Affiliation:
1. Physical Oceanography Laboratory/CIMST, Ocean University of China and Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China
2. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
Abstract
AbstractThe role of the South China Sea (SCS) in regulating the North Pacific circulation is investigated using a two-layer quasigeostrophic (QG) model. The double-gyre circulations in the North Pacific with and without the SCS are compared and analyzed. It is found that the SCS acts as a sink of both potential vorticity (PV) and energy in the Pacific–SCS system for the mean state. Consequently, the Kuroshio and the upstream Kuroshio Extension (KE) are weaker in the presence of the SCS. Moreover, the eddy activity is also lower in the North Pacific Ocean because the barotropic instability is suppressed for a weaker circulation. In terms of low-frequency variations at interannual to decadal time scale, the presence of the SCS is found to enhance the variability of the latitudinal position and intensity of the KE jet. This is explained by a positive feedback process that is associated with the negative correlation between the inertia of the Kuroshio and its intrusion into the SCS.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Creative Research Groups of China
National Key Scientific Instrument and Equipment Development Projects of China
WenHai Project of Shandong Province
Special Fund for the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction Project
National Science Foundation
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Cited by
4 articles.
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