气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations

CCPortal

DOI	10.1029/2019JC015404
	Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations
	Zhang Z.; Zhang Y.; Qiu B.; Sasaki H.; Sun Z.; Zhang X.; Zhao W.; Tian J.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	21699275
卷号	125 期号:2
英文摘要	Although both geostrophic-balanced mesoscale eddies and unbalanced small-scale processes have been well studied in the northeastern South China Sea (NE-SCS), less attention has been devoted to the submesoscales in between (i.e., O(1–10 km)), which is recognized as an important conduit connecting the balanced and unbalanced motions. Based on the output from a 1/30° OGCM simulation, spatiotemporal characteristics and generation mechanisms of submesoscales in the NE-SCS are investigated in this study. Through examining the submesoscale relative vorticity and vertical velocity, the regions southwest of Taiwan (ST) and Luzon Strait (LS) are identified as two hot spots of submesoscales in the NE-SCS. Seasonally, the submesoscales in region ST are much stronger in winter than summer, while those in LS do not show a significant seasonality. Statistical analysis suggests that the strength of submesoscales in regions ST and LS is highly correlated with the product of mixed-layer depth and mesoscale strain rate (MSR) and with the MSR itself, respectively. By conducting theoretical scaling and energetics analysis, the authors find that the mixed-layer instability whose strength is determined by the combination of mixed-layer depth and MSR and the barotropic instability associated with current-islands interactions are the dominant generation mechanisms of submesoscales in the above two regions, respectively. Further examinations of the submesoscale energy budget indicate that, to keep a balanced state, the generated submesoscales have to be dissipated by a forward energy cascade, highlighting the important role of submesoscales in the energy balance of the NE-SCS circulation. ©2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
英文关键词	barotropic instability; current-topography interaction; mesoscale strain; mixed-layer instability; South China Sea; submesoscale currents
语种	英语
来源期刊	Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/186983
作者单位	Physical Oceanography Laboratory/IAOS and Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, China; Laboratory for Ocean Dynamics and Climate, National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China; Department of Oceanography, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States; Application Laboratory, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Zhang Z.,Zhang Y.,Qiu B.,et al. Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations[J],2020,125(2).
APA	Zhang Z..,Zhang Y..,Qiu B..,Sasaki H..,Sun Z..,...&Tian J..(2020).Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations.Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans,125(2).
MLA	Zhang Z.,et al."Spatiotemporal Characteristics and Generation Mechanisms of Submesoscale Currents in the Northeastern South China Sea Revealed by Numerical Simulations".Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125.2(2020).