The effect of Typhoon Kalmaegi on the modal energy and period of internal waves near the Dongsha Islands(South China Sea)

The influence of Typhoon Kalmaegi on internal waves near the Dongsha Islands in the northeastern South China Sea was investigated using mooring observation data.We observed,for the first time,that the phenomenon of regular variation characteristics of the 14-d spring-neap cycle of diurnal internal tides(ITs)can be regulated by typhoons.The diurnal ITs lost the regular variation characteristics of the 14-d spring-neap cycle during the typhoon period owing to the weakening of diurnal coherent ITs,represented by O_(1)and K_(1),and the strengthening of diurnal incoherent ITs.Results of quantitative analysis showed that during the pre-typhoon period,timeaveraged modal kinetic energy(sum of Modes 1–5)of near-inertial internal waves(NIWs)and diurnal and semidiurnal ITs were 0.62 kJ/m^(2),5.66 kJ/m^(2),and 1.48 kJ/m^(2),respectively.However,during the typhoon period,the modal kinetic energy of NIWs increased 5.11 times,mainly due to the increase in high-mode kinetic energy.At the same time,the modal kinetic energy of diurnal and semidiurnal ITs was reduced by 68.9%and 20%,respectively,mainly due to the decrease in low-mode kinetic energy.The significantly reduced diurnal ITs during the typhoon period could be due to:(1)strong nonlinear interaction between diurnal ITs and NIWs,and(2)a higher proportion of high-mode diurnal ITs during the typhoon period,leading to more energy dissipation.

Application of the monitoring and early warning system for internal solitary waves:Take the second natural gas hydrates production test in the South China Sea as an example

Internal solitary waves(ISWs) contain great energy and have the characteristics of emergency and concealment. To avoid their damage to offshore engineering, a new generation of monitoring and early warning system for ISWs was developed using technologies of double buoys monitoring, intelligent realtime data transmission, and automatic software identification. The system was applied to the second natural gas hydrates(NGHs) production test in the Shenhu Area, South China Sea(SCS) and successfully provided the early warning of ISWs for 173 days(from October 2019 to April 2020). The abrupt changes in the thrust force of the drilling platform under the attack of ISWs were consistent with the early warning information, proving the reliability of this system. A total of 93 ISWs were detected around the drilling platform. Most of them occurred during the spring tides in October–December 2019 and April 2020, while few of them occurred in winter. As suggested by the theoretical model, the full-depth structure of ISWs was a typical current profile of mode-1, and the velocities of wave-induced currents can reach 80 cm/s and30 cm/s, respectively, in the upper ocean and near the seabed. The ISWs may be primarily generated from the interactions between the topography and semidiurnal tides in the Luzon Strait, and then propagate westward to the drilling platform. This study could serve as an important reference for the early warning of ISWs for offshore engineering construction in the future.

The 3rd South China Cardiovascular Scientific Sessions and The International Information Conference on Heart Failure Studies

Sponsored by Guangdong Provincial Cardiovgscular Association South China Journal of Cardiology Date: August 3rd to 6th, 2001

Asymmetric chlorophyll responses enhanced by internal waves near the Dongsha Atoll in the South China Sea

Internal waves(IWs)are small-scale physical processes that occur frequently in stratified marginal seas.IWs are ubiquitous and well documented in the northern South China Sea(n SCS),but few studies have explored the ecosystem responses to the IWs.MODISA chlorophyll-a(Chl-a)data from 2002 to 2014 were used to examine the distribution of Chl a near the Dongsha Atoll(DSA).Composite Chl a from about 40 IWs during spring and summer showed stronger response on the northern side than on the southern side of the DSA.One day after the passage of IWs,composite surface Chl a on the northern side increased from 0.11 mg/m3 to a maximum mean value of 0.18 mg/m3.It decreased to 0.13 mg/m3 after two days and maintained that level for several days after the passage of IWs.The enhanced surface Chl a likely caused subsurface Chl-a maximum and nutrients in the surface layer.Approximately 64%of the increase in surface Chl a was due to the uplift of the subsurface Chl-a maximum one day after the passage of IWs,while nutrient-induced new phytoplankton growth contributed about 18%of the increase a few days later.When the IWs occurred frequently in spring and summer,Chl-a level on the northern side was about 30%higher than that on the southern side.IW dissipation and its impact on nutrients and chlorophyll were stronger on the northern side of the DSA than on the south,which caused a north-south asymmetric distribution of Chl a in the region.

