Journal of Tropical Oceanography ›› 2016, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (2): 40-49.doi: 10.11978/2015062CSTR: 32234.14.2015062

• Marine Hydrography • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Coastal upwelling off eastern Hainan Island observed in the summer of 2013

WANG Yu1, 2, JING Zhiyou1, QI Yiquan1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography (South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences),;Guangzhou 510301, China; 2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
  • Received:2015-04-30 Revised:2015-06-17 Online:2016-02-29 Published:2016-02-29
  • Contact: JING Zhiyou. E-mail: jingzhiyou@scsio.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA11010203); National Natural Science Foundation of China (41276022、41230962、41206010); Guangdong Province Key Laboratory for Coastal Ocean Variation and Disaster Prediction (GLOD1401)

Abstract: Based on in-situ observations supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China during the summer of 2013 as well as satellite data, the summer coastal upwelling off eastern Hainan Island is examined in details, including its spatial structure, evolution process and the response to a tropical cyclone during the cruise. The results suggest that the upwelling anchored off eastern Hainan Island, with relatively weak signals at the sea surface. The observed strong upwelling mainly took place between the depths of 30-50 m below the surface. The temperature difference between the cooling center and the offshore non-upwelling water was more than 7°C, and the salinity difference was more than 0.7 psu. Moreover, the analysis of a tropical cyclone onset indicates that the structure of coastal upwelling in the upper ocean was completely destroyed, due to the shutdown of upwelling-favorable winds and intensive mixing induced by the tropical cyclone. Throughout these processes, the coastal upwelling lagged behind alongshore wind by 2-4 days

Key words: eastern Hainan Island, upwelling, space-time structure, tropical cyclone