Peiliang Li

Effects of tidal currents on nonlinear internal solitary waves in the South China Sea

The propagation and fission process of internal solitary waves (ISWs) with amplitudes of about 170 m are simulated in the northeast of the South China Sea (NSCS) by using the generalized Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation under continuous stratification. More attention is paid to the effects of the ebb and flood background currents on the fission process of ISWs. This kind of background current is provided by the composed results simulated in terms of monthly mean baroclinic circulation and barotropic tidal current. It is found that the obtained relation of the number of fission solitons to the water depth and stratification is roughly in accordance with the fission law derived by Djordjevic and Redekopp in 1978; however, there exists obvious difference between the effects of the ebb and flood background currents on the wave-lengths of fission solitons (defined as the distance between two neighboring peaks of ISWs). The difference in nonlinearity coefficient α between the ebb and flood background currents is a main cause for the different wave-lengths of fission solitons.

The impact of meso-scale eddies on the Subtropical Mode Water in the western North Pacific

Based on the temperature and salinity from the Argo profiling floats and altimeter-derived geostrophic velocity anomaly (GVA) data in the western North Pacific during 2002–2011, the North Pacific Subtropical Mode Water (NPSTMW) distribution is investigated and cyclonic and anti-cyclonic eddies (CEs and AEs) are constructed to study the influence of their vertical structures on maintaining NPSTMW. Combining eddies identified by the GVA data and Argo profiling float data, it is found that the average NPSTMW thickness of AEs is about 60 dbar, which is thicker than that of CEs. The NPSTMW thicker than 150 dbar in AEs accounts for 18%, whereas that in CEs accounts for only 1%. About 3377 (3517) profiles, which located within one diameter of the nearest CEs (AEs) are used to construct the CE (AE). The composite AE traps low-PV water in the center and with a convex shape in the vertical section. The ‘trapped depth’ of the composite CE (AE) is 300 m (550 m) where the rotational velocity exceeds the transitional velocity. The present study suggests that the anticyclonic eddies are not only likely to form larger amounts of NPSTMW, but also trap more NPSTMW than cyclonic eddies.

Statistical characteristics and formation mechanism of the Lanyu cold eddy

The statistical characteristics and formation mechanism of the Lanyu cold eddy were examined using satellite data from 1993 to 2013. The statistical characteristics of the Lanyu cold eddy in this paper are given for the first time to the best of our knowledge. It is found that Lanyu cold eddies occurred seven times in total during the period examined, and that this eddy generally moves from southeast to northwest and gradually decays when it approaches the island of Taiwan. Next, we estimated the eddy lifetime, diameter, strength and straight line travel distance. Composite analyses of sea surface height anomaly and geostrophic current demonstrate that the formation of the Lanyu cold eddy mainly results from the combined action of the Kuroshio loop and an anticyclonic eddy east of Lanyu Island. Thus, our study provides a new insight into our understanding of the formation mechanism of the Lanyu cold eddy.

Vertical structure of the tidal currents on the continental shelf of the East China Sea

The available data on tidal currents spanning periods greater than six months for the continental shelf of the East China Sea (26°30.052′N, 122°35.998′E) were analyzed using several methods. Tidal Current Harmonic Analysis results demonstrated that semi-diurnal tides dominated the current movement. The tidal currents of the principal diurnal and semidiurnal rotated clockwise with depth, with the deflection of the major semi-axes to the right in the upper layer and to the left in the lower layer. The vertical structures of two principal semi-diurnal constituents — M2 and S2 — were similar, which indicates that the tidal currents are mainly barotropic in this area. The main features of the variation of the four principal tidal constituents with depth demonstrate that the currents in this region are influenced by the upper and lower boundary layers. Therefore, the tidal constituents of the shallow water are similar. Different vertical modes were calculated based on the Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis of the Eastern and Northern components of the tidal currents, with a variance contribution for the zero-order model of at least 90%. The variance contribution of the baroclinic model is minimal, which further reveals a strong barotropic character for the tidal currents of this region.

