Freshening of the Intermediate Waters in the Northern South China Sea over the Past Six Decades

The properties of salinity in the South China Sea(SCS),a significant marginal sea connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans,are greatly influenced by the transport of fresh water flux between the two oceans.However,the long-term changes in the intermediate water in the SCS have not been thoroughly studied due to limited data,particularly in relation to its thermodynamic variations.This study utilized reanalysis data products to identify a 60-year trend of freshening in the intermediate waters of the northern South China Sea(NSCS),accompanied by an expansion of low-salinity water.The study also constructed salinity budget terms,including advection and entrainment processes,and conducted an analysis of the salinity budget to understand the impacts of external and internal dynamic processes on the freshening trend of the intermediate water in the NSCS.The analysis revealed that the freshening in the northwest Pacific Ocean and the intensification of intrusion through the Luzon Strait at intermediate levels are the primary drivers of the salinity changes in the NSCS.Additionally,a weakened trend in the intensity of vertical entrainment also contributes to the freshening in the NSCS.This study offers new insights into the understanding of regional deep sea changes in response to variations in both thermodynamics and oceanic dynamic processes.

Short-term offshore extension of Brahmaputra-Ganges and Irrawaddy freshwater plumes to the central northern Bay of Bengal based on in situ and satellite observations

In this study, the short-term offshore extension of Brahmaputra-Ganges(BG) and Irrawaddy freshwater plumes to the central northern Bay of Bengal(BoB) was investigated based on in situ and satellite observations. In the summer and winter of 2015, two significant freshening events with periods of weeks were observed from a moored buoy at 15°N, 90°E in the BoB. Soil Moisture Active Passive(SMAP) satellite sea surface salinity compares well with the in situ data and shows that these freshening events are directly related to the short-term offshore extension of the BG and Irrawaddy freshwater, respectively. These data combined with the altimeter sea level anomaly data show that the offshore extending plumes result from freshwater modulated by eddies. During summer, the BG freshwater is modulated by a combination of three closely located eddies: a large anticyclonic eddy(ACE) off the northwestern BoB coast and two cyclonic eddies in the northern BoB. Consequently, the freshwater extends offshore from the river mouth and forms a long and narrow tongue-shaped plume extending southwestward to the central BoB. During winter, the Irrawaddy freshwater is modulated by two continuous ACEs evolved from Rossby wave propagating westward from the Irrawaddy Delta off Myanmar, forming a tongueshaped plume extending to the central BoB. Strong salinity fronts are formed along the boundaries of these tongue-shaped plumes. These findings confirm good capability of the SMAP data to investigate the short-term offshore extension of the BG and Irrawaddy freshwater. This study provides direct evidences of the pathways of the offshore extension of the BG and Irrawaddy freshwater and highlights the role of eddies in the northern BoB freshwater plume variability.