We present wintertime variations and distributions of sea surface temperature (SST) fronts in the Taiwan Strait by applying an entropy‐based edge detection method to 10‐year (1996–2005) satellite SST images with grid size of 0.01°. From climatological monthly mean maps of SST gradient magnitude in winter, we identify four significant SST fronts in the Taiwan Strait. The Mainland China Coastal Front is a long frontal band along the 50‐m isobath near the Chinese coast. The sharp Peng‐Chang Front appears along the Peng‐Hu Channel and extends northward around the Chang‐Yuen Ridge. The Taiwan Bank Front evolves in early winter. As the winter progresses, the front becomes broad and moves toward the Chinese coast, connecting to the Mainland China Coastal Front. The Kuroshio Front extends northeastward from the northeastern tip of Taiwan with a semicircle‐shape curving along the 100‐m isobath.
The Gulf of Thailand (GoT) is a semienclosed sea on the west and southwest side of the Indochina Peninsula and connects with the near‐coastal waters of the South China Sea (SCS) on the east and northeast side of the Malay Peninsula. The objective of the present study is to understand dynamic features of the phytoplankton biology in the GoT and the nearby SCS, on both sides of the Indochina Peninsula, using remote‐sensing measurements of chlorophyll‐a (Chl a), sea surface temperature (SST), and surface vector winds obtained during the period from September 1997 to March 2003. Results show that seasonal variations of the phytoplankton blooms are primarily controlled by the monsoonal winds and related coastal environments. The GoT and the near‐coastal SCS have a peak in the averaged monthly Chl a in December and January, which is associated with the winter northeaster monsoon. The near‐coastal SCS have another big peak in the averaged monthly Chl a in summer (July to September), which is associated with the summer southwest monsoon. The offshore bloom in the GoT occurs in its southern part and enhances the December–January peak of averaged monthly Chl a. By contrast, the offshore bloom in the nearby SCS is observed northeast of the Peninsula, and represents the primary source of the July–September peak Chl a. Here the coastal upwelling associated with the offshore Ekman transport caused by the coastal surface winds parallel to the Vietnam east coast gives physical conditions favorable to the development of offshore phytoplankton blooms. The Mekong River discharge waters flow in different directions, depending on the monsoon winds, and contributes to seasonal blooms on both sides of the Peninsula.
Qin et al. have found Hot Events (HE), which are short‐term (about 20 days) large‐scale (about 15,000,000 km2) regions with very high Sea Surface Temperatures (SST > 30°C). Following their definition, an HE was identified in the tropical western Pacific in November 2006, which is named HE0611. A case study of HE is conducted by using the advanced satellite products and in‐situ measurements from the TAO/TRITON mooring array. Two parts (HE0611‐East and ‐West) with very high SST connected to form HE0611. SST in HE0611‐West increases quickly with large diurnal SST variations, which are caused by large solar radiation and suppressed latent heat loss. The increase of the mixed‐layer heat content is clearly accounted for the accumulated heat gain through the air‐sea interaction. The formation mechanism of HE0611‐East is completely different; its very high SST is supported by a subsurface high SST anomaly associated with the El Niño. Two phenomena similar to HE0611 were observed in November of the El Niño years of 1994 and 2002.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.