Direct measurements of surface and mid-depth circulationin the Shikoku Basin by Argo profiling floats

The circulation in the Shikoku Basin plays a very important role in the pathway of the Kuroshio and the water exchange in the subtropical gyre in the North Pacific Ocean. The Argo profiling floats deployed in the Shikoku Basin are used to study the circulations and water masses in the basin. The trajectories and parking depth velocity fields derived from all Argo floats show an anticyclonic circulation at 2 000 m in the Shikoku Basin. There are inhanced eddy activities in the Shikoku Basin, which have large influence on the Shikoku Basin circulation patterns. The characteristics of temperature-salinity curves indicate that there are North Pacific Ocean tropical water (NPTW), North Pacific Ocean subtropical mode water (NPSTMW) and North Pacific Ocean intermediate water (NPIW) in the Shikoku Basin. The NPTW is only exists south of 32°N. In the middle part of the basin, which is 28°~31°N,133°~135°E, there is a confluence region. Water masses coming from the Kuroshio mix with the water in the Shikoku Basin.     

印尼北苏拉威西海蓝碧海峡水团性质的南北差异

Two field observations were conducted around the Lembeh Strait in September 2015 and 2016, respectively.Evidences indicate that seawater around the Lembeh Strait is consisted of North Pacific Tropical Water(NPTW),North Pacific Intermediate Water(NPIW), North Pacific Tropical Intermediate Water(NPTIW) and Antarctic Intermediate Water(AAIW). Around the Lembeh Strait, there exist some north-south differences in terms of water mass properties. NPTIW is only found in the southern Lembeh Strait. Water mass with the salinity of 34.6 is only detected at 200–240 m between NPTW and NPTIW in the southern Lembeh Strait, and results from the process of mixing between the saltier water transported from the South Pacific Ocean and the lighter water from the North Pacific Ocean and Sulawesi Sea. According to the analysis on mixing layer depth, it is indicated that there exists an onshore surface current in the northern Lembeh Strait and the surface current in the Lembeh Strait is southward.These dramatic differences of water masses demonstrate that the less water exchange has been occurred between the north and south of Lembeh Strait. In 2015, the positive wind stress curl covering the northern Lembeh Strait induces the shoaling of thermocline and deepening of NPIW, which show that the north-south difference of airsea system is possible of inducing north-south differences of seawater properties.     

Variation of Indo-Pacific upper ocean heat content during 2001–2012 revealed by Argo

Understanding of the temporal variation of oceanic heat content(OHC) is of fundamental importance to the prediction of climate change and associated global meteorological phenomena. However, OHC characteristics in the Pacific and Indian oceans are not well understood. Based on in situ ocean temperature and salinity profiles mainly from the Argo program, we estimated the upper layer(0–750 m) OHC in the Indo-Pacific Ocean(40°S–40°N, 30°E–80°W). Spatial and temporal variability of OHC and its likely physical mechanisms are also analyzed. Climatic distributions of upper-layer OHC in the Indian and Pacific oceans have a similar saddle pattern in the subtropics, and the highest OHC value was in the northern Arabian Sea. However, OHC variabilities in the two oceans were different. OHC in the Pacific has an east-west see-saw pattern, which does not appear in the Indian Ocean. In the Indian Ocean, the largest change was around 10°S. The most interesting phenomenon is that, there was a long-term shift of OHC in the Indo-Pacific Ocean during 2001–2012. Such variation coincided with modulation of subsurface temperature/salinity. During 2001–2007, there was subsurface cooling(freshening)nearly the entire upper 400 m layer in the western Pacific and warming(salting) in the eastern Pacific. During2008–2012, the thermocline deepened in the western Pacific but shoaled in the east. In the Indian Ocean, there was only cooling(upper 150 m only) and freshening(almost the entire upper 400 m) during 2001–2007. The thermocline deepened during 2008–2012 in the Indian Ocean. Such change appeared from the equator to off the equator and even to the subtropics(about 20°N/S) in the two oceans. This long-term change of subsurface temperature/salinity may have been caused by change of the wind field over the two oceans during 2001–2012, in turn modifying OHC.     

