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.     

西太平洋暖池海域热含量场的变异及其影响

基于 1 95 5— 1 999年间太平洋月平均海温资料 ,利用经验正交函数 (EOF)分解法 ,研究了西太平洋暖池海域 ( 1 2 0°E— 1 60°W ,1 8°N— 1 6°S)热含量场的时空变化 ,并分析了该海域东、西区热含量变化与南方涛动、副热带高压及ENSO的关系。结果表明 ,暖池海域热含量场主要包括年变化型、年际变化型和年代际变化型三个模态 ,其主要变化周期依次为 1 .0、3.6和 1 3.7年。相关和合成分析表明 ,暖池东、西区热含量的变化均与南方涛动、副热带高压和ENSO循环有十分密切的关系。     

赤道西太平洋暖池中更新世过渡期的古海洋变化

通过对大洋钻探(ODP)第130航次807站A孔上部约25 m样品中所含浮游有孔虫的定量统计和鉴定,结合转换函数及稳定同位素分析,揭示了第四纪近1.6 Ma以来冰期旋回中赤道西太平洋的表层海水温度和温跃层深度的变化,为研究西太平洋暖池的变动提供了重要依据。研究表明,西太平洋暖池冬季表层海水温度在第四纪的冰期旋回中变化幅度超过了5℃,而温跃层深度自1.6 Ma以来有所变浅,进一步论证了西太平洋暖池的不稳定性。通过对暖池区和南海及赤道东太平洋的比较,发现南海南部和暖池的海水在第四纪具有较好的连通性,而南海北部则受季风控制影响较大;同时,赤道东、西太平洋及南海,自1.6 Ma以来温跃层深度都有不同程度的变浅。研究中发现中更新世过渡期(MPT)在许多古海洋学指标中都是一条重要的分界线,以此为界,对0~0.9和0.9~1.6 Ma两个时间段的暖池冬季表层海水温度、表层与次表层种浮游有孔虫氧同位素差值与地球轨道参数ETP分别作交叉频谱分析,结果显示暖池在响应全球气候转型的同时也表现出了低纬特有的热带气候变化的特征。     

陕西省城固县桔园乡山地坡面观测及低空探测气象资料的分析

本文通过陕西省城囿县山地实际考察资料的分析,旨在找出冬季山地逆温及暖带的分布规律,并为提高坡地柑桔种植上限高度提供依据,研究指出:当地逆温暖带高度为650—750米,坡地柑桔种植上限高度可达800米左右。     

Modification of the loop current warm core eddy by Hurricane Gilbert (1988)

Numerical investigation of Hurricane Gilbert (1988) effect on the Loop Current warm core eddy (WCE) in the Gulf of Mexico is performed using the Modular Ocean Model version 2 (MOM2). Results show that the storm-induced maximum sea surface temperature (SST) decrease in Gilbert’s wake is over 2.5°C, as compared with the 3.5°C cooling in the absence of the WCE. The near-inertial oscillation in the wake reduces significantly in an along-track direction with the presence of the WCE. This effect is also reflected between the mixed layer and the thermocline, where the current directions are reversed with the upper layer. After two inertial periods (IP), the current reversal is much less obvious. In addition, it is demonstrated that Hurricane Gilbert wind stress increases the current speed of the WCE by approximate 133%. With the forcing of Gilbert, the simulated translation direction and speed of the WCE towards the Mexican coast are closer to the observed (42% more accurate in distance and 78% more accurate in direction) compared with the simulation without the Gilbert forcing. The simulated ocean response to Gilbert generally agrees with the recent observations in Hurricane Fabian.     

A 1500-year record of temperature and glacial response inferred from varved Iceberg Lake, southcentral Alaska

We present a varve thickness chronology from glacier-dammed Iceberg Lake in the southern Alaska icefields. Radiogenic evidence confirms that laminations are annual and record continuous sediment deposition from A.D. 442 to A.D. 1998. Varve thickness is positively correlated with Northern Hemisphere temperature trends, and more strongly with a local, ∼600 yr long tree ring width chronology. Varve thickness increases in warm summers because of higher melt, runoff, and sediment transport (as expected), but also because shrinkage of the glacier dam allows shoreline regression that concentrates sediment in the smaller lake. Varve thickness provides a sensitive record of relative changes in warm season temperatures. Relative to the entire record, temperatures implied by this chronology were lowest around A.D. 600, warm between A.D. 1000 and A.D. 1300, cooler between A.D. 1500 and A.D. 1850, and have increased dramatically since then. Combined with stratigraphic evidence that contemporary jökulhlaups (which began in 1999) are unprecedented since at least A.D. 442, this record suggests that 20th century warming is more intense, and accompanied by more extensive glacier retreat, than the Medieval Warm Period or any other time in the last 1500 yr.     

