Numerical investigation on propulsion of the counter-wind current in the northern South China Sea in winter

Abstract

The propulsion of the winter counter-wind current in the northern South China Sea (SCS) is investigated with a regional, three-dimensional, primitive equation model. This current is usually called the SCS Warm Current (SCSWC). Model results well reproduced the banded structure of the Guangdong coastal current, the SCSWC and the slope current from the coast to the slope in the northern SCS in the climatological data. The across-shelf flow is active in the shelf break area. Both onshore and offshore flows exist; the net across-shelf transport is shoreward throughout the year, and is larger in winter than in other seasons. The joint effect of baroclinicity and relief (JEBAR) is the dominant forcing of the across-shelf transport in the shelf break area. The major mass source of the SCSWC is the onshore-veered slope current. It is the JEBAR effect that supplies the necessary negative vorticity to maintain the slope current flowing across the isobaths and veering to the right hand to feed the SCSWC. Analyses of the momentum fields indicate that the onshore pressure gradient in the outer shelf balances the Coriolis force induced by the northeastward SCSWC in the frame of geostrophy. In winter, such an onshore pressure gradient is mainly provided by the strong density contrast between waters of the shelf and of the upper slope, which results from the Kuroshio intrusion via the Luzon Strait. The notable intrusion of the Kuroshio in winter is crucial for maintaining the density structure in the shelf break area and facilitates the set-up of the onshore pressure gradient over the outer shelf.