Sea Surface Height Variability in the Indian Ocean from TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimetry and Model Simulations

Sea Surface Height (SSH) variability in the Indian Ocean during 1993-1995 is studied using TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) altimetry data. Strong interannual variability is seen in the surface circulation of the western Arabian Sea, especially in the Somali eddy structure. During the Southwest (SW) monsoon, a weak monsoon year is characterized by a single eddy system off Somalia, a strong or normal monsoon year by several energetic eddies. The Laccadive High (LH) and Laccadive Low (LL) systems off southwest India are observed in the altimetric SSH record. The variability of the East India Coastal Current (EICC), the western boundary current in the Bay of Bengal, is also detected. Evidence is found for the propagation of Kelvin and Rossby waves across the northern Indian Ocean; these are examined in the context of energy transfer to the western boundary currents, and associated eddies. A simple wind-driven isopycnal model having three active layers is implemented to simulate the seasonal changes of surface and subsurface circulation in the North Indian Ocean and to examine the response to different wind forcing. The wind forcing is derived from the ERS-1 scatterometer wind stress for the same period as the T/P altimeter data, enabling the model response in different (active/weak) monsoon conditions to be tested. The model output is derived in 10-day snapshots to match the time period of the T/P altimeter cycles. Complex Principal Component Analysis (CPCA) is applied to both altimetric and model SSH data. This confirms that long Rossby waves are excited by the remotely forced Kelvin waves off the southwest coast of India and contribute substantially to the variability of the seasonal circulation in the Arabian Sea.     

Sea Surface Height Variability in the Indian Ocean from TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimetry and Model Simulations

Sea Surface Height (SSH) variability in the Indian Ocean during 1993-1995 is studied using TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) altimetry data. Strong interannual variability is seen in the surface circulation of the western Arabian Sea, especially in the Somali eddy structure. During the Southwest (SW) monsoon, a weak monsoon year is characterized by a single eddy system off Somalia, a strong or normal monsoon year by several energetic eddies. The Laccadive High (LH) and Laccadive Low (LL) systems off southwest India are observed in the altimetric SSH record. The variability of the East India Coastal Current (EICC), the western boundary current in the Bay of Bengal, is also detected. Evidence is found for the propagation of Kelvin and Rossby waves across the northern Indian Ocean; these are examined in the context of energy transfer to the western boundary currents, and associated eddies. A simple wind-driven isopycnal model having three active layers is implemented to simulate the seasonal changes of surface and subsurface circulation in the North Indian Ocean and to examine the response to different wind forcing. The wind forcing is derived from the ERS-1 scatterometer wind stress for the same period as the T/P altimeter data, enabling the model response in different (active/weak) monsoon conditions to be tested. The model output is derived in 10-day snapshots to match the time period of the T/P altimeter cycles. Complex Principal Component Analysis (CPCA) is applied to both altimetric and model SSH data. This confirms that long Rossby waves are excited by the remotely forced Kelvin waves off the southwest coast of India and contribute substantially to the variability of the seasonal circulation in the Arabian Sea.     

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.     

副热带一热带太平洋密跃层水量交换年际变化的模拟研究

利用一个全球海洋环流模式在3组风应力资料的强迫下模拟分析了副热带太平洋向热带太平洋密跃层水量输送的年际变化特征及其和风应力的关系,并设计数值试验,研究了密跃层水量输送的变化机制.结果表明,副热带太平洋向赤道太平洋的密跃层水量输送具有显著的年际变化.在年际时间尺度上,南北太平洋西边界密跃层水量输送都起着补偿内部路径输送的...     

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.     

Statistical characteristics and mechanisms of mesoscale eddies in the North Indian Ocean

The statistical characteristics and mechanisms of mesoscale eddies in the North Indian Ocean are investigated by adopting multi-sensor satellite data from 1993 to 2019. In the Arabian Sea(AS), seasonal variation of eddy characteristics is remarkable, while the intraseasonal variability caused by planetary waves is crucial in the Bay of Bengal(BOB). Seasonal variation of the eddy kinetic energy(EKE) is distinct along the west boundary of AS,especially in the Somali Current region. In the BOB, lar...     

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.     

Intrinsic and forced interannual variability of the Gulf of Alaska mesoscale circulation

The response of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) circulation to large-scale North Pacific climate variability is explored using three high resolution (15 km) regional ocean model ensembles over the period 1950-2004. On interannual and decadal timescales the mean circulation is strongly modulated by changes in the large scale climate forcing associated with PDO and ENSO. Intensification of the model gyre scale circulation occurs after the 1976-1977 climate shift, as well as during 1965-1970 and 1993-1995. From the model dynamical budgets we find that when the GOA experiences stronger southeasterly winds, typical during the positive phase of the PDO and ENSO, there is net large-scale Ekman convergence in the central and eastern coastal boundary. The geostrophic adjustment to higher sea surface height (SSH) and lower isopycnals lead to stronger cyclonic gyre scale circulation. The opposite situation occurs during stronger northwesterly winds (negative phase of the PDO).Along the eastern side of the GOA basin, interannual changes in the surface winds also modulate the seasonal development of high amplitude anticyclonic eddies (e.g. Haïda and Sitka eddies). Large interannual eddy events during winter-spring, are phase-locked with the seasonal cycle. The initial eddy dynamics are consistent with a quasi-linear Rossby wave response to positive SSH anomalies forced by stronger downwelling favorable winds (e.g. southwesterly during El Niño). However, because of the fast growth rate of baroclinic instability and the geographical focusing associated with the coastal geometry, most of the perturbation energy in the Rossby wave is locally trapped until converted into large scale nonlinear coherent eddies. Coastally trapped waves of tropical origin may also contribute to positive SSH anomalies that lead to higher amplitude eddies. However, their presence does not appear essential. The model ensembles, which do not include the effects of equatorial coastally trapped waves, capture the large Haïda and Sitka eddy events observed during 1982 and 1997 and explain between 40% and 70% of the tidal gauges variance along the GOA coast.In the western side of the GOA basin, interannual eddy variability located south of the Alaskan Stream is not correlated with large scale forcing and appears to be intrinsic. A comparison of the three model ensembles forced by NCEP winds and a multi-century-long integration forced only with the seasonal cycle, shows that the internal variability alone explains most of the eddy variance. The asymmetry between the eddy forced regime in the eastern basin, and the intrinsic regime in the western basin, has important implications for predicting the GOA response to climate change. If future climate change results in stronger wintertime winds and increased downwelling in the eastern basin, then increased mesoscale activity (perhaps more or larger eddies) might occur in this region. Conversely, the changes in the western basin are not predictable based on environmental forcing. Eastern eddies transport important biogeochemical quantities such as iron, oxygen and chlorophyll-a into the gyre interior, therefore having potential upscale effects on the GOA high-nutrient-low-chlorophyll region.     

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.     

Seasonal variability of water transport through the Straits of Gibraltar, Sicily and Corsica, derived from a high-resolution model of the Mediterranean circulation

The variability of the water transport through three major straits of the Mediterranean Sea (Gibraltar, Sicily and Corsica) was investigated using a high-resolution model. This model of the Mediterranean circulation was developed in the context of the Mercator project.The region of interest is the western Mediterranean between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Strait of Sicily. The major water masses and the winter convection in the Gulf of Lions were simulated. The model reproduced the meso-scale and large-scale patterns of the circulation in very good agreement with recent observations. The western and the eastern gyres of the Alboran Sea were observed but high interannual variability was noticed. The Algerian Current splits into several branches at the longitude of the Strait of Sicily level, forming the Tyrrhenian branch, and, the Atlantic Ionian Stream and the Atlantic Tunisian Current in the eastern Mediterranean. The North Current retroflexed north of the Balearic Islands and a dome structure was observed in the Gulf of Lions. The cyclonic barotropic Algerian gyre, which was recently observed during the MATER and ELISA experiment, was evidenced in the simulation.From time-series of 10-day mean transport, the three straits presented a high variability at short time-scales. The transport was generally maximum, in April for the Strait of Gibraltar, in November for the Strait of Sicily, and in January for the Strait of Corsica. The amplitudes of the transport through the Straits of Gibraltar (0.11 Sv) and Sicily (0.30 Sv) presented a weaker seasonal variability than that of the Strait of Corsica (0.70 Sv).The study of the relation between transport and wind forcing showed that the transport through the Strait of Gibraltar is dependent on local zonal wind over short time-scales (70%), which was not the case for the other straits (less than 30%). The maximum (minimum) of the transport occurred for an eastward (westward) wind stress in the strait. An interannual event was noticed in November–December 2001, which corresponded to a very low transport (0.3 Sv), which was characterised by a cyclonic circulation in the western Alboran Sea. That circulation was also reproduced by the model for other periods than winter during the interannual simulation.The transport through the Strait of Sicily is not influenced by local wind.The wind stress curl of the northwestern Mediterranean influenced the transport through the Strait of Corsica.     

