Integrated Studies of Oceanographic Processes and Shallow Water Acoustics in the South China Sea: Custom Climatology and Mid-Shelf Field Work
Abstract
We performed a custom climatology of the northern South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and the Kuroshio east of Taiwan using the historical hydrographic archives of Taiwan. This work was performed jointly with scientists at National Taiwan University. The climatology focuses on the thermohaline and soundspeed fields over the outer shelf and continental slope and are seasonal. Important features which were resolved were the shelfbreak current system in the northern South China Sea, the coastal current passing southward on the western side of Taiwan Strait, and the northward flow of Kuroshio water in Taiwan Strait on the eastern side of the strait. In addition to the climatology, several research cruises were performed examining the stratification over the outer shelf and upper slope and processes occurring where the seasonal pycnocline intersects the bottom over the shelf, and the Kuroshio in Luzon Strait. In collaboration with National Taiwanese University colleagues, a stability analysis of the Kuroshio in Taiwan Strait indicates frontal instability can account for variability observed in a mooring array.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA511308
Entities
People
- Glen G. Gawarkiewicz
Organizations
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution