Effects of Australian Summer Monsoon on Sea Surface Temperature Diurnal Variation Over the Australian North‐Western Shelf

Abstract

AbstractFive‐year (2010 to 2014) sea surface temperature (SST) data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer are used to study the effects of the Australian summer monsoon on SST diurnal variation (DV) over the Australian northwestern shelf (NWS, defined as 105°E–125°E, 25°S–10°S). Strong DV events identified with amplitude of 0.5–2 K were observed over the NWS. A double‐peak seasonal pattern of DV is obtained, with the strongest DV occurring in February/March and October/November. This seasonal DV pattern over the NWS is largely due to the Australian summer monsoon, which reduces the easterly trade wind during the summer monsoonal period, favoring the development of SST DV. Since the monsoon region is distributed globally in the tropical oceans, in the western and eastern North Pacific, as well as in the southern Indian Ocean, we anticipate that strong SST DV may also exist in these parts of coastal oceans.