Eddy heat and salt transports in the South China Sea and their seasonal modulations

CORC > 南海海洋研究所 > 中国科学院南海海洋研究所 > 热带海洋环境国家重点实验室(LTO)

	Eddy heat and salt transports in the South China Sea and their seasonal modulations
	Chen, GX ; Gan, JP ; Xie, Q ; Chu, XQ ; Wang, DX ; Hou, YJ
刊名	JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
	2012
卷号	117 页码:C05021
ISSN号	0148-0227
通讯作者	dxwang@scsio.ac.cn
中文摘要	This study describes characteristics of eddy (turbulent) heat and salt transports, in the basin-scale circulation as well as in the embedded mesoscale eddy found in the South China Sea (SCS). We first showed the features of turbulent heat and salt transports in mesoscale eddies using sea level anomaly (SLA) data, in situ hydrographic data, and 375 Argo profiles. We found that the transports were horizontally variable due to asymmetric distributions of temperature and salinity anomalies and that they were vertically correlated with the thermocline and halocline depths in the eddies. An existing barrier layer caused the halocline and eddy salt transport to be relatively shallow. We then analyzed the transports in the basin-scale circulation using an eddy diffusivity method and the sea surface height data, the Argo profiles, and the climatological hydrographic data. We found that relatively large poleward eddy heat transports occurred to the east of Vietnam (EOV) in summer and to the west of the Luzon Islands (WOL) in winter, while a large equatorward heat transport was located to the west of the Luzon Strait (WLS) in winter. The eddy salt transports were mostly similar to the heat transports but in the equatorward direction due to the fact that the mean salinity in the upper layer in the SCS tended to decrease toward the equator. Using a 21/2-layer reduced-gravity model, we conducted a baroclinic instability study and showed that the baroclinic instability was critical to the seasonal variation of eddy kinetic energy (EKE) and thus the eddy transports. EOV, WLS, and WOL were regions with strong baroclinic instability, and, thus, with intensified eddy transports in the SCS. The combined effects of vertical velocity shear, latitude, and stratification determined the intensity of the baroclinic instability, which intensified the eddy transports EOV during summer and WLS and WOL during winter.
学科主题	Oceanography
语种	英语
WOS记录号	WOS:000304010800004
公开日期	2013-08-28
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.scsio.ac.cn/handle/344004/10167]
专题	南海海洋研究所_热带海洋环境国家重点实验室(LTO)
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Chen, GX,Gan, JP,Xie, Q,et al. Eddy heat and salt transports in the South China Sea and their seasonal modulations[J]. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS,2012,117:C05021.
APA	Chen, GX,Gan, JP,Xie, Q,Chu, XQ,Wang, DX,&Hou, YJ.(2012).Eddy heat and salt transports in the South China Sea and their seasonal modulations.JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS,117,C05021.
MLA	Chen, GX,et al."Eddy heat and salt transports in the South China Sea and their seasonal modulations".JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS 117(2012):C05021.