Origins and pathways of the subsurface and intermediate water masses of the Indonesian Throughflow derived from historical and Argo data

On the basis of Argo data and historic temperature/salinity data from the World Ocean Database 2001 （ WOD01 ）, origins and spreading pathways of the subsurface and intermediate water masses in the Indonesian Throughflow （ITF） region were discussed by analyzing distributions of salinity on representative isopyenal layers. Results were shown that, subsurface water mostly comes from the North Pacific Ocean while the intermediate water originates from both the North and South Pacific Ocean, even possibly from the Indian Ocean. Spreading through the Sulawesi Sea, the Makassar Strait, and file Flores Sea, the North Pacific subsurface water and the North Pacific Intermediate water dominate the western part of the Indonesian Archipelago. Furthermore as the depth increases, the features of the North Pacific sourced water masses become more obvious. In the eastern part of the waters, high sa- linity South Pacific subsurface water is blocked by a strong salinity front between Halmahera and New Guinea. Intermediate water in the eastern interior region owns salinity higher than the North Pacific intermediate water and the antarctic intermediate water （ AAIW）, possibly coming from the vertical mixing between subsurface water and the AAIW from the Pacific Ocean, and possibly coming from the northward extending of the AAIW from the Indian Ocean as well.     

Interannual variations of the air-sea carbon dioxide exchange in the different regions of the Pacific Ocean

Interannual variations of the air-sea CO 2 exchange from 1965 to 2000 in the Pacific Ocean are studied with a Pacific Ocean model.Two numerical experiments are performed,including the control run that is forced by climatological monthly mean physical data and the climate-change run that is forced by interannually varying monthly mean physical data.Climatological monthly winds are used in both runs to calculate the coefficient of air-sea CO 2 exchange.The analysis through the differences between the two runs shows that in the tropical Pacific the variation of export production induced by interannual variations of the physical fields is negatively correlated with that of the air-sea CO 2 flux,while there is no correlation or a weak positive correlation in the subtropical North and South Pacific.It indicates that the variation of the physical fields can modulate the variation of the air-sea CO 2 flux in converse ways in the tropical Pacific by changing the direct transport and biochemical process.Under the interannually varying monthly mean forcing,the simulated EOF1 of the air-sea CO 2 flux is basically consistent with that of sea surface temperature(SST) in the tropical Pacific,but contrary in the two subtropical Pacific Ocean.The correlation coefficient between the regionally integrated air-sea CO 2 flux and area-mean SST shows that when the air-sea CO 2 flux lags SST by about 5 months,the positive coefficient in the three regions is largest,indicating that in the tropical Pacific or on the longer time scale in the three regions,physical processes control the flux-SST relationship.     

福岛核事故泄漏入海的137Cs长期输运的数值研究

The Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 released large amounts of radionuclides, including ~(137)Cs, into the Pacific Ocean. A quasi-global ocean radioactive transport model with horizontal grid spacing of 0.5°×0.5° and 21 vertical layers was thereafter established to study the long-term transport of the Fukushima-derived ~(137)Cs in the ocean.The simulation shows that the plume of ~(137)Cs would be rapidly transported eastward alongside the Kuroshio Current and its extensions. Contaminated waters with concentrations lower than 2 Bq/m3 would reach the west coast of North America 4 or 5 years after the accident. The ~(137)Cs tends to be carried, despite its very low concentration, into the Indian and South Pacific Oceans by 2016 via various branches of ocean currents.Meanwhile, the ~(137)Cs concentrations in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean decrease rapidly with time. Up to now the highly contaminated waters have remained in the upper 400 m, showing no evidence of significant penetration to deeper layers.     

The three-dimensional structure and seasonal variation of the North Pacific meridional overturning circulation

The three-dimensional structure and the seasonal variation of the North Pacific meridional overturning circulation (NPMOC) are analyzed based on the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation data and Argo profiling float data.The NPMOC displays a multi-cell structure with four cells in the North Pacific altogether.The TC and the STC are a strong clockwise meridional cell in the low latitude ocean and a weaker clockwise meridional cell between 7°N and 18°N,respectively, while the DTC and the subpolar cell are a weaker ...     

The circularly propagating pattern of the low-frequencyfluctuations of monthly MSL in the tropical PacificOcean and its correlation with El Nino

The long-term time series analysis of the SST (sea surface temperature) in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean and the monthly MSL (mean sea level) in the tropical Pacific Ocean is conducted. Their quasiperiodic and low-frequency oscillation features are revealed. The significant periods of low-frequency fluctuations for monthly MSL in the area of 20°N-20° S are between 43. 5 months and 50. 0 months, approximating closely to 47. 6 months which is the significant period of SST in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean. From the results of space-spectral analysis, the low-frequency fluctations of monthly MSL in the tropical Pacific Ocean appear to have a anticlockwise circularly-propagating pattern, which is, the Eastern Pacific Ocean (off-shore of Mexico) →the area of NEC (North Equatorial Current) →the Western Equatorial Pacific Ocean→the area of NECC (North Equatorial Counter-Current)→the Eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean. The phases of the pattern correspond to those of El Nino cycle. On the basis     

Upper ocean high resolution regional modeling of the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal

In this paper, effort is made to demonstrate the quality of high-resolution regional ocean circulation model in realistically simulating the circulation and variability properties of the northern Indian Ocean(10°S–25°N,45°–100°E) covering the Arabian Sea(AS) and Bay of Bengal(BoB). The model run using the open boundary conditions is carried out at 10 km horizontal resolution and highest vertical resolution of 2 m in the upper ocean.The surface and sub-surface structure of hydrographic variables(temperature and salinity) and currents is compared against the observations during 1998–2014(17 years). In particular, the seasonal variability of the sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, and surface currents over the model domain is studied. The highresolution model's ability in correct estimation of the spatio-temporal mixed layer depth(MLD) variability of the AS and BoB is also shown. The lowest MLD values are observed during spring(March-April-May) and highest during winter(December-January-February) seasons. The maximum MLD in the AS(BoB) during December to February reaches 150 m (67 m). On the other hand, the minimum MLD in these regions during March-April-May becomes as low as 11–12 m. The influence of wind stress, net heat flux and freshwater flux on the seasonal variability of the MLD is discussed. The physical processes controlling the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature are investigated by carrying out mixed layer heat budget analysis. It is found that air-sea fluxes play a dominant role in the seasonal evolution of sea surface temperature of the northern Indian Ocean and the contribution of horizontal advection, vertical entrainment and diffusion processes is small. The upper ocean zonal and meridional volume transport across different sections in the AS and BoB is also computed. The seasonal variability of the transports is studied in the context of monsoonal currents.     

南半球亚极地流涡的平均特征及其变化

Based on the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation(SODA) products,we study the mean properties and variations of the Southern Hemisphere subpolar gyres(SHSGs) in this paper.The results show that the gyre strengths in the SODA estimates are(55.9±9.8)×10~6m~3/s for the Weddell Gyre(WG),(37.0±6.4) ×10~6m~3/s for the Ross Gyre(RG),and(27.5±8.2)×10~6m~3/s for the Australian-Antarctic Gyre(AG),respectively.There exists distinct connectivity between the adjacent gyres and then forms an oceanic super gyre structure in the southern subpolar oceans.And the interior exchanges are about(8.0±3.2)×10~6m~3/s at around 70°E and(4.3±3.1)×10~6m~3/s at around 140°E.The most pronounced variation for all three SHSGs occurs on the seasonal time scale,with generally stronger(weaker)SHSGs during austral winter(summer).And the seasonal changes of the gyre structures show that the eastern boundary of the WG and AG extends considerably further east during winter and the interior exchange in the super gyre structure increases accordingly.The WG and RG also show significant semi-annual changes.The correlation analyses confirm that the variations of the gyre strengths are strongly correlated with the changes in the local wind forcing on the semi-annual and seasonal time scales.     

2017年春夏季西北太平洋浮游植物的区域差异及其与不同水团的关系

The West Pacific Ocean is considered as the provenance center of global marine life and has the highest species diversity of numerous marine taxa. The phytoplankton, as the primary producer at the base of the food chain,effects on climate change, fish resources as well as the entire ecosystem. However, there are few large-scale surveys covering several currents with different hydrographic characteristics. This study aimed to explore the relationships between the spatio-temporal variation in phytoplankton community structure and different water masses. A total of 630 water samples and 90 net samples of phytoplankton were collected at 45 stations in the Northwest Pacific Ocean(21.0°–42.0°N, 118.0°–156.0°E) during spring and summer 2017. A total of 281 phytoplankton taxa(5 μm) belonging to 61 genera were identified in the study area. The distribution pattern of the phytoplankton community differed significantly both spatially and temporally. The average abundances of phytoplankton in spring and summer were 797.07×10~2 cells/L and 84.94×10~2 cells/L, respectively. Whether in spring or summer, the maximum abundance always appeared in the northern transition region affected by the Oyashio Current, where nutrients were abundant and diatoms dominated the phytoplankton community;whereas the phytoplankton abundance was very low in the oligotrophic Kuroshio region, and the proportion of dinoflagellates in total abundance increased significantly. The horizontal distribution of phytoplankton abundance increased from low to high latitudes, which was consistent with the trend of nutrient distributions, but contrary to that of water temperature and salinity. In the northern area affected by the Oyashio Current, the phytoplankton abundance was mainly concentrated in the upper 30 m of water column, while the maximum abundance often occurred at depths of 50–75 m in the south-central area affected by the Kuroshio Current.Pearson correlation and redundancy analysis(RDA) showed that phytoplankton abundance was significant negatively correlated with temperature and salinity, but positively correlated with nutrient concentration. The phytoplankton community structure was mainly determined by nutrient availability, especially the N:P ratio.     

Year aridity index patterns in northwest China and the relationship to summer North Atlantic sea surface temperature

Aim to linking the variability of drought in northwest China to the oceanic influence of North Atlantic SSTs at the background of global warming and at the regional climate change shifting stages, year aridity index variations in northwest China and summer North Atlantic sea surface temperature （SST） variations are examined for the 44 a period of 1961-2004 using singular value decomposition （SVD） analysis. Results show that the SST anomalies （SSTA）in the North Atlantic in summer reflected three basic models. The first SVD mode of SST pattern shows a dipole - like variation with the positive center located at southwest and negative center at northeast of extratropical North Atlantic. And it strongly relates to the positive trend in AI variation in northwest China. The second coupled modes display the coherent positive anomalies in extratropical North Atlantic SST and the marked opposite trend of AI variability between north and south of Xinjiang. In addition, the lag correlation analysis of the first mode of SSTA and geopotential heights at 500 hPa variations also shows that the indication of the former influencing the latter configuration, which result in higher air temperature and less precipitation when the SSTA in the North Atlantic Ocean in summer motivated Eurasian circulation of EA pattern, further to influence the wet - dry variations in northwest China by the ocean-to - atmosphere forcing.     

基于现场观测与MyOcean模式数据的印度洋东南部Aquarius反演海表盐度的评价与纠正

The in situ sea surface salinity(SSS) measurements from a scientific cruise to the western zone of the southeast Indian Ocean covering 30°–60°S, 80°–120°E are used to assess the SSS retrieved from Aquarius(Aquarius SSS).Wind speed and sea surface temperature(SST) affect the SSS estimates based on passive microwave radiation within the mid- to low-latitude southeast Indian Ocean. The relationships among the in situ, Aquarius SSS and wind-SST corrections are used to adjust the Aquarius SSS. The adjusted Aquarius SSS are compared with the SSS data from My Ocean model. Results show that:(1) Before adjustment: compared with My Ocean SSS, the Aquarius SSS in most of the sea areas is higher; but lower in the low-temperature sea areas located at the south of 55°S and west of 98°E. The Aquarius SSS is generally higher by 0.42 on average for the southeast Indian Ocean.(2) After adjustment: the adjustment greatly counteracts the impact of high wind speeds and improves the overall accuracy of the retrieved salinity(the mean absolute error of the Zonal mean is improved by 0.06, and the mean error is-0.05 compared with My Ocean SSS). Near the latitude 42°S, the adjusted SSS is well consistent with the My Ocean and the difference is approximately 0.004.     