Air-Sea Interaction, Coastal Circulation and Primary Production in the Eastern Arabian Sea: A Review

Air-sea interaction, coastal circulation and primary production exhibit an annual cycle in the eastern Arabian Sea (AS). During June to September, strong southwesterly winds (4∼9 m s⁻¹) promote sea surface cooling through surface heat loss and vertical mixing in the central AS and force the West India Coastal Current equatorward. Positive wind stress curl induced by the Findlater jet facilitates Ekman pumping in the northern AS, and equatorward-directed alongshore wind stress induces upwelling which lowers sea surface temperature by about 2.5°C (compared to the offshore value) along the southwestern shelf of India and enhances phytoplankton concentration by more than 70% as compared to that in the central AS. During winter monsoon, from November to March, dry and weak northeasterly winds (2–6 m s⁻¹) from the Indo-China continent enhance convective cooling of the upper ocean and deepen the mixed layer by more than 80 m, thereby increasing the vertical flux of nutrients in the photic layer which promotes wintertime phytoplankton blooms in the northern AS. The primary production rate integrated for photic layer and surface chlorophyll-a estimated from the Coastal Zone Color Scanner, both averaged for the entire western India shelf, increases from winter to summer monsoon from 24 to 70 g C m⁻²month and from 9 to 24 mg m⁻², respectively. Remotely-forced coastal Kelvin waves from the Bay of Bengal propagate into the coastal AS, which modulate circulation pattern along the western India shelf; these Kelvin waves in turn radiate Rossby waves which reverse the circulation in the Lakshadweep Sea semiannually. This review leads us to the conclusion that seasonal monsoon forcing and remotely forced waves modulate the circulation and primary production in the eastern AS. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A numerical study on the formation and variation of a clockwise-circulation during winter in the Yellow Sea

In the Yellow Sea, the north-westerly wind dominates in winter and the existence of horizontal clockwise circulation has been suggested (Yanagi and Takahashi, 1993). The formation and variation mechanisms of this clockwise circulation is investigated using the wind forced numerical model which has a simplified basin configuration of the Yellow Sea. The model results show that two vortices (an anticlockwise vortex off Chinese coast and a clockwise vortex off Korean coast) are generated by the uniform north-westerly wind. Both vortices propagate along the shelf slope as the first mode shelf waves. An anti-clockwise vortex can not grow because it does not balance to the wind forcing. On the other hand, a clockwise vortex can grow and it reaches to the equilibrium condition at the northern part of the Yellow Sea, because this circulation can balance to the wind forcing. The time scale to become into the equilibrium condition is about 2 days. From this fact, it is ascertained that a clockwise circulation in the basin is generated periodically according to the variable wind forcing with 4 days period. The steady part of the current field exists with the fluctuating one which is induced by the periodical north-westerly wind.     

Circulation and multiple-scale variability in the Southern California Bight

The oceanic circulation in the Southern California Bight (SCB) is influenced by the large-scale California Current offshore, tropical remote forcing through the coastal wave guide alongshore, and local atmospheric forcing. The region is characterized by local complexity in the topography and coastline. All these factors engender variability in the circulation on interannual, seasonal, and intraseasonal time scales. This study applies the Regional Oceanic Modeling System (ROMS) to the SCB circulation and its multiple-scale variability. The model is configured in three levels of nested grids with the parent grid covering the whole US West Coast. The first child grid covers a large southern domain, and the third grid zooms in on the SCB region. The three horizontal grid resolutions are 20 km, 6.7 km, and 1 km, respectively. The external forcings are momentum, heat, and freshwater flux at the surface and adaptive nudging to gyre-scale SODA reanalysis fields at the boundaries. The momentum flux is from a three-hourly reanalysis mesoscale MM5 wind with a 6 km resolution for the finest grid in the SCB. The oceanic model starts in an equilibrium state from a multiple-year cyclical climatology run, and then it is integrated from years 1996 through 2003. In this paper, the 8-year simulation at the 1 km resolution is analyzed and assessed against extensive observational data: High-Frequency (HF) radar data, current meters, Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP) data, hydrographic measurements, tide gauges, drifters, altimeters, and radiometers. The simulation shows that the domain-scale surface circulation in the SCB is characterized by the Southern California Cyclonic Gyre, comprised of the offshore equatorward California Current System and the onshore poleward Southern California Countercurrent. The simulation also exhibits three subdomain-scale, persistent (i.e., standing), cyclonic eddies related to the local topography and wind forcing: the Santa Barbara Channel Eddy, the Central-SCB Eddy, and the Catalina-Clemente Eddy. Comparisons with observational data reveal that ROMS reproduces a realistic mean state of the SCB oceanic circulation, as well as its interannual (mainly as a local manifestation of an ENSO event), seasonal, and intraseasonal (eddy-scale) variations. We find high correlations of the wind curl with both the alongshore pressure gradient (APG) and the eddy kinetic energy level in their variations on time scales of seasons and longer. The geostrophic currents are much stronger than the wind-driven Ekman flows at the surface. The model exhibits intrinsic eddy variability with strong topographically related heterogeneity, westward-propagating Rossby waves, and poleward-propagating coastally-trapped waves (albeit with smaller amplitude than observed due to missing high-frequency variations in the southern boundary conditions).     

