南海中尺度海洋现象研究概述

南海是一个地形复杂的半封闭海盆，受季风，黑潮等因素的作用南海呈现独特的中尺度变异特征，一些中尺度信号的强度可以和南海定常环流的强度相比拟，甚至更强，本文回顾了近20a来南海中尺度海洋现象研究的进展，并就南海的黑潮入侵，黑潮涡环，次海盆尺度多涡环流，浅海亚潮波动，近岸陷波，海洋锋等中尺度现象做若干探讨。     

孟加拉湾局地动力过程的季节变化研究

利用观测资料和理论模型,研究了孟加拉湾海表面高度的季节循环.结果表明,局地风应力旋度驱动的斜压Rossby波是孟加拉湾海表高度季节循环的主要控制因子,而孟加拉湾海底地形分布也影响了海表面高度的季节循环.受风应力旋度驱动的斜压Rossby波在短时间内就可以穿越孟加拉湾海盆,使得海洋温跃层在短时间内完成了对Rossby波的响应,保证了上层海洋满足准静止的Sverdrup平衡.在夏季(冬季)西南(东北)季风驱动下,上层海洋分别在孟加拉湾北部和南部形成气旋(反气旋)式和反气旋(气旋)式环流.     

南海环流动力机制研究综述

南海的环流复杂,但通过近20 a来的研究工作,国内外学者对此已取得了不少的成果.本文就南海环流框架性的问题,综述了有关的文献,认为对南海上层海洋三方面的环流分量的驱动机制已有了初步的认识.这三方面分别是:(1)准季节性风场;(2)黑潮向南海的净输运;(3)黑潮向南海的涡度平流输送.但是对这些驱动的时空变化仍相当不清楚.三者皆增强了南海北部的海盆尺度气旋式环流,其强化的西南向西边界流靠近东沙群岛,建议称为“东沙海流”.没有水文证据显示黑潮水是以分支形式进入南海,其向南海的输运也不可能主要通过中尺度涡过程,具体机制有待研究.每年在南海生成的中尺度涡平均约有10个,风场与沿岸地形所生成的强风应力旋度可能是其主要的驱动机制.作为框架性的认识,也有三方面的工作进行得较少,即:(1)吕宋海峡的上层水交换;(2)南海的中尺度涡生成机制,虽然强风应力旋度及前述的第三种环流驱动机制也有中尺度涡伴生;(3)自吕宋海峡进入的深层水对南海上层海洋环流的影响.     

南海相对涡度的时空变化特征分析

本文使用2014—2017年间逐日平均的法国Mercator中心全球高分辨率海洋数据集PSY4,探讨南海海域相对涡度与海盆尺度环流的时空变化特征。依照涡度的年平均剖面,在垂向上将南海分为:涡度为正的上层、涡度为负的中层和涡度为正的深层,对应了南海海盆尺度的"气旋式-反气旋式-气旋式"垂向环流。最为显著的相对涡度季节变化出现在南海的上层,最大冬、夏季差异达6.3×10~(-7) s~(-1),为该层内年平均相对涡度值1.7×10~(-7) s~(-1)的3.7倍。在该层的内部,依照季节变化的幅度大小可以进一步划分为3个子层,其中季节变化幅度最大的为上200 m层。在中、深层,深度积分的涡度与海盆尺度环流分别具有"冬强夏弱"和"冬弱夏强"的季节变化特征,而涡度的年际差异可以与季节差异同等重要;逐月的涡度时间序列与吕宋海峡不同断面的水通量变化具有统计相关。     

南海上层海洋环流两层半模式的数值模拟Ⅰ.闭边界海盆季节性环流

本文应用一个包含动力学和热力学的热带海洋两层半模式,模拟南海上层海洋闭边界条件下的季节性环流.模式海洋由不同密度的上混合层、季节性温跃层和静止的深水层组成.模式考虑挟卷(卷入entrainment和卷出detrainment)引起海洋上下活动层间的质量、动量与热量的交换,在海面月平均气候风场动力强迫和通过海面热通量的热力影响下,计算了封闭海盆假定下的南海上层海洋的季节环流.用数值试验的方法讨论了非线性效应、摩擦阻尼、侧向混合对大尺度环流的影响,并得出有关模式稳定性的结论.模拟结果与南海海洋实测和动力诊断的环流趋势吻合较好,显示了模式对南海海盆尺度的环流系统有较好的模拟能力.     