CERTAIN PROPERTIES AND CAUSES OF VARIATIONS OF THE SOUTH EQUA-TORIAL COUNTERCURRENT IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Marine investigations were carried out in the western Central Equatorial Pacific region from 1976 to 1979 by three Chinese research vessels "Xiangyanghong 05", "Xiangyanghong 09" and "Shijian" belonging to the National Bureau of Oceanography. The data of currents, surface wind, drift of the ship, temperature, salinity, and so on, were obtained during the investigations, which provides more reliable basis for further studies on the South Equatorial Countercurrent in the Pacific Ocean. In this paper certain properties and causes of variations of the South Equatorial Countercurrent in the Pacific Ocean are analysed according to the above-mentioned data.     

Three-dimensional structure of an observed cyclonic mesoscale eddy in the Northwest Pacific and its assimilation experiment

Mesoscale eddies play an important role in modulating the ocean circulation. Many previous studies on the threedimensional structure of mesoscale eddies were mainly based on composite analysis, and there are few targeted observations for individual eddies. A cyclonic eddy surveyed during an oceanographic cruise in the Northwest Pacific Ocean is investigated in this study. The three-dimensional structure of this cyclonic eddy is revealed by observations and simulated by the four-dimensional variational data assimilation(4 DVAR) system combined with the Regional Ocean Modeling System. The observation and assimilation results together present the characteristics of the cyclonic eddy. The cold eddy has an obvious dual-core structure of temperature anomaly.One core is at 50–150 m and another is at 300–550 m, which both have the average temperature anomaly of approximately-3.5°C. The salinity anomaly core is between 250 m and 500 m, which is approximately-0.3. The horizontal velocity structure is axis-asymmetric and it is enhanced on the eastern side of the cold eddy. In the assimilation experiment, sea level anomaly, sea surface temperature, and in situ measurements are assimilated into the system, and the results of assimilation are close to the observations. Based on the high-resolution assimilation output results, the study also diagnoses the vertical velocity in the mesoscale eddy, which reaches the maximum of approximately 10 m/d. The larger vertical velocity is found to be distributed in the range of 0.5 to 1 time of the normalized radius of the eddy. The validation of the simulation result shows that the 4 DVAR method is effective to reconstruct the three-dimensional structure of mesoscale eddy and the research is an application to study the mesoscale eddy in the Northwest Pacific by combining observation and assimilation methods.     

Response of the western North Pacific subtropical ocean to the slow-moving super typhoon Nanmadol

Based on in-situ observation,satellite and reanalysis data,responses of the western North Pacific subtropical ocean(WNPSO)to the slow-moving category 5 super typhoon Nanmadol in 2011 are analyzed.The dynamical response is dominated by near-inertial currents and Ekman currents with maximum amplitude of 0.39m/s and 0.15m/s,respectively.The near-inertial currents concentrated around 100m below the sea surface and had an e-folding timescale of 4 days.The near-inertial energy propagated both upward and downward,and the vertical phase speed and wavelength were estimated to be 5m/h and 175m,respectively.The frequency of the near-inertial currents was blue-shifted near the surface and redshifted in ocean interior which may relate to wave propagation and/or background vorticity.The resultant surface cooling reaches-4.35℃ and happens when translation speed of Nanmadol is smaller than 3.0m/s.When Nanmadol reaches super typhoon intensity,the cooling is less than 3.0℃ suggesting that the typhoon translation speed plays important roles as well as typhoon intensity in surface cooling.Upwelling induced by the slow-moving typhoon wind leads to typhoon track confined cooling area and the right-hand bias of cooling is slight.The mixed layer cooling and thermocline warming are induced by wind-generated upwelling and vertical entrainment.Vertical entrainment also led to mixed layer salinity increase and thermocline salinity decrease,however,mixed layer salinity decrease occurs at certain stations as well.Our results suggest that typhoon translation speed is a vital factor responsible for the oceanic thermohaline and dynamical responses,and the small Mach number(slow typhoon translation speed)facilitate development of Ekman current and upwelling.     

