Sub-seasonal variability of Luzon Strait Transport in a high resolution global model

Abstract

The Luzon Strait is the main impact pathway of the Kuroshio on the circulation in South China Sea (SCS). Based on the analysis of the 1997-2007 altimeter data and 2005-2006 output data from a high resolution global HYCOM model, the total Luzon Strait Transport (LST) has remarkable subseasonal oscillations with a typical period of 90 to 120 days, and an average value of 1.9 Sv into SCS. Further spectrum analysis shows that the temporal variability of the LST at different depth is remarkable different. In the upper layer (0-300 m), westward inflow has significant seasonal and subseasonal variability. In the bottom layer (below 1 200 m), eastward outflow exhibits remarkable seasonal variability, while subseasonal variability is also clear. In the intermediate layer, the westward inflow is slightly bigger than the eastward outflow, and both of them have obvious seasonal and subseasonal variability. Because the seasonal variation of westward inflow and eastward outflow is opposite, the total transport of intermediate layer exhibits significant 50-150 days variation, without obvious seasonal signals. The westward Rossby waves with a period of 90 to 120 days in the Western Pacific have very clear correlationship with the Luzon Strait Transport, this indicates that the interaction between these westward Rossby waves and Kuroshio might be the possible mechanism of the subseasonal variation of the LST.

Intra-seasonal variability of Pacific-origin sea level anomalies around the Philippine Archipelago

“…9b is the fact that the intra-seasonal SLAs at the Luzon Strait appear to be disconnected from the SLAs originating in the interior North Pacific Ocean (i.e., stations 1-6). Across the Luzon Strait, it has been argued by many previous studies that mesoscale SLA signals deform and are absorbed by the Kuroshio (e.g., Zhang et al 2010;Lu and Liu 2013).…”

“…It is still controversial as to whether sea level signals originated in the interior Pacific can penetrate the Kuroshio and propagate into the northern SCS through the Luzon Strait (Hu et al 2001(Hu et al , 2012Zhang et al 2010;Lu and Liu 2013). As will be discussed in this study, the Pacific-origin, intra-seasonal sea level signals cannot enter the eastern SCS directly through the Luzon Strait in the form of oceanic waves.…”

State analysis using the Local Ensemble Transform Kalman Filter (LETKF) and the three-layer circulation structure of the Luzon Strait and the South China Sea

“…In the near-global model (based on MOM) of Qu et al (2006a), interleaving inflows and outflows exist below 400 m, but the authors stated that the simulated LST did not show a three-layer structure in the vertical (see their p. 3648, Section 4a). Zhang et al (2010) analyzed 2-year (2005-2006) mean LST using the outputs from a data-assimilated global model (based on the HYCOM) and compared them with the observations of Tian et al (2006). Depth ranges (0-300, 300-1,200, and 1,200 m-bottom) different from those used by Tian et al (2006;see Table 3) were used to define the upper, middle, and lower layers.…”

Magnetic characteristics and its environmental implications of core YSJD-86GC sediments from the southern South China Sea

“…It is considered to be another natural field within China for the study of the regional response to global climate change and its driving forces [1,2]. In recent years, research of the paleoceanography, paleoenvironmental evolution of the South China Sea has gained important international influence [3][4][5][6][7].…”