The Taiwan-Tsushima Warm Current System: Its Path and the Transformation of the Water Mass in the East China Sea

Using a temperature data set from 1961 to 1990, we estimated the monthly distribution of the vertically integrated heat content in the East China Sea. We then drew the monthly map of the horizontal heat transport, which is obtained as the difference between the vertically integrated heat content and the surface heat flux. We anticipate that its distribution pattern is determined mainly due to the advection by the ocean current if it exists stably in the East China Sea. The monthly map of the horizontal heat transport showed the existence of the Taiwan-Tsushima Warm Current System (TTWCS) at least from April to August. The T-S (temperature-salinity) analysis along the path of TTWCS indicated that the TTWCS changes its T-S property as it flows in the East China Sea forming the Tsushima Warm Current water. The end members of the Tsushima Warm Current water detected in this study are water masses in the Taiwan Strait and the Kuroshio surface layer, the fresh water from the mainland of China, and the southern tip of the Yellow Sea Cold Water extending in the northern part of the East China Sea. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A Review on the Currents in the South China Sea: Seasonal Circulation, South China Sea Warm Current and Kuroshio Intrusion

Researches on the currents in the South China Sea (SCS) and the interaction between the SCS and its adjacent seas are reviewed. Overall seasonal circulation in the SCS is cyclonic in winter and anticyclonic in summer with a few stable eddies. The seasonal circulation is mostly driven by monsoon winds, and is related to water exchange between the SCS and the East China Sea through the Taiwan Strait, and between the SCS and the Kuroshio through the Luzon Strait. Seasonal characteristics of the South China Sea Warm Current in the northern SCS and the Kuroshio intrusion to the SCS are summarized in terms of the interaction between the SCS and its adjacent seas.     

黄河三角洲埕岛近岸海域悬浮泥沙运动

根据1998年9月8日和1999年3月19日两次对埕北海域进行的10个站位的同步海流、悬浮泥沙观测资料，进行该海区的悬浮泥沙输运趋势分析，发现该海区含沙量较大。从整个海区来看，底层含沙量大于表层含沙量，该海区泥沙含量普遍表现为东南部的泥沙含量高于西北部的泥沙含量；由单宽输沙量的计算及有关资料分析可以得出，秋季泥沙运移趋势是由东南向到西北向，而春季泥沙的运移趋势是由东北向到西南向；含沙量是随流速的加大而增加，含沙量的峰值稍滞后于流速的峰值；该海区为冲蚀海区，悬浮泥沙产生的平均年7中刷量为2cm／a，在本海区的地形塑造中占次要地位。     

一种计算斜坡处海流的诊断模式

本文提出一种考虑底斜效应,适合斜坡处海流诊断计算的模式,并且分别计算了日本以南黑潮区部分测线和对马暖流流源区的流速。其结果与实测符合较好。     

中-晚全新世冷水团对西格陵兰Disko湾的影响

西格陵兰位于北极—北大西洋地区,其海洋环境演变受西格陵兰洋流中冷、暖水团的显著影响。本文运用主成分分析方法对西格陵兰Disko湾DA06-139G孔沉积物中主要硅藻属种进行研究,试图揭示5000a BP以来西格陵兰洋流中冷、暖水团强度变化对研究区海洋环境的影响。5000—3800a BP期间,东格陵兰寒流携带的极地冷水团强度较弱,而北大西洋暖水团势力较强,Disko湾地区海洋环境较为温暖。3800—2000a BP期间,西格陵兰洋流中极地冷水团势力呈现阶段性增强,此时Disko湾地区气候缓慢转冷,海冰覆盖面积逐渐增加。2000a BP以后,特别是650a BP之后,样品在主成分轴一上的得分显著增高,表明Disko湾气候明显变冷,来自东格陵兰寒流的极地冷水团强度显著增强。Disko湾中晚全新世以来的硅藻记录及样品在主成分轴一上的得分所指示的极地冷水团的强度变化与格陵兰冰芯温度及海冰变化等具有较好的一致性,说明研究区海流特征与大气温度、海冰等环境要素密切相关。     

Annual cycle of the upper-ocean circulation and properties in the tropical western Indian Ocean