热带印度洋Rossby波的基本特征

<正>海洋斜压长Rossby波在海洋动力学中占据重要地位,是物理海洋学研究的一个重要任务。它维持并影响大洋西边界流,是海盆内能量传播的主要机制,是海洋对大气驱动的主要响应现象(Pedlosky,1979;Gill,1982)。20世纪70年代以来,XBT资料的积累使人们能够从水文资料中,特别是次表层海温的变化中发现大尺度Rossby波的存在依据(White,1977;Kessler,1990),且集中在     

孟加拉湾上层地转环流周年变化的遥感研究

应用1993～2003年TOPEX/Poseidon卫星测高数据结合历史水文资料,反演了孟加拉湾海面动力地形的平均周年变化,探讨了孟加拉湾上层环流季节特征和演变规律.结果显示,虽然孟加拉湾的大气环流受季风支配年周期波动显著,但表层环流形态的周年演变却呈3个不同的阶段.1～4月间(东北季风后期)湾内受一个海盆尺度的强大反气旋式环流的支配,湾口为西向流;5月西南季风骤起,印度季风漂流越过印度半岛南端出现在湾口,湾内反气旋环流弱化,在其南北两侧各出现一气旋式涡,构成5～9月间南北相间的三涡结构;10月东北季风再起,湾口漂流再次转向,10～12月间湾内则为海盆尺度的弱气旋式环流.受上述环流格局影响,位于西边界的印度沿岸流亦呈相应的3个阶段变化.分析表明,孟加拉湾风应力旋度的变化是造成湾内环流3个阶段演变的主要原因.本地风场和来自赤道海域的外强迫的共同驱动形成了孟加拉湾环流周年演变的独特规律.     

波场非匀质性对波向对变风向响应的影响

本文基于波能平衡方程，通过考虑波的传播项，即△↓［（Ｃｇ（ｆ，０）Ｅ（ｆ，０）］≠０，研究波场非匀质性对波向对变风向的响应的影响。导出的结果表明，响应的时间尺度可由３部分表示：１．匀质情形响应的贡献；２．波能分布非匀质性的影响；３．平均波向分布非匀质性的影响。在理论上，它暗示波场的非匀质性在波向响应中起着实质性的作用；在实际情况下，对匀匀和平稳风场，波场的非匀质性总是使响应时间尺度减少这一事实进行     

1998年南海夏季风爆发前环流的三维海流诊断计算的研究

基于1998年南海夏季风爆发前航次(4月22日至5月24日)获得的水文资料和NCEP提供的风场资料,采用三维海流诊断模式计算南海环流,结合同时期高度计资料T/P推得的水位高度距平分布,获得了一致的南海环流的流态,主要环流特性概括如下:(1)黑潮入侵南海较弱,黑潮的大部分绕过吕宋海峡作反气旋弯曲,向东北方向流向台湾以东,但小部分在300m以浅向西入侵,并局限于中国大陆以南较狭窄的陆架坡内,不扩展到所有的西边界,这与Qu的观点一致.(2)南海北部环流,在300m以浅主要由海盆尺度的气旋环流支配,它以两个气旋式涡C1与C2为核心组成.在300m以深,南海北部环流被反气旋环流以暖涡W4为核心分离成两个尺度不大、分别以气旋涡C2和C3为核心的环流.冬季时海盆尺度气旋式环流的范围比4~5月大得多.(3)南海中部环流,主要由海盆尺度的反气旋环流支配.在300m以浅海盆尺度的反气旋式环流分别以暖涡W1,W2和W3为核心组成.在反气旋式涡W1东南存在一个以C1为核心气旋式环流.但在300m以深,海盆尺度的反气旋环流分别以暖涡W1,W2和W4为核心组成,并向北扩展到20°N.(4)在越南以东近岸存在一支较强的沿岸北向流,其强度比6月时沿岸的北向流强.这支较强的北向的沿岸流一直可达17°15'N附近,比6月时更往北大约3°15'.(5)产生1998年4~5月南海环流的动力机制有两个:最重要的动力因子为斜压场与地形相互作用项,其次为东南风作用下风应力与地形相互作用项.Sverdrup关系在南海环流不满足.     