CHARACTERISTICS ON INTERANNUAL VARIATIONS OF NORTH PACIFIC SST AND ITS RELATION TO EAST ASIA CLIMATE

The interannual variations of the monthly sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Pacific (including Equatorial East Pacific) during 1951-1980 are analysed by means of EOF method. The findings are:(1) In the cold and warm ocean current areas, such as the North Pacific Current, the California Current and the Equatorial East Pacific areas, the convergence speeds are the fastest, while in the Kuroshio and the western part of the North Equatorial Current areas they are fast only in winter.(2) The physical features of the first 3 eigenvectors are obvious. The first eigenvector shows that the SST values are high in the south and low in the north in the latitudinal distribution of the SST field. The warm current area, i.e. the northwestern part of the North Pacific is positive and the cold current area, i.e. the southeastern part of the North Pacific including the Eastern Equatorial Pacific is negative. The zero line of the 2nd eigenvector field runs from northeast to southwest, in the same direction as the     

Formation and transport of intermediate water masses in a model of the Pacific Ocean

A basin-wide ocean general circulation model of the Pacific Ocean was used to investigate how the interior restoration in the Okhotsk Sea and the isopycnal diffusion affect the circulation and intermediate water masses. Four numerical experiments were conducted, including a run with the same isopycnal and thickness diffusivity of 1.0×103 m2/s, a run employing the interior restoration of temperature and salinity in the Okhotsk Sea with a time scale of 3 months, a run that is the same as the first run except for the enhanced isopycnal mixing, and a final run with the combination of the restoration in the Okhotsk Sea and large isopycnal diffusivity. Simulated results show that the intermediate water masses reproduced in the first run are relatively weak. An increase in isopycnal diffusivity can improve the simulation of both Antarctic and North Pacific intermediate waters, mainly increasing the transport in the interior ocean, but inhibiting the outflow from the Okhotsk Sea. The interior restoration generates the reverse current from the observation in the Okhotsk Sea, whereas the simulation of the temperature and salinity is improved in the high latitude region of the Northern Hemisphere because of the reasonable source of the North Pacific Intermediate Water. A comparison of vertical profiles of temperature and salinity along 50°N between the simulation and observations demonstrates that the vertical mixing in the source region of intermediate water masses is very important.     

黄河口附近水文特征分析

The Huanghe River is the second largest river in our country. The average annual runoff at the estuary is 44.28 billion cubic meters, the average annual suspended load is 1.12 billion tons, of which 24% was deposited on the delta, 40% on the coast and the rest 36% is considered to be carried into the deep sea by various dynamic factors. We‘ve measured the temperature, salinity, current and suspended load in the estuary from autumn of 1983 to summer of 1984 for building a harbour in future. According to our data and other historical data from some institutes, we‘ve obtained following conclusions: 1) The distribution of temperature in winter is different with from that in summer: the contours of temperature in winter is parallel to coast line,and the contours of temperature in summer is coincident with latitudes. 2) The salinity in summer is lower than that in winter. There are three tongues of low values of salinity at the estuary in summer. They are pointed to North,North-east and South-east respectively. Only two tongues are appeared in winter-northward and south-eastward. 3) The distribution of suspended load is similar to the distribution of salinity,There are three tongues of high values of suspended load at the estuary in summer, they are pointed to North,North-east and Southeast respectively,the quantity of suspended load per litre in winter is much than in summer. 4) The influence of Huanghe River to North area of the estuary is less than to Laichou Bay. 5) The velocities of tide current at the estuary are very large.The maximum value is about 150era/see, and the directions of tide current are parallel to coastline.     

The watermass variability and southward shift of the Southern Hemispheremid-depth supergyre

The Southern Hemisphere subtropical supergyre at intermediate depths connects all three ocean basins and plays a significant role in responding and conveying the climate-change-related variations in the glob- al ocean. On the basis of the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation/SODA） ocean reanalysis, the thermohaline variability and southward shift of the mid-depth supergyre are demonstrated. The steric height of the sub- surface relative to 1 500 m （400-1 500 m） from the SODA depicts exactly the flow patterns and variability of the oceanic supergyre. During 1958-2007 the water masses in the gyre interiors become cooler/fresher, with the significant exceptions of the Agulhas Current system and Agulhas leakage. The results also exhibit a pronounced strengthening of the inter-basin connection of the supergyre, and the strongest southward shift, by about 2.5° over the whole period, occurs in the central-south Pacific, which is associated with the changes in the basin-scale wind forcing.