"Little Ice Age" Research: A Perspective from Iceland

The development during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries of the sciences of meteorology and climatology and their subdisciplines has made possible an ever-increasing understanding of the climate of the past. In particular, the refinement of palaeoclimatic proxy data has meant that the climate of the past thousand years has begun to be extensively studied. In the context of this research, it has often been suggested that a warm epoch occurred in much of northern Europe, the north Atlantic, and other parts of the world, from around the ninth through the fourteenth centuries, and that this was followed by a decline in temperatures culminating in a "Little Ice Age" from about 1550 to 1850 (see e.g. Lamb, 1965, 1977; Flohn, 1978). The appelations "Medieval Warm Period" and "Little Ice Age" have entered the literature and are frequently used without clear definition. More recently, however, these terms have come under closer scrutiny (see, e.g. Ogilvie, 1991, 1992; Bradley and Jones, 1992; Mikami, 1992; Briffa and Jones, 1993; Bradley and Jones, 1993; Hughes and Diaz, 1994; Jones et al., 1998; Mann et al., 1999; Crowley and Lowery, 2000). As research continues into climatic fluctuations over the last 1000 to 2000 years, a pattern is emerging which suggests a far more complex picture than early research into the history of climate suggested. In this paper, the origins of the term "Little Ice Age" are considered. Because of the emphasis on the North Atlantic in this volume, the prime focus is on research that has been undertaken in this region, with a perspective on the historiography of historical climatology in Iceland as well as on the twentieth-century climate of Iceland. The phrase "Little Ice Age" has become part of the scientific and popular thinking on the climate of the past thousand years. However, as knowledge of the climate of the Holocene continues to grow, the term now seems to cloud rather than clarify thinking on the climate of the past thousand years. It is hoped that the discussion here will encourage future researchers to focus their thinking on exactly and precisely what is meant when the term "Little Ice Age" is used.     

1996年春季南黄海水文特征和水团分析

利用中韩“黄海水循环动力学及物质输运”合作研究项目第一航次1996初春所获得的CTD资料描述了南黄海初春温、盐和密度的水平和垂直分布特征,分析了水团结构,并揭示了春季在34°～36°N,121°45'～124°E的南黄海西部水域的中层冷水现象。分析结果表明初春黄海暖流上表层开始向济州岛方向退缩,黄海底层冷水团首先在青岛外海形成。     

东海西北部中层冷水特征的时空变化

根据1959～1996年3～6月水温资料,按30'×30'方区统计计算了东海西北部中层冷水的8个示性特征值,并绘制了平面分布图.分析结果表明,东海西北部中层冷水于3月出现,4月形成,5月达到盛期,6月消衰,其生消规律具有明显的季节性;其出现的海区为28°～31°N,124°E以西(即台湾暖流路径)海域,具有明显的地域性.示性特征的时-空分布变化反映出:在形成期,地域性表现充分;在消衰期,反映出中层冷水下方的台湾暖流对它的影响明显;而在盛期,示性特征则为上述的过渡型.这为探讨海洋热、动力因子对其生消机制的影响奠定了实验基础.     

渤海、黄海、东海冬季海流场温度场数值模拟和同化技术

利用NASA高分辨率的卫星遥感资料SST,采用Nudging同化来模拟渤海、黄海、东海的三维温度场,减小用热通量作上边界条件所带来的误差.结果表明,模拟的海流场能较好地反映渤海、黄海、东海的环流特征.数据同化后的温度场优于未经同化的温度场.3个选择站点的同化值与实测值的均方根误差分别为1.307,0.526,0.744,用热通量资料模拟的水温与实测值的均方根误差分别为2.160,0.979,1.330.尽管只同化了海表温度,但数据同化对三维温度场结构都有影响.