赤道海洋Kelvin波对外强迫风场的响应

采用无界理想海洋线性扰动模型,对赤道海洋Kelvin波在纬向风场异常强迫下的响应即强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波的异常做了解析求解,主要结果如下:该强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波的频率、波长和波速都与外强迫风场的相同,在赤道纬向流振幅最大并随纬度增加衰减,该风场越强,该强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波也越强,两者呈正比关系。当该风场频率和范围确定后,则该强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波被限制在一定平均水深范围内;该风场的频率越高、纬向波长越长、随纬度增加衰减越小,则该水深就越大。在所取参数下,该风场异常与该强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波流场异常的位相基本相同。在西风强迫下有东向流,反之亦然;强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波的流场与位势场则完全同位相,东向流对应于正位势,反之亦然,这也是经典Kelvin波的配置。该强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波与经典Kelvin波的不同在于:前者是频散的强迫波动,并被限制在一定水深中;后者是自由波动。将该强迫Kelvin波的解析解与热带印度洋和太平洋的实况以及诊断进行对比后知,两者总体看来一致,实际热带大洋中该强迫赤道海洋Kelvin波应确实存在。     

Circulation in the South China Sea is in a state of forced oscillation: Results from a simple reduced gravity model with a closed boundary

The South China Sea (SCS) is a narrow semi-enclosed basin, ranging from 4°–6°N to 21°–22°N meridionally. It is forced by a strong annual cycle of monsoon-related wind stress. The Coriolis parameter f increases at least three times from the southern basin to the northern basin. As a result, the basin-cross time for the first baroclinic Rossby wave in the southern part of the basin is about 10-times faster than that in the northern part, which plays the most vitally important role in setting the circulation. At the northernmost edge of SCS, the first baroclinic Rossby wave takes slightly less than 1 year to move across the basin, however, it takes only 1–2 months in the southernmost part. Therefore, circulation properties for a station in the model ocean are not solely determined by the forcing at that time instance only; instead, they depend on the information over the past months. The combination of a strong annual cycle of wind forcing and large difference of basin-cross time for the first baroclinic Rossby wave leads to a strong seasonal cycle of the circulation in the SCS, hence, the circulation is dominated by the forced oscillations, rather than the quasi-steady state discussed in many textbooks.The circulation in the SCS is explored in detail by using a simple reduced gravity model forced by seasonally varying zonal wind stress. In particular, for a given time snap the western boundary current in the SCS cannot play the role of balancing mass transport across each latitude nor balancing mechanical energy and vorticity in the whole basin. In a departure from the steady wind-driven circulation discussed in many existing textbooks, the circulation in the SCS is characterized by the imbalance of mechanical energy and vorticity for the whole basin at any part of the seasonal cycle. In particular, the western boundary current in the SCS cannot balance the mass, mechanical energy, and vorticity in the seasonal cycle of the basin. Consequently, the circulation near the western boundary cannot be interpreted in terms of the wind stress and thermohaline forcing at the same time. Instead, circulation properties near the western boundary should be interpreted in terms of the contributions due to the delayed wind stress and the eastern boundary layer thickness. In fact, there is a clear annual cycle of net imbalance of mechanical energy and vorticity source/sink. Results from such a simple model may have important implications for our understanding of the complicated phenomena in the SCS, either from in-situ observations or numerical simulations.     

Predictability of Interannual Variability in the Kuroshio Transport South of Japan Based on Wind Stress Data over the North Pacific

It is expected that a roughly two-year forecast of the Kuroshio transport variation can be made from a past record of wind stress data over the ocean, since it takes nearly ten years for the first-mode baroclinic Rossby wave to traverse the entire basin in the midlatitude North Pacific (∼30°N). We therefore investigated the predictability using an ocean general circulation model driven by the wind stress data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis. Referring to a hindcast experiment as the control run, we carried out fifteen forecast experiments, the initial conditions of which are taken from the hindcast experiment at intervals of two years during the period from the end of 1969 to the end of 1997. Each of the forecast experiments is driven only by wind stress in the year preceding each experiment. The forecasted Kuroshio transport anomaly south of Japan agrees better with the hindcasted one during the first two years of the forecast in most cases. In some cases, however, significant disagreements occur, most of which are likely due to larger unpredictable variations caused by wind stress anomalies near Japan. At the end of forecast year 2, the anomaly correlation coefficient is about 0.7, and rms of the forecast error is smaller than rms of the hindcasted anomaly. These results indicate that the prediction of the interannual variability in the Kuroshio transport could be made two years in advance at a statistically significant level. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Influence of asymmetric wind stress curl on the general ocean circulation using an eddy-resolving quasi-geostrophic model

