Surface circulation in the Gulf of Thailand from remotely sensed observations: seasonal and interannual timescales

Abstract

Abstract. The Gulf of Thailand (GoT), a shallow semi-enclosed basin located in the western equatorial Pacific, undergoes much wind variabilities on both seasonal and interannual timescales that produce complex surface circulation. The local Ekman pumping modifies sea level in the northern GoT, while remote wind forcing influences sea level variability at the GoT western boundary, potentially through the coastal trapped Kelvin waves. The importance of the Ekman current on ageostrophic current is also important; the stronger influence of the Ekman current is found toward the southern part of the GoT. The GoT circulation reverses its direction seasonally following the monsoon wind reversal which is well-captured by the most dominant complex empirical orthogonal function explaining 28 % of the total circulation variance. During the monsoon transition, a strong meridional current along the western boundary that connects to the flow at the GoT southeastern entrance is observed. This implies high exchange between the GoT and the South China Sea and thus modification of the GoT water. On the interannual timescale, the GoT circulation is directly impacted by both the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Interestingly, the two climate modes have different spatial influences on the GoT circulation. The IOD dominates the interannual current along the GoT western boundary and the southern boundary of the observing domain (8∘ N), while the ENSO correlates with that in the interior. The results highlight the complex circulation pattern as being contributed by different dynamics over each region of the GoT.