship with seasonal variation of the thermocline. According to the analysis of the numerical experiment results from the Princeton Ocean Model (POM), the mechanism of the seasonal variation of the SCSWW can be interpreted as: (1) in the developing stage, the rapidly expanding and thickening feature of the SCSWW is mainly due to buoyancy flux effect (67% contribution). The weak wind and anticyclonic wind stress curl (22% contribution) present an environment which facilitates the accumulation of warm water; (2) in the steady stage, the decrease feature near the Vietnam coast and increase eature in southeast of the SCSWW thickness are mainly caused by wind stress (70% contribution); (3) in the flinching stage, the thickness reduction of the SCSWW is mainly due to upwelling and enhanced turbulent mixing caused by wind stress (accounts for 60%).

Seasonal variation of the Taiwan Warm Current Water and its underlying mechanism

Based on the historical observed data and the modeling results,this paper investigated the seasonal variations in the Taiwan Warm Current Water(TWCW)using a cluster analysis method and examined the contributions of the Kuroshio onshore intrusion and the Taiwan Strait Warm Current(TSWC)to the TWCW on seasonal time scales.The TWCW has obviously seasonal variation in its horizontal distribution,T-S characteristics and volume.The volume of TWCW is maximum(13746 km^3)in winter and minimum(11397 km^3)in autumn.As to the contributions to the TWCW,the TSWC is greatest in summer and smallest in winter,while the Kuroshio onshore intrusion northeast of Taiwan Island is strongest in winter and weakest in summer.By comparison,the Kuroshio onshore intrusion make greater contributions to the Taiwan Warm Current Surface Water(TWCSW)than the TSWC for most of the year,except for in the summertime(from June to August),while the Kuroshio Subsurface Water(KSSW)dominate the Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water(TWCDW).The analysis results demonstrate that the local monsoon winds is the dominant factor controlling the seasonal variation in the TWCW volume via Ekman dynamics,while the surface heat fl ux can play a secondary role via the joint ef fect of baroclinicity and relief.

Kuroshio warm filament and the source of the warm water of the Tsushima Current

Characteristics and evolution of the Kuroshio frontal eddies and warm filaments are analyzed according to two series of satellite images (March 5 to 7, 1986 and April 14 to 16, 1988). The results show that the frontal eddies in the East China Sea are generated at the shelf break and move along the continental slope at a speed of 15 cm/s with the Kuroshio. The frontal eddies occur about every 10 d and evolve to be warm filaments a few hundred km in length and 30-40 km in width in the area west of the Yaku-shima. Meanwhile, the existence of the warm filament was also found in the area by analysing the hydrographic data in the area west of Kyushu during May 24-June 5, 1988.The Kuroshio warm filaments move westward opposite to the Kuroshio and then turn northward at the shelf break and become the main source of the warm water of the Tsushima Warm Current. A simple dynamic explanation for the process is presented in this paper.

The Effect of Warm Water and Its Weak Negative Feedback on the Rapid Intensification of Typhoon Hato(2017)

Typhoon Hato (2017) went through a rapid intensification (RI) process before making landfall in Zhuhai,Guangdong Province, as the observational data shows. Within 24 hours, its minimum sea level pressure deepened by35hPa and its maximum sustained wind speed increased by 20m s-1. According to satellite observations, Hato encountered a large area of warm water and two warm core rings before the RI process, and the average sea surface temperature cooling (SSTC) induced by Hato was only around 0.73℃. Air-sea coupled simulations were implemented to investigate the specific impact of the warm water on its RI process. The results showed that the warm water played an important role by facilitating the RI process by around 20%. Sea surface temperature budget analysis showed that the SSTC induced by mixing mechanism was not obvious due to the warm water. Besides, the cold advection hardly caused any SSTC, either. Therefore, the SSTC induced by Hato was much weaker compared with that in general cases. The negative feedback between ocean and Hato was restrained and abundant heat and moisture were sufficiently supplied to Hato. The warm water helped heat flux increase by around 20%, too. Therefore, the warm water influenced the structure and the intensity of Hato. Although there might be other factors that also participated in the RI process, this study focused on air-sea interaction in tropical cyclone forecast and discussed the impact of warm water on the intensity and structure of a tropical cyclone.

Warm water wake off northeast Vietnam in the South China Sea

Due to orographic blockage, a weak wind wake occurs in summer off northeast Vietnam in the South China Sea. Under the wind wake, warm water is observed from both high-resolution satellite data and hydrographic observations. The wake of warm water forms in June, continues to mature in July and August, starts to decay in September, and disappears in October. The warm water wake also shows robust diurnal variation – it intensifies during the day and weakens in the night. Warm water wakes can be generated through wind-induced mixing and thermal（latent heat flux） processes. In this paper, a mixed layer model is used to evaluate the relative importance of the two processes on seasonal and diurnal timescales, respectively. The results demonstrate that thermal processes make a greater contribution to the wake than wind-induced mixing processes on a seasonal timescale, while the warm water wake is dominated by wind-induced mixing processes on a diurnal timescale.