On the general ocean circulation forced by the asymmetric wind stress curl, the role of the eddies which are detached from the western boundary current is studied using an eddy-resolving two-layered quasi-geostrophic numerical model with free-slip boundary condition. An ideal sinusoidal function is used as the wind stress curl, and amplitude is assumed to be larger over the southern basin than over the northern one. In contrast with the antisymmetric wind forcing, in the asymmetric wind stress case, the subtropical western boundary current overshoots to the north from the zero wind stress curl line. As the asymmetricity of the wind forcing becomes larger, the separation point of the time mean field is located further north. The eddies generated in the region of the subtropical recirculation are advected northward by the western boundary current and they are detached from subtropical gyre. The release of these eddies to the north basin leads to weaken the subtropical recirculation system. From the analysis of the potential vorticity budgets, in the asymmetric case, it is shown that detached eddies play an important role in transporting the negative vorticity which is excessively inputted into the southern basin, to the northern basin, in addition to the terms which transport vorticity in the antisymmetric case, i.e., the vorticity transport by the meander of the jet. Under the free-slip boundary, more than a quarter of that excess vorticity is transported by those detached eddies in some cases.     

Propagation of Rossby Waves over Ridges Excited by Interannual Wind Forcing in a Western North Pacific Model

Numerical experiments with a multi-level general circulation model have been performed to investigate basic processes of westward propagation of Rossby waves excited by interannual wind stress forcing in an idealized western North Pacific model with ocean ridges. When the wind forcing with an oscillation period of 3 years is imposed around 180°E and 30°N, far from Japan, barotropic waves excited by the wind can hardly cross the ridges, such as the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge. On the other hand, a large part of the first-mode baroclinic waves are transmitted across the ridges, having net mass transport. The propagation speed of the first-mode baroclinic wave is accelerated (decelerated) when an anticyclonic (cyclonic) circulation is formed at the sea surface, due to a deeper (shallower) upper layer, and to southward (slightly northward) drift of the circulation. Thus, when the anticyclonic circulation is formed on the northern side of the cyclonic one, they propagate almost together. The second-mode baroclinic waves converted from the first-mode ones on the ridges arrive south of Japan, although their effects are small. The resulting volume transport variation of the western boundary current (the Kuroshio) reaches about 60% of the Sverdrup transport variability estimated from the wind stress. These characteristics are common for the interannual forcing case with a longer oscillation period. In the intraseasonal and seasonal forcing cases, on the other hand, the transport variation is much smaller than those in the interannual forcing cases. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Significance of non‐rotational wind stress in the seasonal variation of continental torque

The physical mechanism by which seasonally varying atmospheric wind stress exerted on the sea surface is communicated to the solid earth as oceanic pressure torque (continental torque) and bottom frictional torque is investigated with a linear shallow‐water numerical model of barotropic oceans. The model has a realistic land–ocean distribution and is driven by a seasonally varying climatic wind stress. A novel way to decompose the wind stress into rotational and non‐rotational components is devised. The rotational component drives ocean circulations as classical theories of wind‐driven circulations demonstrate. The non‐rotational component does not produce ocean circulations within the framework of a barotropic shallow‐water model, but balances with the pressure gradient force due to surface displacement in the steady state. Based on this decomposition, it is shown that most of the continental torque which plays a major role in producing the seasonal variation of length of day (LOD) is caused by the non‐rotational component of the wind stress. Both continental torque due to the wind‐driven circulation produced by the rotational component of the wind stress and the bottom frictional torque are of minor importance.     

The calculation of the circulation in South China Sea by a diagnostic model

A high resolved two - dimensional linear global diagnostic model combining with the dynamical calculation is used to calculate ve- locity field in the South China Sea(SCS). The study of model results shows that eddy diffusion does not change basic structure of circulation in the SCS and does not change the direction of invasive water, but changes the value of transport considerably espe- cially in straits. The velocity field is not changed whether the wind stress is considered or not. This result shows the circulation is largely determined by a density field which well records most of the important contribution of the wind stress effect. Potential vor- ticity is calculated to testify the dynamics of the model results. The result shows that a good conservation of the nonlinear PV. This indicates most effects of the important nonlinear processes are well recorded in density and the nonlinear term is negligible so that the simplified model is reliable. The model results show the water exchanges between the SCS and open ocean or surrounding seas. Cold deep water invades through Luzon Strait and Warm shallow water is pushed out mainly through Karimata Straits. The model results also reveal the structure of the circulation in the SCS basin. In two circulations of upper and middle layers, a cyclon- ic one in the north and an anti-cyclonic one in the south, reflect the climatologic average of the circulation driven by monsoon. In the deep or bottom layer, these two circulations reflect the topography of the basin. Above the middle layer, invasive water enters westward in the north but the way of invasion of Kuroshio is not clear. Below the deep layer, a current goes down south near the east basin , and invasive water enters in the basin from the west Pacific.     