A regional ocean model was used to simulate the annual cycle of the upper-ocean dynamics and its influence on ocean properties in the tropical western Indian Ocean. Surface winds and heat fluxes from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis forced the model (Model_NCEP) with initial and lateral boundary conditions derived from the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA). The model findings were in good agreement with previous research, satellite and observational data as well as another model configuration forced by Comprehensive Ocean and Atmosphere Data Sets (COADS). The initial and lateral boundary conditions for Model_COADS were extracted from World Ocean Atlas 2001. Anticyclonic wind stress curl occurred to the north of Madagascar, and extended towards the Tanzanian coast throughout the year, leading to Ekman convergence and downwelling in that region. The lowest sea-surface height values during the year occurred between 5° and 12° S with an elongated and contracted shape. The East African Coastal Current (EACC) was in phase with the westward North-East Madagascar Current (NEMC) throughout the year with volume transports peaking in June through July in the model forced by NCEP reanalysis. The variability of the volume transport, ocean currents, temperature and salinity to the north of Madagascar on the path of the NEMC mirrored those in the middle Tanzanian shelf on the path of the EACC throughout the year. The NEMC seemed to influence the water masses on the Tanzanian shelf, with cooler and lower-salinity water in the South-West Monsoon, and warmer and saltier water during the North-East Monsoon.     

历史的个人化与现时性--臧棣历史书写论

步入中年的北大诗人臧棣在断裂的诗史年代返身关注"历史",但这已不是往昔的传统主流历史,而是个人化、具体化、偶然化的历史,它以现在为起点,向过去、未来不断地延伸、重演,臧棣的诗歌因此表现出浓厚的历史维度和命运维度.     

Circulation in a Southern Italy coastal basin: Modelling and field measurements

The purpose of the present work is to study the hydrodynamic aspects in the Mar Piccolo, a coastal basin located on the northern side of the Gulf of Taranto in the Ionian Sea (Italy), by means of mathematical modelling and field measurements. The latter were assessed during three surveys carried out in the spring–summer of 2002. Collected data have been utilized as input by the 3-D Princeton Ocean Model, which is a sigma coordinate, free surface ocean model which was developed in the late 1970s by Blumberg and Mellor. Simulations in baroclinic condition were forced by a homogeneous and stationary wind field, a simple tidal wave, a constant outflow and vertical stratification of temperature and salinity. A comparison was made between the mathematical modelling results and the field measurements collected during the surveys, in terms of velocity. It was observed that during small tides, when the wind effect prevails over the stratification effect, the best model results were obtained for the most superficial layer and that superficial patterns reproduced by the model are more sensitive to wind direction than to stratification. On the contrary, when the wind effect decreases or the thermohaline effect rises, best results occurred in deeper layers.     

Hurricane-induced motions and interaction with ocean currents

Hurricanes produce mixing and flow divergences (and convergences) that alter the upper-ocean heat content (OHC), which in turn affects the storm. Ocean observations under a hurricane are rare, making it difficult to validate forecast models. Past research have mainly focused on OHC-changes by vertical mixing and tacitly assumed that horizontal transports are slowly varying. Moreover, effects of coastal boundaries on ocean responses to hurricanes are generally omitted. This work uses satellite data to detect and verify forecast isopycnal motions under hurricane Wilma (Oct/16–26/2005) in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. The model is then used to show that Wilma-induced convergences in northwestern Caribbean Sea produce increased Yucatan-Channel transport into the Gulf ahead of the storm, and the Yucatan–Loop Current front diverts most of this heat around the Loop. This response is distinct from that of an ocean without the Loop, for which warming is widespread north of the channel. These intricate ocean responses can impact hurricane predictions.     

On stochastic stability of regional ocean models to finite-amplitude perturbations of initial conditions

We consider error propagation near an unstable equilibrium state (classified as an unstable focus) for spatially uncorrelated and correlated finite-amplitude initial perturbations using short- (up to several weeks) and intermediate (up to 2 months) range forecast ensembles produced by a barotropic regional ocean model. An ensemble of initial perturbations is generated by the Latin Hypercube design strategy, and its optimal size is estimated through the Kullback–Liebler distance (the relative entropy). Although the ocean model is simple, the prediction error (PE) demonstrates non-trivial behavior similar to that existing in 3D ocean circulation models. In particular, in the limit of zero horizontal viscosity, the PE at first decays with time for all scales due to dissipation caused by non-linear bottom friction, and then grows faster than (quasi)-exponentially. Statistics of a prediction time scale (the irreversible predictability time (IPT)) quickly depart from Gaussian (the linear predictability regime) and becomes Weibullian (the non-linear predictability regime) as amplitude of initial perturbations grows. A transition from linear to non-linear predictability is clearly detected by the specific behavior of IPT variance. A new analytical formula for the model predictability horizon is introduced and applied to estimate the limit of predictability for the ocean model.