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.

南海北部相干内潮和非相干内潮演变特征

通过南海北部跨越陆坡和陆架区的3套潜标数据,对全日和半日相干、非相干内潮的动能变化特征进行了研究。研究表明,全日内潮沿陆坡区向陆架区传播的过程中,在陆坡区主要以全日相干内潮生成为主,平均动能生成率为2.32J/(m^3·s);在陆架区以全日相干内潮耗散为主,平均动能耗散率为0.44J/(m^3·s)。全日非相干内潮动能在陆坡和陆架区均增长,平均动能生成率分别为0.39J/(m^3·s)和0.03J/(m^3·s)。全日与半日相干内潮动能在陆坡和陆架区的表现不同,陆坡区的全日相干内潮动能明显大于陆架区的全日相干内潮动能,而半日相干内潮动能在陆坡和陆架区没有明显差别;陆架区的全日和半日非相干内潮动能要大于陆坡区的全日和半日非相干内潮动能。

基于精细温度观测的南海东北部陆坡-深海盆底层湍流混合

南海是存在强湍流混合的边缘海之一,但前人对南海湍流混合的研究更多关注的是中上层,对底层则鲜有关注。本文基于高分辨率温度传感器于2019年5月在南海东北部22个站位海底上方0.5m处持续观测4.4d的温度数据,分析了2216~3200m深度范围内底层海水温度的时间变化特征,并探讨了地形粗糙度和内潮对底层湍流混合的影响。分析结果表明,南海东北部各站位底层海水的温度变化量级约为10^(–4)~10-^(–3)℃;温度变化趋势与正压潮变化趋势不同,温度能谱显示多数站位在全日和半日频带区间出现谱峰,温度变化更多地受斜压潮影响,全日、半日内潮起主要调制作用。陆坡-深海盆过渡区及深海盆底层的湍动能耗散率量级为10^(–10)~10^(–9)m^(2)·s^(–3),涡扩散系数量级为10^(–4)~10^(–3)m^(2)·s^(–1)。观测数据未能显示底层湍流混合与地形粗糙度存在明显的相关性。底层湍流混合的空间分布与过去观测到的南海北部深海盆内潮的南北不对称性分布一致。