Multisatellite observation on upwelling after the passage of Typhoon Hai‐Tang in the southern East China Sea

Abstract

The serial remote sensing based imageries clearly revealed large scale of upwelling within large regional enhancement of chlorophyll‐a (Chl‐a) concentration in the southern East China Sea (ECS) after the passage of super typhoon Hai‐Tang in July 2005. After the typhoon on 22 July, the upwelling area (<26°C) expanded rapidly to 9146 km2 on the shelf‐break. The large increased upwelling persisted for more than a week. Ocean color images also reveled that high Chl‐a concentration of >3.0 mg/m3 appeared in the shelf region, where the high Chl‐a pattern matched the upwelling in terms of location and time. On the other hand, a large offshore SST cooling was also observed mainly to the right of typhoon track on 20 July, it lasted in a period of 2–3 days. This paper provides clear and high‐resolution evidence that typhoon significant increased upwelling and Chl‐a concentration in the southern ECS.