Modal structure and propagation of internal tides in the northeastern South China Sea

The evolution of energy, energy flux and modal structure of the internal tides (ITs) in the northeastern South China Sea is examined using the measurements at two moorings along a cross-slope section from the deep continental slope to the shallow continental shelf. The energy of both diurnal and semidiurnal ITs clearly shows a ~14-day spring-neap cycle, but their phases lag that of barotropic tides, indicating that ITs are not generated on the continental slope. Observations of internal tidal energy flux suggest that they may be generated at the Luzon Strait and propagate west-northwest to the continental slope in the northwestern SCS. Because the continental slope is critical-supercritical with respect to diurnal ITs, about 4.6 kJ/m^2 of the incident energy and 8.7 kW/m of energy flux of diurnal ITs are reduced from the continental slope to the continental shelf. In contrast, the semidiurnal internal tides enter the shelf because of the sub-critical topography with respect to semidiurnal ITs. From the continental slope to the shelf, the vertical structure of diurnal ITs shows significant variation, with dominant Mode 1 on the deep slope and dominant higher modes on the shelf. On the contrary, the vertical structure of the semidiurnal ITs is stable, with dominant Mode 1.

Diagnostic Study of Apparent Heat Sources and Moisture Sinks in the South China Sea and its Adjacent Areas during the Onset of 1998 SCS Monsoon

The apparent heat sources (?Q1 ?) and moisture sinks (?Q2 ?) are calculated based on the reanalyzed data of the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) from May 1 to August 31, 1998. It is found that the formation and distribution of the atmospheric heat sources are important for the monsoon onset. The earlier onset of the SCS monsoon is the result of enduring atmospheric heating in the Indo–China Peninsula and South China areas. The atmospheric heating firstly appears in the Indo–China Peninsula area and the sensible heat is the major one. The 30–50 day periodic oscillation of atmospheric heat sources between the SCS area and the western Pacific warm pool has a reverse phase distribution before the middle of July and the low frequency oscillation of heat sources in SCS area has an obvious longitudinal propagation. The 30–50 day low frequency oscillation has vital modificatory effects on the summer monsoon evolution during 1998. Key words Apparent heat sources - Apparent moisture sinks - The South China Sea monsoon - Diagnostic Study Sponsored by the National Key Project of Fundamental Research “ SCSMEX” and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education: “ Study of the Air-sea Interaction in the SCS Monsoon Region”.

An isopycnic-coordinate internal tide model and its application to the South China Sea

A three-dimensional isopycnic-coordinate ocean model for the study of internal tides is presented. In this model, the ocean interior is viewed as a stack of isopycnic layers, each characterized by a constant density. The isopycnic coordinate performs well at tracking the depth variance of the thermocline, and is suitable for simulation of internal tides. This model consists of external and internal modes, and barotropic and baroclinic motions are calculated in the two modes, respectively. The capability of simulating internal tides was verified by comparing model results with an analytical solution. The model was then applied to the simulation of internal tides in the South China Sea （SCS） with the forcing of M2 and K1 tidal constituents. The results show that internal tides in the SCS are mainly generated in the Luzon Strait. The generated M2 internal tides propagate away in three different directions （branches）. The branch with the widest tidal beam propagates eastward into the Pacific Ocean, the most energetic branch propagates westward toward Dongsha Island, and the least energetic branch propagates southwestward into the basin of the SCS. The generated KI internal tides propagate in two different directions （branches）. One branch propagates eastward into the Pacific Ocean, and the other branch propagates southwestward into the SCS basin. The steepening process of internal tides due to shoaling effects is described briefly. Meridionally integrated westward energy fluxes into the SCS are comparable to the meridionally integrated eastward energy fluxes into the Pacific Ocean.