区域性海洋环流数值模式研究及对南海环流与海峡流量的模拟

基于MOM模式的物理框架,妥善考虑了开边界的物理过程,改造和发展了一个区域海洋数值模式。本模式不仅可以方便地调整开边界条件,使之满足边界的特定物理条件,而且可以方便地做针对性修改,使模式更加可靠。改进后的模式具有MOM模式物理概念明确、公式便于理解、结果便于表达的全部特点,同时克服了MOM模式边界条件不完整、程序不易调整、参数难以改变的缺点。区域性模式比全球模式的计算速度快很多倍,可以成为区域性研究的有效工具。将此模式应用于南海,利用Hellerman＆Rosenstein气候态风应力驱动模式10a,得到与全球模式效果相当的结果。模式模拟结果展现了南海流场的季节特征,在模式分辨率下表现出了多涡结构。根据模拟的流场计算了南海与其它海域的水交换通量。在年平均意义下,外海水通过吕宋海峡进入南海,南海水通过台湾海峡、民都洛海峡和卡里马塔海峡流出南海。各海峡水通量具有明显的季节变化。     

Forced Rossby wave in the northern South China Sea

Time-longitude diagrams of monthly anomalies of TOPEX/Poseidon sea surface height (SSH), Levitus steric height, COADS wind stress curl, as well as meridional surface wind averaged over the northern South China Sea (SCS) from 18° to 22°N, exhibit a coherent westward phase propagation, with a westward propagation speed of about 5 cm s⁻¹. The consistency between oceanic and atmospheric variables indicates that there is a forced Rossby wave in the northern SCS. The horizontal patterns of monthly SSH anomalies from observations and model sensitivity experiments show that the forced Rossby wave, originating to the northwest off Luzon Island, actually propagates west-northwestward towards the Guangdong coast because of zonal migration of the meridional surface wind. The winter Luzon Cold Eddy (LCE), which has been found from field observations, can be identified as a forced Rossby wave with a negative SSH anomaly in winter. It corresponds to strong upwelling and a negative temperature anomaly. Sensitivity experiments show that the wind forcing controls the generation of the LCE, while the Kuroshio is of minor importance.     

南海海面高度季节变化的数值模拟

比较POM模式模拟与观测(TOPEX/Poseidon高度计资料)的南海海面高度(SSH)的季节变化在空间分布上的一致性和差异.结果表明:本文使用的POM模式能较好地模拟南海SSH的季节变化;冬季与夏季,春季与秋季南海海面异常场形式完全相反,冬季Ekman输运造成在西海岸的堆积要比夏季在东海岸堆积更明显,而吕宋冷涡中心附近和吕宋海峡海面季节变化振幅最大;除春季以外,在南海绝大部分海域,海面高度的季节变化主要受风力的控制,南海海面热量通量对SSH的季节变化贡献约为20%,风应力对SSH的季节变化的贡献约为80%.     

