Journal of Tropical Oceanography >
Analysis of submesoscale characteristics of summer upwelling fronts in the western South China Sea
Received date: 2019-09-12
Request revised date: 2019-12-20
Online published: 2020-05-19
Supported by
Original Innovation Project of Basic Frontier Scientific Research Program of CAS(ZDBS-LY-DQC011)
National Natural Science Foundation of China(41776040)
Innovation Academy of South China Sea Ecology and Environmental Engineering, CAS(ISEE2018PY05)
Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Climate, Pilot Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology(OCFL-201804)
Guangzhou Science and Technology Project(201904010420)
Copyright
We investigate submesoscale characteristics of summer upwelling fronts in the western South China Sea (WSCS) and associated ageostrophic processes by using satellite measurements and high-resolution ROMS simulations. Active submesoscale filaments with a typical horizontal scale of O(1-10) km are detected to be characterized by O(1) Rossby number (Ro) from the fine-resolution satellite images and simulation results. The diagnostic analysis shows that down-front wind forcing drives a net cross-front Ekman transport and advects heavy water over light water. This process at submesoscale tends to reduce the stratification and potential vorticity (PV), exacerbates the frontal instabilities, and forms the cross-front secondary circulation. The high-resolution simulation results show that the maximum vertical velocity in the frontal zone can reach 100m∙d -1, which significantly enhances vertical material exchange. In this context, active submesoscale processes may contribute to enhanced vertical exchanges of the upper ocean in the summer upwelling front of the western SCS.
HUANG Xiaolong , JING Zhiyou , ZHENG Ruixi , ZHANG Xu . Analysis of submesoscale characteristics of summer upwelling fronts in the western South China Sea[J]. Journal of Tropical Oceanography, 2020 , 39(3) : 1 -9 . DOI: 10.11978/2019086
图1 南海海表面高度均方根的空间分布黑色矩形框表示文本研究区域;地图来自Matlab软件自带底图,下同 Fig. 1 Spatial distribution of SSH root mean square(rms) in the South China Sea(SCS). The research domain is delineated by the black box |
图5 典型锋面区域锋面强度F、地转流ug(箭头)和海水密度(灰色等值线, 单位: kg·m-3)的水平分布(a)和断面分布(b)a中紫红色实线表示断面位置, 黑色实线表示流轴; b中黑色实线表示混合层深度 Fig. 5 Spatial distribution of the intensity of front: horizontal distribution (a) and vertical profile (b). The geostrophic flows (vector) and density (grey contour) are also shown. Black line is the jet axis in (a) and the mixed layer depth in (b). The location of the vertical profile is shown by the magenta line in (a) |
图6 10m层垂向流速异常的水平和垂向分布a. 垂向流速异常w′(填色)、水平流速异常u′(箭头)和海水密度(等值线, 单位: kg·m-3)的水平分布; b. 断面温度(填色)、跨锋面和垂向流速异常(箭头)、海水密度(等值线, 单位: kg·m-3)分布; a中紫红色实线表示断面位置; 黑色实线表示流轴; b中黑色实线表示混合层深度 Fig. 6 Map (a) and vertical (b) profile of vertical velocity anomaly at 10 m. (a) Black arrows refer to surface currents anomalies. Magenta line indicates the section for the vertical profile, and black line indicates the jet axis. (b) Shading denotes temperature, and black vector represents the cross-front and vertical velocity anomaly. Black line represents mixed layer depth. Grey contour is for density |
图7 典型锋面海域Ertel位涡(填色)、表层流u(箭头)和海水密度(灰色等值线)分布 a—c分别表示Ertel位涡(EPV)、Ertel位涡水平分量(EPVh)和Ertel位涡垂向分量(EPVv)的水平分布, 黑色实线表示流轴; d为Ertel位涡断面分布, 断面位置如a中紫红色实线所示, 黑色实线表示混合层深度, 灰色等值线为密度(单位: kg·m-3)Fig. 7 Snapshot of the Ertel PV. (a-c) are the EPV, EPVh and EPVv, respectively. The black line represents the jet axis. Black arrows denote surface currents. (d) is vertical distribution of EPV. The location of the vertical section is shown by the magenta line in (a). Black line represents mixed layer depth |
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