Observation of interactions between internal tides and near-inertial waves after typhoon passage in the northern South China Sea

During the observational period of our study, Typhoon Hagupit passed over the mooring site and induced strong near-inertial waves （NIWs）, which provided an opportunity to investigate the interactions between internal tides （ITs） and NIWs. Based on the mooring data, we compared the current spectra during the typhoon period and non-typhoon period in the northern South China Sea, and found that the high- frequency waves （fD1 and fD2） were evident during the former. Moreover, the observations of the current revealed that fD1 and fD2 occurred near the depth of strong vertical shear in the NlWs. In order to confirm the generation mechanism of fD1 and fD2, we compared the positions of strong vertical shear in the NIWs and strong vertical velocity in the ITs. It was established that the vertical shear of the horizontal current of the NIWs and the vertical current of the ITs contributed to the generation of fDt and fD2.

Combined effects of topography and bottom friction on shoaling internal solitary waves in the South China Sea

A numerical study to a generalized Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation is adopted to model the propagation and disintegration of large-amplitude internal solitary waves (ISWs) in the South China Sea (SCS). Based on theoretical analysis and in situ measurements, the drag coefficient of the Chezy friction is regarded as inversely proportional to the initial amplitude of an ISW, rather than a constant as assumed in the previous studies. Numerical simulations of ISWs propagating from a deep basin to a continental shelf are performed with the generalized KdV model. It is found that the depression waves are disintegrated into several solitons on the continental shelf due to the variable topography. It turns out that the amplitude of the leading ISW reaches a maximum at the shelf break, which is consistent with the field observation in the SCS.Moreover, a dimensionless parameter defining the relative importance of the variable topography and friction is presented.

A Multilayer Study of pCO2 in the Surface Waters of the Yellow and South China Seas in Spring and the Sea-Air Carbon Dioxide Flux

A multilayer study of pCO2 for the Yellow and South China Seas in the surface waters was conducted based on data from four cruises sponsored by the China SOLAS Project in 2005 and 2006,including data for the surface microlayer(SML) ,subsurface layer(SSL) and surface layer(SL) . The carbon fluxes across the air-sea interface were calculated. The results showed that the pCO2 values in the surface waters of the study area decreased in the following order:pCO2 SML> pCO2 SSL> pCO2 SL. The highest values were found in March for all SML,SSL and SL,followed by those in April,and the lowest were in May. The pCO2 values had a significant positive correlation with temperature or salinity. While there was no relationship between pCO2 and longitude,there was a significant negative correlation between it and latitude,i.e.,'high latitude low pCO2'. By using four calculation models,the carbon dioxide fluxes(FC O2) in spring in the Yellow and South China Seas,which were found to act as a 'sink' of atmospheric CO2,were preliminarily estimated on the basis of the pCO2 data in the SML to be -7.00×106 t C and -22.35×106 t C,respectively. It is suggested that the FC O2calculated on the basis of pCO2 data in the SML is more reliable than that calculated on the basis of those in the SL.

Coherent and incoherent internal tides in the southern South China Sea

Coherent and incoherent internal tides(CITs and ICITs) in the southern South China Sea were investigated from two sets of _18-month mooring current records. The CITs were mainly composed of diurnal Q _1, O _1, P _1 and K _1 and semidiurnal M_2. The observed diurnal internal tides(ITs) were more coherent than the semidiurnal constituents. Coherent diurnal variance accounted for approximately 58% of the diurnal motion, whereas semidiurnal tides contained a much smaller fraction(35%) of coherent motion. The ICITs mainly consisted of motion at non-tidal harmonic frequencies around the tidal frequency, and showed clear intermittency. The modal decomposition of CITs and ICITs showed that CITs were dominated by mode-1, whereas mode-1 and higher modes in ICITs signals showed comparable amplitudes. CITs and ICITs accounted for approximately 64% and 36% of the total kinetic energy of internal tides, respectively.

Seasonal variation and modal content of internal tides in the northern South China Sea

A nine-month mooring record was used to investigate seasonal variation and modal content of internal tides(ITs) on the continental slope in the northern South China Sea(SCS). Diurnal tides at this site show clear seasonal change with higher energy in winter than in spring and autumn, whereas semidiurnal tides show the opposite seasonal pattern. The consistency of ITs with barotropic tides within the Luzon Strait, which is the generation region of the ITs, implies that the seasonal variation of ITs depends on their astronomical forcing, even after extended propagation across the SCS basin. Diurnal tides also differ from semidiurnal tides in relation to modal content; they display signals of high modes while semidiurnal tides are dominated by low modes. Reflection of the diurnal tides on the continental slope serves as a reasonable explanation for their high modes. Both diurnal and semidiurnal tides are composed of a larger proportion of coherent components that have a regular 14-day spring-neap cycle. The coherent components are dominated by low modes and they show obvious seasonal variation, while the incoherent components are composed mainly of higher modes and they display intermittent characteristics.

