Determination of winter temperature patterns, fronts, and surface currents in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from satellite imagery

Abstract

A detailed winter sea surface temperature (SST) pattern in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea is derived from meteorological satellite thermal infrared images. The isotherms in the pattern are calibrated by temperature measurements in situ. The features of SST patterns are analyzed using images taken from a variety of satellites (DMSP, NOAA-5,6, GMS-1, and TIROS-N) over the last 10 years. The winter SST pattern has a “sandwich” structure, which implies that two warm tongues sandwich one cold tongue. This pattern starts forming at the end of November, has formed by the end of January, begins to decline at the end of February, and disappears at the end of April. In the SST patterns strong coastal fronts can be discerned. They are the Shandong Peninsula coastal front, the Zhejiang-Fujian coastal front and the South Korean coastal front. Based on the features of SST patterns and these fronts, the winter surface currents are discussed.