Simulation of meridional overturning in the upper layer of the South China Sea with an idealized bottom topography

The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest marginal sea in the northwestern Pacific. Several important water gateways exist around the SCS, such as Luzon Strait, Taiwan Strait, etc., that lie in the northeastern SCS, and others like Kalimantan Strait, Balawan Strait, etc., lie in the south. Luzon Strait connects the SCS and Pacific via the Philippine Sea, and its water exchange has significant impact on the interior circulations of the SCS1]. Since direct observation data about the …

Simulation of meridional overturning in the upper layer of the South China Sea with an idealized bottom topography

The large-scale upper circulations and merid-ional overturning in the upper layer of the South China Sea (SCS) with idealized bottom topography in winter and sum-mer are investigated. Simulations with the GFDL general circulation model are carried out under the conditions of open or enclosed boundary regarding transport in the Luzon Strait. The intrusion area of Kuroshio, its impact on the me-ridional overturning in the upper layer of the SCS and sea-sonal characteristic of this impact are explored, respectively. The model is forced by climatological wind stress and relaxed to monthly mean climatological temperature and salinity. The resultant meridional overturning is non-enclosed, with transporting from north to south in the surface and return-ing to north at the depth of about 500 m in winter, about 200 m in summer, with amplitudes of 105 m3/s. It shows the transporting path of intermediate water of the SCS and of-fers an idealized reference for further study on dynamics of wind-driven and thermohaline circulation of the SCS.