Circulation in the western tropical Pacific Ocean and its seasonal variation Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • An assimilation data set based on the GFDL MOM3 model and the NODC XBT data set is used to examine the circulation in the western tropical Pacific and its seasonal variations. The assimilated and observed velocities and transports of the mean circulation agree well. Transports of the North Equatorial Current (NEC), Mindanao Current (MC), North Equatorial Countercurrent (NECC) west of 140E and Kuroshio origin estimated with the assimilation data display the seasonal cycles, roughly strong in boreal spring and weak in autumn, with a little phase difference. The NECC transport also has a semi-annual fluctuation resulting from the phase lag between seasonal cycles of two tropical gyres' recirculations. Strong in summer during the southeast monsoon period, the seasonal cycle of the Indonesian throughflow (ITF) is somewhat different from those of its upstreams, the MC and New Guinea Coastal Current (NGCC), implying the monsoon's impact on it.

published proceedings

  • CHINESE SCIENCE BULLETIN

author list (cited authors)

  • Wang, F., Chang, P., Hu, D. X., & Seidel, H.

citation count

  • 18

complete list of authors

  • Wang, F||Chang, P||Hu, DX||Seidel, H

publication date

  • January 2002