A three-dimensional Regional Ocean Modeling System is used to study the seasonal water circulations and transports of the Southern South China Sea. The simulated seasonal water circulations and estimated transports show consistency with observations, e.g., satellite altimeter data set and re-analysis data of the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation. It is found that the seasonal water circulations are mainly driven by the monsoonal wind stress and influenced by the water outflow/inflow and associated currents of the entire South China Sea. The intrusion of the strong current along the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia and the eddies at different depths in all seasons are due to the conservation of the potential vorticity as the depth increases. Results show that the water circulation patterns in the northern part of the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia are generally dominated by the geostrophic currents while those in the southern areas are due solely to the wind stress because of negligible Coriolis force there. This study clearly shows that individual surface freshwater flux (evaporation minus precipitation) controls the sea salinity balance in the Southern South China Sea thermohaline circulations. Analysis of climatological data from a high resolution Regional Ocean Modeling System reveals that the complex bathymetry is important not only for water exchange through the Southern South China Sea but also in regulating various transports across the main passages in the Southern South China Sea, namely the Sunda Shelf and the Strait of Malacca. Apart from the above, in comparision with the dynamics of the Sunda Shelf, the Strait of Malacca reflects an equally significant role in the annual transports into the Andaman Sea.
Upwelling off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (PM) was detected from recent cruise data collected during the southwest monsoon. Thermocline lifting was observed at 104˚E from a number of parallel transects. To confirm the presence of upwelling, satellite remote sensing data were used, and numerical model experiments were conducted. A cooler sea-surface temperature along the coast was spotted from both in-situ and satellite data while upward movement from the model agreed with field data. The southwesterly wind that blows along PM from June to September is believed to be the important mechanism that contributed to this upwelling through an Ekman dynamics process.
Abstract. Using the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS), this study aims to provide an estimate of the volume, freshwater, heat, and salt transports through the Sunda Shelf and the Strait of Malacca in the southern region of the South China Sea (SSCS). The modeling system is configured with two one-way nested domains representing parent and child with resolutions of 1/2 and 1/12°, respectively. The simulated currents, sea surface salinity, temperature and various transports (e.g., volume, heat, etc) agree well with the observed values as well as those estimated from the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) re-analysis product. The ROMS estimated seasonal and mean annual transports are in accord with those calculated from SODA and those of limited observations. The ROMS estimates of mean annual volume, freshwater, heat and salt transports through the Sunda Shelf into the Java Sea are 0.32Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3 s−1), 0.023 Sv, 0.032 PW (1 PW = 1015 j s−1), and 0.010 × 109 kg s−1 respectively. The corresponding ROMS estimates for mean annual transports through the Strait of Malacca into Andaman Sea are 0.14, 0.009 Sv, 0.014 PW, and 0.0043 × 109 kg s−1 respectively. The relative percentages of mean annual transports computed individually from those of volume, heat, salinity, and freshwater between the Strait of Malacca and the Sunda Shelf range from 39 to 43.8%. This reflects that the Strait of Malacca plays an equally significant role in the annual transports from the SSCS into the Andaman Sea.
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