Seasonal Variability of Thermohaline Front in the Central South China Sea

Abstract

An upper layer thermohaline front across the South China Sea (SCS) basin from the South Vietnamese coast (around 15 deg N) to Luzon Island (around 19 deg N) has been identified using the Navy's open domain Generalized Digital Environmental Model (GDEM) monthly mean temperature and salinity data on a O.5 deg X O.5 deg grid. This front does not occur at the surface in summer. The strength of this front is around 1 deg C/100 km at the surface and 1.4 deg C/100 km at the subsurface (50 m deep). A cross-basin current, inverted using the P-vector method is associating with the front. Meandering and eddies have been identified along this current. Seasonal and vertical variabilities of the thermohaline structure across this front are reported in this paper.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA479463

Entities

People

  • Peter Cheng Chu
  • Wang Guihua

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Data Sets
  • Geography
  • Grids
  • Oceanography
  • Oceans
  • Pacific Ocean
  • Philippine Sea
  • Sea Surface Temperature
  • Sea Water
  • Seasonal Variations
  • South China Sea
  • Surface Temperature
  • Temperature Gradients
  • Three Dimensional
  • Water
  • Water Masses
  • Wind Stress

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Oceanography.