Winter heat budget in the Huanghai Sea and the effect from Huanghai Warm Current (Yellow Sea Warm Current)

Abstract

Four sources of surface heat flux (SHF) and the satellite remote sensing sea surface temperature (SST) data are combined to investigate the heat budget closure of the Huanghai Sea (HS) in winter. It is found that heat loss occurs all over the HS during winter and the area averaged heat content change decreases with a rate of −106 W/m2. Comparing with the area averaged SHF of −150 W/m−2 from the four SHF data sets, it can be concluded that the SHF plays a dominant role in the HS heat budget during winter. In contrast, the heat advection transported by the Huanghai Warm Current (Yellow Sea Warm Current, HWC) accounted for up to 29% of the HS heat content change. Close correlation, especially in February, between the storm events and the SST increase demonstrates that the HWC behaves strongly as a wind-driven compensation current.