Alternating zonal flows in a two-layer wind-driven ocean

Alternating zonal flows in an idealized wind-driven double-gyre ocean circulation have been investigated using a two-layer shallow-water eddy-permitting numerical model. While the alternating zonal flows are found almost everywhere in the time-mean zonal velocity field, their meridional scales differ from region to region. In the subpolar western boundary region, where the energetic eddy activity induces quasi two-dimensional turbulence, the alternating zonal flows are generated by the inverse energy cascade and its arrest by Rossby waves, and the meridional scale of the flows corresponds well to the Rhines scale. In the eastern part of the basin, where barotropic basin modes are dominant, the zonal structure is formed through the nonlinear effect of the basin modes and is wider than the Rhines scale. Both effects are likely to form zonal structure between the two regions. These results show that Rossby basin modes become an important factor in the formation of alternating zonal flows in a closed basin in addition to the arrest of the inverse energy cascade by Rossby waves. The wind-driven general circulation associated with eddy activities plays an essential role in determining which mechanism of the alternating zonal flows is possible in each region.     

Baroclinic wind adjustment processes in the Mediterranean Sea

The wind-driven general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea is studied using a primitive equation model. The model uses a 0.25° horizontal resolution and eight or 16 levels in the vertical. The model uses the Mediterranean basin geometry, and the Strait of Gibraltar is closed. The vertical density structure is initialized with annual average data, and the temperature and salinity values are fixed at the surface to simulate perpetual annual mean conditions. The wind forcing consists of monthly mean climatological stresses.The results show that the general circulation of the Mediterranean Sea has a multiple time-scale character (seasonal excursions and steady state amplitudes are comparable) and it is composed by sub-basin scale gyres corresponding to the scale of the wind stress curl centers. The steady state circulation (annual mean average) is determined by a Sverdrup balacne modified by viscous effects.The unsteady vertically integrated transport circulation consists of sub-basin scale gyres similar to the steady state transport components, which amplify seasonally and the partial or total reversal of the currents in many subportions of the basin. The gyres can be stationary in position or propagating. This seasonal ocean response is partly constituted by Rossby modes due to the wind stress curl annual harmonic. The baroclinic circulation shows the seasonal shift of the North African Current from a position along the African coasts during winter to the center of the Balearic and Ionian basin during summer.     

The Rossby wave as a key mechanism of Indian Ocean climate variability

We analyze the time-longitude structure of composite cases from model-assimilated ocean data in the period 1958–1998, following on from earlier work by Huang and Kinter (J. Geophys. Res. 107(C11) (2002) 3199) that studied east–west thermocline variability in the Indian Ocean. Our analysis focuses on the Rossby wave signal along the thermocline ridge in the tropical SW Indian Ocean (10°S, 60–80°E), where wind stress curl is important. Anomalous winds in the equatorial east Indian Ocean force successive Rossby waves westward at speeds of 0.1 m s⁻¹±30%. With a wavelength of 7000 km, the period of oscillation is in the range 1.9–5.2 years. The Indian Ocean Rossby wave is partially resonant with the global influence of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation, except during quasi-biennial rhythm. The presence of the Rossby wave offers potential predictability for east–west atmospheric circulation systems and climate that affect resources in countries surrounding the Indian Ocean.     

A spectral barotropic model of the wind-driven world ocean

A global spectral barotropic ocean model is introduced to describe the depth-averaged flow. The equations are based on vorticity and divergence (instead of horizontal momentum); continents exert a nearly infinite drag on the fluid. The coding follows that of spectral atmospheric general circulation models using triangular truncation and implicit time integration to provide a first step for seamless coupling to spectral atmospheric global circulation models and an efficient method for filtering of ocean wave dynamics. Five experiments demonstrate the model performance: (i) Bounded by an idealized basin geometry and driven by a zonally uniform wind stress, the ocean circulation shows close similarity with Munk’s analytical solution. (ii) With a real land–sea mask the model is capable of reproducing the spin-up, location and magnitudes of depth-averaged barotropic ocean currents. (iii) The ocean wave-dynamics of equatorial waves, excited by a height perturbation at the equator, shows wave dispersion and reflection at eastern and western coastal boundaries. (iv) The model reproduces propagation times of observed surface gravity waves in the Pacific with real bathymetry. (v) Advection of tracers can be simulated reasonably by the spectral method or a semi-Langrangian transport scheme. This spectral barotropic model may serve as a first step towards an intermediate complexity spectral atmosphere–ocean model for studying atmosphere–ocean interactions in idealized setups and long term climate variability beyond millennia.