Application of LICOM to the numerical study of the water exchangebetween the South China Sea and its adjacent oceans

1 IntroductionThe South China Sea (SCS) is the largestmarginal sea in the western Pacific (see Fig. 1). It con-nects with the SCS through the Taiwan Strait, with thePacific through the Luzon Strait, with the Sulu Seathrough the Mindoro and Balabac Straits and with theJava Sea and Andaman Sea through the Sunda Shelf(For convenience, here we refer to the section at 1.5°N,Fig. 2). It is shown that the seasonal SCS circulation ismostly affected by the summer/winter monsoon, andthe no…     

缓变风场驱动下正压环流中的多涡结构

利用正压涡度方程，研究了缓变风场驱动下水平尺度1000km平底方形海盆中海洋环流的响应。结果表明，缓变风场驱动下海洋环流的响应是多涡型的，线性情形下多涡结构表现为共振受迫Rossby波；非线性情形下受迫Rossby波被扭曲，多涡结构是由受迫Rossby波和次海盆尺度的惯性再循环共同构成。无论是稳定风场还是缓变风场，非线性作用越强，环流越趋于不稳定；非线性作用强且水平耗散作用弱时，非线性不稳定过程可能完全掩盖了变化的风旋度向海盆涡度输人的影响，此时风的变化对环流型式不再重要。     

渤、黄海风生流场季节循环时空模态与变异

根据1978—2015年渤、黄海沿岸观测风应力场与二维非线性垂直平均风生流模式,以及旋转经验正交函数（REOF）、调和分析等方法,研究了渤、黄海月平均风生流速度势、流函数场季节循环时空模态与年际变异.渤、黄海月平均风生流速度势、流函数场主要有两种时空模态,季节周期分量是时空模态的主要分量.由于风应力场季节循环变异,渤海流函数场季节时空循环变异程度大于速度势场,速度势、流函数场第二模态是季节变异的主要分量,黄海速度势场季节时空循环变异程度大于流函数场,速度势场第二模态是季节变异的主要分量.由于月平均风应力场强度年际变化显著线性减弱,渤、黄海季节平均风生流场强度年际变化也显著减弱.渤、黄海暖流与冷水团季节生消是风生流水平环流与垂直对流对冷 暖水体输送与汇集共同作用的结果,渤、黄海春、夏季辐合上升环流延缓及减弱了浅层暖水向深层传播,是春、夏季冷水团与温跃层形成的重要动力因素,因此,速度势是研究渤、黄海风生流场十分重要的因素.冬季渤海中部、黄海东部反气旋型及辐散下沉环流与黄海中部气旋型环流、辐合上升环流是黄海暖流季节转换与强度的主要动力控制因素,夏季黄海东部气旋型环流、辐合上升环流与黄海中部反气旋型环流、辐散下沉环流是黄海冷水团季节转换与强度的主要动力控制因素.     

Equatorially trapped Rossby waves in the presence of meridionally sheared baroclinic flow in the Pacific Ocean

TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data are analyzed for the 8.5-year period November 1992 to May 2001 to investigate the sea surface height (SSH) and geostrophic velocity signatures of quasi-annual equatorially trapped Rossby waves in the Pacific. The latitudinal structures of SSH and both components of geostrophic velocity are found to be asymmetric about the equator across the entire Pacific with larger amplitude north of the equator. The westward phase speeds are estimated by several different methods to be in the range 0.5-0.6 m s⁻¹. These observed characteristics are inconsistent with the classical theory for first vertical, first meridional mode equatorially trapped Rossby waves, which predicts a phase speed of about 0.9 m s⁻¹ with latitudinally symmetric structures of SSH and zonal velocity and antisymmetric structure of meridional velocity. The observations are even less consistent with the latitudinal structures of SSH and geostrophic velocity components for other modes of the classical theory.The latitudinal asymmetries deduced here have also been consistently observed in past analyses of subsurface thermal data and altimeter data and have been variously attributed to sampling errors in the observational data, a superposition of multiple meridional Rossby wave modes, asymmetric forcing by the wind, and forcing by cross-equatorial southerly winds in the eastern Pacific. We propose a different mechanism to account for the observed asymmetric latitudinal structure of low-frequency equatorial Rossby waves. From the free-wave solutions of a simple 1.5-layer model, it is shown that meridional shears in the mean equatorial current system significantly alter the potential vorticity gradient in the central and eastern tropical Pacific. The observed asymmetric structures of sea surface height and geostrophic velocity components are found to be a natural consequence of the shear modification of the potential vorticity gradient. The mean currents also reduce the predicted westward phase speed of first meridional mode Rossby waves, improving consistency with the observations.