Abstract
The vertically averaged temperature (TAV) from surface to 100 m depth of the South China Sea for the period 1959-1988 is analyzed. The results indicate that there is a significant long-term variability from interannual to interdecadal scales in the heat content in the upper ocean. The heat content of the upper ocean of the South China Sea increases evidently in the El Nino year. TAV anomaly in the ocean was negative from the end of 1950s to early 1970s, and then changed to positive. The changes of TAV of the ocean are closely related to ENSO events, the Asian winter monsoon and the tropical atmospheric circulation anomalies.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Gan Zijun, Yu Jingjia and Qiu Dezhong (1991), Analysis of monthly mean sea surface (SST) time series for many years in the waters around the Nansha islands: a complex spectral pattern. In: Symposium on ocean environment research on the Nansha islands and its adjacent waters (—) (in Chinese), Wubei Scientific and Technological Press, 31–45.
Guan Cuihua (1983), Low-frequency coupled oscillation of sea surface temperature in the central South China Sea, Kuroshio and the equatorial eastern Pacific, Marine Science Bulletin (in Chinese), 2: 10–15.
He Youhai and Guan Cuihua (1982), The air-sea heat and momentum exchange under different weather conditions in the central area of South China Sea. in: Symposium on research report on the sea area of South China Sea (1) (in Chinese), Chinese Academic Press, 151–157.
He Youhai and W. B. White (1987), Interannual variability of the Kuroshio frontal Structure along its western boundary in the North Pacific Ocean associated the 1982 ENSO event, J.Phys. Oceanogr., 17: 1494–1506.
He Youhai, Guan Cuihua and Gan Zijun (1992), Heat oscillation in the upper ocean of the southern South China Sea, Acta Oceanologica Sinica,11: 375–387.
He Youhai, Guan Cuihua (1996), Primary study of low-frequency oscillation of presummer rainfall in South China. In: Formation processes of disastrous and its diagnostics (in Chinese), China Meteorological Press, 217–224.
Nitta T. and Yamada S. (1989), Recent warming of tropical sea surface temperature and its relationship to the Northern Hemisphere circulation, J. Meteor. Soc. Japan,67: 375–385.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work is supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences project (No. K.Y 85-10), Multi-discipline Investigation Project for the Nansha Islands (No.85-927), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.49575266), and Laboratory of Climate Studies, China Meteorological Administration (No.95-02).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Youhai, H., Cuihua, G. & Zijun, G. Interannual and interdecadal variations in heat content of the upper ocean of the south china sea. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 14, 271–276 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-997-0025-x
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-997-0025-x