Role of ocean upper layer warm water in the rapid intensification of tropical cyclones: A case study of typhoon Rammasun(1409)

Rammasun intensified rapidly from tropical storm to super typhoon in the northern South China Sea（NSCS）before its landfall on Hainan Island. Analysis of observed data shows that the anomalous ocean upper layer warm water（WW） is important to the rapid intensification of Rammasun. During the period of Rammasun, sea surface temperature（SST） in the NSCS was much warmer than the climatological SST. The anomalous WW supplied more energy to Rammasun, resulting in its rapid intensification. Numerical simulations further confirm that the NSCS WW plays an important role in the rapid intensification of Rammasun. As the WW is removed, the intensification of Rammasun is only 25 h Pa, which is 58.1% of that in the original SST-forced run.

A reduced thermodynamic model on the formation of the Nansha warm water

A reduced vertically integrated upper mixed layer model is set up to numerically study the thermodynamic process of the formation of the 'Nansha warm water'(NWW) in the Nansha Islands sea areas in spring. According to the numerical experiments, it is shown that, in spring, the formation of the NWW is mainly due to the sea surface net heat flux and the local weak current strength; the contribution from temperature advection transport and warm water exchange with the outer seas (Sulu Sea or south of Sunda shelf) is very little. In the sea areas where the current is strong, the advection may also play an important role in the temperature field.

On the origin of the Tsushima Warm Current Water

The origin of the Tsushima Warm Current Water(TWCW) in summer is studied mainly on the basis of the CTD data and the observations of satellite-traced surface drifters of Coastal Ocean Process Experiment of the East China Sea(COPEX-ECS) conducted by Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute. The main results are as follows: (1) The structures of the TWCW show obvious regional varitaions. The TWCW can be divided into three layers in the northern Okinawa Trough west of Kyushu and into two layers on the continental shelf and in the Tsushima/Korea Strait. (2) The surface TWCW, charactered by a sub-high salinity (33. 5～ 34. 10), comes mainly from the coastal water composed largely of the Changjiang Diluted Water, the surface Kuroshio water and the shelf water in the area south of the East China Sea (ECS). (3) The middle TWCW is sub-grouped into two parts: the water of salinity (S) larger than 34. 50 located below the thermocline originates from the climbed sub-surface Kuroshio water;the TWCW lying in the thermocline is a mixture of the Kuroshio water and the shelf water with low salinity. (4) In the strait, the water from the source area is denatured obviously due to mixing unceasingly wth the shelf water and coastal water. The high salinity water of S >34. 5 appears only in the bottom layer with depths>50m.

INCONSECUTIVE “SANDWICH STRUCTURE” PATTERN FOR HIGH TEMPERATURE WARM WATER IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC WARM POOL

An inconsecutive high frequency distribution with a"sandwich structure"pattern for high temperature warm water warmer than 29℃ in the western Pacific warm pool(WPWP) was found using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission(TRMM) sea surface temperature(SST) data,a relatively high resolution data for space.This phenomenon only shows up in boreal summer(June to September),and becomes obvious when WPWP SST is higher than 29℃.As observed,East Asian summer monsoon(EASM) impinges on Philippine Islands in July,which has an important impact on the formation and maintenance of the "sandwich structure".Winds affect the distribution of SST in two ways:one by increasing the local latent heat flux and the other by transporting cold water towards the southeast of Philippine Islands.

Primary productivity in the western tropical Pacific and equatorial warm waters

Primary productivity in the western tropical Pacific and equatorial warm waters was studied in the WOCE cruise in November of 1991 and the TOGA-COARE cruise from November of 1992 to February of 1993.It is shown that the total amount of integrated chlorophyll a(chloro a)was 19 79 mg/m 2 in depthof0～150 m and the average daily primary productivity was 171 mg/(m 2·d)(C)appeared in the western tropical Pacific while a higher chloro a(21 68 mg/m 2)and primary productivity [228 mg/(m 2·d)(C)]were observed in the equatorial warm waters.The highest chloro a was found at the coastal stations of Philippines and Irian while the lowest chloro a was at the offshore areas bounded by 2°～4°N.The distribution pattern of chloro a biomass was related to different physical processes.Upwelling,which may have led to a high biomass, was a critical factor changing the distributions of temperature,salinity and nutrient in these areas.

A study on the source of the Tsushima Warm Current water

On the basis of the hydrographic data in the area west of Kyushu from four cruises of R/V Xiangyanghong No. 9 from 1987 to 1988 , the circulation features in the investigation area are described and the source of the Tsushima Warm Current water (TWCW) is explored by using the observed and geostrophic current results and tracking the Kuroshio Subsurface High Salinity Core (KSHSC).