Study of radioactive status in the Zhujiang Estuary and adjacent sea area in South China Sea (SCS)

Through the investigation on radioactive activities of water, sediment and some marine organismsin the Zhujiang Estuary, adjacent sea area and the distributary mouths of the Zhujiang River, activities of total α. radioactivity, total β radioactivity, artificial radioactive 90Srand 157Cs, and factors inflencing the distribution and the content of U in seawater are studied.The mainly radioactive pollution substances and their sources in the sea area are studied by γ spectra obtained from sediment in the sea area. The results show that the main radioactivity substances are natural radioactivity U,Th series and 40K. which were produced by the modern industry and transported into the sea through the main current of the Zhujiang River.

Internal tides in the northern South China Sea from 20-day in-situ mooring observations in 1998

20-day in-situ ADCP current and CTD data are used to investigate the characteristics and energy of the internal tides in the northern South China Sea （NSCS）. The results show that the O1, K1, M2 and S2 constituents of internal tides are energetic and diurnal constituents （O1 and K1） are dominating. In the observational period, the current vectors of these four constituents all rotate clockwise and the maximum semi-major axe of internal tidal ellipses is more than 14 cm/s. The variation of ocean temperature shows that the internal tides present obvious quasi-diurnal oscillation and the average amplitude reaches 50 m. Furthermore, these internal tides carry high energy and appear to be intermittent. The maximum values of KE （PE） during the observational period are up to 2 （3.5） k J/m^2 for diurnal internal tides, and up to 1 （1.5） k J/m^2 for semidiurnal internal tides.

Study of the propagation direction of the internal waves in the South China Sea using satellite images

Internal wave propagation carries considerable vertical shear which can lead to turbulence and mixing. Based on the analysis of more than 2 500 synthetic aperture radar （SAR） and optical satellite images, the in- ternal wave propagation in the whole South China Sea was investigated systematically. The results show that （1） in the northeastern South China Sea, most internal waves propagate westward from the Luzon Strait and are diffracted by coral reefs near the Dongsha Islands. Some impinge onto the shelf and a few are reflected; （2） in the northwestern South China Sea, most internal waves are generated at the shelf and propagate northwestward or westward to the coast; （3） in the western South China Sea, most internal waves propagate westward to the Vietnamese coast, except a few propagate southward to the deep sea; and （4） in the southern South China Sea, most internal waves propagate southwestward to the coast. Some prop- agate southeastward to the coast of Kalimantan Island, and a few propagate southeastward because of the influence of the Mekon~ River.

Progress in research of submesoscale processes in the South China Sea

This paper overviews research progress in observation, theoretical analysis and numerical modeling of submesoscale dynamic processes in the South China Sea(SCS) particularly during recent five years. The submesoscale processes are defined according to both spatial and dynamic scales, and divided into four subcategories as submesoscale waves, submesoscale vortexes, submesoscale shelf processes, and submesoscale turbulence. The major new findings are as follows.(1) Systematic mooring observations provide new insights into the solitary waves(ISWs) and the typhoon-forced near-inertial waves(NIWs), of which a new type of ISWs with period of 23 h was observed in the northern SCS(NSCS), and the influences of background vorticity, summer monsoon onset, and deep meridional overturning circulation on the NIWs, as well as nonlinear wave-wave interaction between the NIWs and internal tides, are better understood. On the other hand, satellite altimeter sea surface height data are used to reveal the internal tide radiation patterns and provide solid evidence for that the ISWs in the northeastern SCS originate from the Luzon Strait.(2) Submesoscale offshore jets and associated vortex trains off the Vietnam coast in the western boundary of the SCS were observed from satellite chlorophyll concentration images. Spiral trains with the horizontal scale of 15–30 km and the spacing of 50–80 km were identified.(3) 3-D vertical circulation in the upwelling region east of Hainan Island was theoretically analyzed. The results show that distribution patterns of all the dynamic terms are featured by wave-like structures with horizontal wavelength scale of 20–40 km.(4) Numerical models have been used for the research of submesoscale turbulence. Submesoscale vertical pump of an anticyclonic eddy and the spatiotemporal features of submesoscale processes in the northeastern SCS are well modeled.

