| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
Carbon Cycle in the South China Sea: Budget, Controls and Global Implications
|
| |
|
|
Modeling age of Kuroshio water in the South China Sea
P-SPS3-11
Peng Cheng* , State Key Laboratory of Marine Environment Science, Xiamen University
Runqing Lv, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environment Science, Xiamen University
Presenter Email: pcheng@xmu.edu.cn |
| Kuroshio is the major source of energy and mass of the South China Sea. Understanding the dispersion and age of Kuroshio water is crucial to explore the mass transformation and nutrients transport in the South China Sea. A three-dimensional numerical model based on ROMS was developed for the China seas and the constituent oriented age and residence time theory was applied for tracing water age. The source of tracers were displayed above 600 m depth from the Philippines east coast to 125 oN along 17 oN and the model ran for 10 years. The results showed that the water age was about 2 years at the Luzon Strait and was about 4.5 years at the Karimata Strait, implying that it takes about years for the Kuroshio water transport across the South China Sea. At the Taiwan Strait, the inflow age was a few months older than outflow during winter season which indicates that the Kuroshio water moves along the Taiwan Island east coast and enters the East China Sea, then turns around, moves southward and enters the South China Sea again due to the winter northerly winds. The water age averaged over the entire basin was about 3.5 year in 200 m depth, 5 year in 500 m depth and 6 years in 1000 m depth. Those age differences at different depths gave the vertical water exchange rate. From 100 m to 500 m depth, large rates appeared along the north shelf slope in a range of 2.4.5 m/d; smallest rates appeared in the southern basin. From 500 to 1000 m depth, the strongest vertical exchange occurred along the south slope having a magnitude of 2.5 m/d; the weak vertical exchange appeared in the central and northern basin. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|