Impacts of a wind stress and a buoyancy flux on the seasonal variation of mixing layer depth in the South China Sea

Abstract

The seasonal variation of mixing layer depth (MLD) in the ocean is determined by a wind stress and a buoyance flux. A South China Sea (SCS) ocean data assimilation system is used to analyze the seasonal cycle of its MLD. It is found that the variability of MLD in the SCS is shallow in summer and deep in winter, as is the case in general. Owing to local atmosphere forcing and ocean dynamics, the seasonal variability shows a regional characteristic in the SCS. In the northern SCS, the MLD is shallow in summer and deep in winter, affected coherently by the wind stress and the buoyance flux. The variation of MLD in the west is close to that in the central SCS, influenced by the advection of strong western boundary currents. The eastern SCS presents an annual cycle, which is deep in summer and shallow in winter, primarily impacted by a heat flux on the air-sea interface. So regional characteristic needs to be cared in the analysis about the MLD of SCS.