Temperature inversion in China seas

Temperature inversion was reported as a common phenomenon in the areas near the southeastern Chinese coast (region A), west and south of the Korean Peninsula (region B), and north and east of the Shandong Peninsula (region C) during October–May in the present study, based on hydrographic data archiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 2010-12, Vol.115 (C12), p.n/a
Main Authors: Hao, Jiajia, Chen, Yongli, Wang, Fan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Advection
China seas
Coastal currents
Coastal zone
currents
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Evaporation
Exact sciences and technology
Fresh water
Freshwater
Geophysics
Heat flux
Heat transfer
Hydrographic data
Inland water environment
Marine
Physical oceanography
Plumes
river plume
Saline water
Seasonal variation
Seasonal variations
Stratification
Surface boundary layer
Surface layers
Temperature inversion
Temperature inversions
thermocline
Warm currents
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Summary:Temperature inversion was reported as a common phenomenon in the areas near the southeastern Chinese coast (region A), west and south of the Korean Peninsula (region B), and north and east of the Shandong Peninsula (region C) during October–May in the present study, based on hydrographic data archived from 1930 through 2001 (319,029 profiles). The inversion was found to be remarkable with obvious temporal and spatial variabilities in both magnitude and coverage, with higher probabilities in region A (up to about 60%) and region C (40%–50%) than in region B (15%–20%). The analysis shows that seasonal variation of the net air‐sea heat flux is closely related to the occurrence time of the inversion in the three areas, while the Yangtze and Yellow river freshwater plumes in the surface layer and ocean origin saline water in the subsurface layer maintain stable stratification. It seems that the evaporation/excessive precipitation flux makes little contribution to maintaining the stable inversion. Advection of surface fresh water by the wind‐driven coastal currents results in the expansion of inversion in regions A and C. The inversion lasts for the longest period in region A (October–May) sustained by the Taiwan Warm Current carrying the subsurface saline water, while evolution of the inversion in region B is mainly controlled by the Yellow Sea Warm Current.
ISSN:0148-0227
2169-9275
2156-2202
2169-9291
DOI:10.1029/2010JC006297