Decadal variations of the transport and bifurcation of the Pacific North Equatorial Current

Decadal variations of the transport and bifurcation latitude of the North Equatorial Current (NEC) in the northwestern tropical Pacific Ocean over 1959–2011 are investigated using outputs of the Ocean Analysis/Reanalysis System 3 prepared by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The results indicate that the NEC transports at different longitudes have different decadal fluctuations, which are strongest around 139°E. The NEC bifurcation latitude (NBL) has its largest decadal variations around 150xa0m. Extremes of the decadal NEC transport and NBL before 1975 correspond to different circulation anomalies from those after 1975. The regression map against decadal NBL exhibits negative sea surface height (SSH) anomalies and a cyclonic gyre anomaly over the northwestern tropical Pacific Ocean, while that against the decadal NEC transport exhibits a dipole structure, with positive/negative SSH anomalies to the north/south of about 13°N. Furthermore, decadal variations of thexa0NEC transport and NBL over the whole period have different correlations with Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Tropical Pacific Decadal Variability (TPDV). Generally, the decadal NEC transport shows higher correlations with PDOxa0than with TPDV, while the NBL has higher correlationsxa0with TPDVxa0than with PDO. The high correlation of decadal NEC transport with PDO mainly comes from that of its northern branch with PDO, while its southern branch shows higher correlation with TPDV.

Estimating the turbulence characteristics in the bottom boundary layer of Monterey Canyon

From April 24 to October 25, 2011, an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) continually running for 185 d was mounted on the smooth ridge at the edge of Monterey Canyon to observe turbulence in the bottom boundary layer. The ADV was set at 1.4 m above the bed bottom, continuously run for 1 min with a 2-minute interval with sampling frequency 64 Hz. The long-time continual observation is significant to reveal variations of turbulent characteristics and show some differences from the classic traditional turbulent theory. Eliminating the noise by the ‘Phase-Space Thresholding Method’, rotating the coordinate and low-pass filtering the velocity were applied for data processing. This paper was mainly to estimate the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate by the inertial dissipation method, friction velocity, drag coefficient and significant periods of the turbulent characteristics with the ADV data. The results show that there is a strong, rotating bottom flow up to 0.398 m s−1 with predominantly semidiurnal period and less significantly diurnal and semilunar period. The turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate ranges from 1.09×10−8 W kg−1 to 6.62×10−5 W kg−1, which can vary with 2 or 3 orders of magnitude in one day. The daily averaged variations of friction velocity and drag coefficient are 6.50×10−3–2.32×10−2 m s−1 and 6.30×10−3–4.36×10−2, respectively. All the characteristics have a remarkable semidiurnal period. In the bottom boundary layer with a rotating tide, the parameterized coefficients to describe ɛ-u* and ɛ-Et relationships are much smaller than the traditional value.

An Analysis of the Steric Sea Level Change by Introducing Sea Surface Temperature

In this paper, we use the optimum interpolation sea surface temperature (OISST) provided by the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) to replace the temperature in the top three layers in the ISHII data, and make use of the modified ISHII temperature data to calculate the thermosteric sea level (called modified steric sea level (SSL) hereafter). We subtract the modified SSL and the steric sea level (called ordinary SSL hereafter) derived from the ISHII temperature and salinity from the steric sea level (SSL) provided by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), respectively, and find that the rms error of the difference of the former is obviously smaller than that of the latter. Therefore we reach the conclusion that under the assumption that the GRACE SSL is accurate, the modified SSL can reflect the true steric sea level more accurately. Making use of the modified SSL, we can find that the modified SSL in sea areas of different spatial scales shows an obvious rising trend in the upper 0–700 m layer for the period 1982–2006. The global mean SSL rises with a rate of 0.6 mm year−1.The modified SSLs in sea areas of different spatial scales all show obvious oscillations with period of one year. There are oscillations with periods of 4–8 years in global oceans and with periods of 2–7 years in the Pacific. The Empirical Orthogonal Function method is applied to the sea areas of different spatial scales and we find that the first modes all have obvious 1-year period oscillations, the first mode of the global ocean has 4–8 year period oscillations, and that of the Pacific has 2–6 year period oscillations. The spatial distribution of the linear rising trend of the global modified SSL in the upper 0–700 m layer is inhomogeneous with intense regional characteristics. The modified SSL linear trend indicates a zonal dipole in the tropical Pacific, rising in the west and descending in the east. In the North Atlantic, the modified SSL indicates a meridional dipole, rising in the latitude band of 20°N–40°N and 45°N–65.5°N and descending obviously in the latitude band of 40°N–45°N.