Abstract
Winter coastal upwelling off northwest Borneo in the South China Sea (SCS) is investigated by using satellite data, climatological temperature and salinity fields and reanalysis data. The upwelling forms in December, matures in January, starts to decay in February and almost disappears in March. Both Ekman transport induced by the alongshore winter monsoon and Ekman pumping due to orographic wind stress curl are favorable for the upwelling. Transport estimates demonstrate that the month-to-month variability of Ekman transport and Ekman pumping are both consistent with that of winter coastal upwelling, but Ekman transport is two times larger than Ekman pumping in January and February. Under the influence of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the upwelling shows remarkable interannual variability: during winter of El Niño (La Niña) years, an anticyclonic (a cyclonic) wind anomaly is established in the SCS, which behaves a northeasterly (southwesterly) anomaly and a positive (negative) wind stress curl anomaly off the northwest Borneo coast, enhancing (reducing) the upwelling and causing anomalous surface cooling (warming) and higher (lower) chlorophyll concentration. The sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) associated with ENSO off the northwest Borneo coast has an opposite phase to that off southeast Vietnam, resulting in a SSTA seesaw pattern in the southern SCS in winter.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Barth J A, Menge B A, Lubchenco J, et al. 2007. Delayed upwelling alters nearshore coastal ocean ecosystems in the northern California current. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(10): 3719–3724
Boyer T, Levitus S, Garcia H, et al. 2005. Objective analyses of annual, seasonal, and monthly temperature and salinity for the World Ocean on a 0.25 grid. International Journal of Climatology, 25(7): 931–945
Castelao R M, Barth J A. 2006. Upwelling around Cabo Frio, Brazil: The importance of wind stress curl. Geophys Res Lett, 33: L03602
Chen Changlin, Wang Guihua. 2014. Interannual variability of the eastward current in the western South China Sea associated with the summer Asian monsoon. J Geophys Res Oceans, 119: 5745–5754
Croquette M, Eldin G, Grados C, et al. 2007. On differences in satellite wind products and their effects in estimating coastal upwelling processes in the south-east Pacific. Geophys Res Lett, 34: L11608
De Castro M, Gómez-Gesteira M, Lorenzo M N, et al. 2008. Influence of atmospheric modes on coastal upwelling along the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula, 1985 to 2005. Climate Research, 36(2): 169–179
Dee D P, Uppala S M, Simmons A J, et al. 2011. The ERA-Interim reanalysis: configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Quart J Roy Meteor Soc, 137(656): 553–597
Enriquez A G, Friehe C A. 1995. Effects of wind stress and wind stress curl variability on coastal upwelling. J Phys Oceanogr, 25(7): 1651–1671
Fang Guohong, Chen Haiying, Wei Zexun, et al. 2006. Trends and interannual variability of the South China Sea surface winds, surface height, and surface temperature in the recent decade. J Geophys Res, 111: C11S16
Isoguchi O, Kawamura H, Ku-Kassim K Y. 2005. El Niño-related offshore phytoplankton bloom events around the Spratley Islands in the South China Sea. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(21): L21603
Jing Zhiyou, Qi Yiqian, Du Yan. 2011. Upwelling in the continental shelf of northern South China Sea associated with 1997–1998 El Nino. J Geophys Res, 116: C02033
Jing Zhiyou, Qi Yiquan, Hua Zulin, et al. 2009. Numerical study on the summer upwelling system in the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea. Continental Shelf Research, 29(2): 467–478
Klein S A, Soden B J, Lau N C. 1999. Remote sea surface temperature variations during ENSO: Evidence for a tropical atmospheric bridge. Journal of Climate, 12(4): 917–932
Knee T C, Ishizaka J, Ransi V, et al. 2006. Oceanographic events at Northern Borneo and their relationship to harmful algal blooms. Scientific Paper Presented at ISRS
Liu Qinyu, Jiang Xia, Xie Shangping, et al. 2004. A gap in the Indo-Pacific warm pool over the South China Sea in boreal winter: Seasonal development and interannual variability. J Geophys Res, 109: C07012
Nykjær L, van Camp L. 1994. Seasonal and interannual variability of coastal upwelling along northwest Africa and Portugal from 1981 to 1991. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (1978–2012), 99(C7): 14197–14207
Pickett M H, Paduan J D. 2003. Ekman transport and pumping in the California Current based on the US Navy’s high-resolution atmospheric model (COAMPS). Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (1978–2012), 108(C10): doi: 10.1029/2003JC001902
Reynolds R W, Smith T M, Liu C, et al. 2007. Daily high-resolution-blended analyses for sea surface temperature. Journal of Climate, 20(22): 5473–5496
Roughan M, Garfield N, Largier J, et al. 2006. Transport and retention in an upwelling region: the role of across-shelf structure. Deep-Sea Research Part II, 53(25–26): 2931–2955
Santos A M P, Kazmin A S, Peliz A. 2005. Decadal changes in the Canary upwelling system as revealed by satellite observations: Their impact on productivity. Journal of Marine Research, 63(2): 359–379
Smith R L. 1968. Upwelling. Oceanogr Mar Biol Ann Rev, 6: 11–46
Taylor S V, Cayan D R, Graham N E, et al. 2008. Northerly surface winds over the eastern North Pacific Ocean in spring and summer. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113: D02110
Wang Chunzai. 2002. Atmospheric circulation cells associated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. J Climate, 15(4): 399–419
Wang Chunzai. 2005. ENSO, Atlantic climate variability, and the Walker and Hadley circulations. In: The Hadley Circulation: Present, Past and Future. Netherlands: Springer, 173–202
Wang Sufen, Tang Danling, He Fangliang, et al. 2008. Occurrences of harmful algal blooms (HABs) associated with ocean environments in the South China Sea. Hydrobiologia, 596(1): 79–93
Xie Shangping, Xie Qiang, Wang Dongxiao, et al. 2003. Summer upwelling in the South China Sea and its role in regional climate variations. J Geophys Res, 108(C8): doi: 10.1029/2003JC001867
Yao Jinglong, Belkin I, Chen Ju, et al. 2012. Thermal fronts of the southern South China Sea from satellite and in situ data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 33(23): 7458–7468
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 91128212; the National Basic Research Program of China under contract No. 2013CB430301; the National Science Fund of China for Distinguished Young Scholars (NSFDYS) under contract No. 41125019; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41306024; the Project of Global Change and Air-Sea Interaction under contract No. GASI-03-01-03-03; the Basic Research Program of Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration of China under contract No. JT1301.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yan, Y., Ling, Z. & Chen, C. Winter coastal upwelling off northwest Borneo in the South China Sea. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 34, 3–10 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-015-0590-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-015-0590-2