A study of internal solitary waves observed on the continental shelf in the northwestern South China Sea

Based on in-situ time series data from the acoustic Doppler current profiler （ADCP） and thermistor chain in Wenchang area, a sequence of internal solitary wave （ISW） packets was observed in September 2005, propagating northwest on the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea （SCS）. Corresponding to different stratification of the water column and tidal condition, both elevation and depression ISWs were observed at the same mooring location with amplitude of 35 m and 25 m respectively in different days. Regular arrival of the remarkable ISW packets at approximately the diurnal tidal period and the dominance of diurnal internal waves in the study area, strongly suggest that the main energy source of the waves is the diurnal tide. Notice that the wave packets were all riding on the troughs and shoulders of the internal tides, they were probably generated locally from the shelf break by the evolution of the internal tides due to nonlinear and dispersive effects.

Observational Study on the Onset of the South China Sea Southwest Monsoon

Based on the long-term marine ship observation data, records of meteorological stations and High-Reflective Cloud(HRC) data by satellite remote sensing , this paper has studied the circulation patterns and variability in elements during onset and the established periods of the South China Sea(SCS) southwest(SW) monsoon. The averaged date of the onset SW monsoon in the SCS occurs in the middle of May climatologically. The corresponding date for the northern part is little earlier (May 12) and those for the southern parts are little later (May 20). The interannual range of the onset dates is about one month. Following the onset of the SW monsoon, the cloud amount and the precipitation increase while the convection activities enhance over the SCS. But there is a strong spatial heterogeneity within the domain. After onset of the SW monsoon the strong convective area moves northwards, while the SCS rain band moves to the center and north. Sea surface temperature(SST) increases rapidly before the onset and the leading time is about one month. The increment of SST supplies heat and vapor for the onset. From April to May the surface heat fluxes display obvious changes, e.g., latent heat exchange and evaporation enhancement. It is one of the reasons why the SW monsoon bursts firstly in the SCS.

Highly nonlinear internal solitary waves over the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea

Large amplitude internal solitary waves(ISWs) often exhibit highly nonlinear effects and may contribute significantly to mixing and energy transporting in the ocean.We observed highly nonlinear ISWs over the continental shelf of the northwestern South China Sea(19°35'N,112°E) in May 2005 during the Wenchang Internal Wave Experiment using in-situ time series data from an array of temperature and salinity sensors,and an acoustic Doppler current profiler(ADCP).We summarized the characteristics of the ISWs and compared them with those of existing internal wave theories.Particular attention has been paid to characterizing solitons in terms of the relationship between shape and amplitude-width.Comparison between theoretical prediction and observation results shows that the high nonlinearity of these waves is better represented by the second-order extended Korteweg-de Vries(KdV) theory than the first-order KdV model.These results indicate that the northwestern South China Sea(SCS) is rich in highly nonlinear ISWs that are an indispensable part of the energy budget of the internal waves in the northern South China Sea.

Shoaling of the internal solitary waves over the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea

The activities of internal solitary waves （ISWs） over the continental shelf of the northern South China Sea （SCS） are of high complexity. In this study, we investigated the spatial-temporal characteristics of the shoaling ISWs over the northern SCS continental shelf using the satellite images and the results of numerical simulation. The examination of the ISW signals in the satellite optical images revealed the existence of three types of iSWs in the region north to the Dongsha Island, namely, mode-1 depression ISW, mode-1 elevation ISW, and mode-2 convex ISW. The geographical distributions of these ISWs were derived from the satellite images. Numerical results exhibited the process of polarity conversion of ISWs, by which mode-1 elevation waves were transformed from the shoaling mode-1 depression waves. The mode-2 convex ISWs generally followed the mode-1 depression ISWs. The numerical results suggested that the interaction of the mode-1 depression ISWs with the up-slope topography locally generated mode-2 ISWs, and such waves of high vertical mode dissipated rapidly during the inshore propagation.