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YIN Ming, XIAO Ziniu, LI Xin, LI Chongyin. Evolement of the Kuroshio Warm Tongue in the East China Sea and Its Relationship with Temperature in China[J]. Climatic and Environmental Research, 2016, 21(3): 333-345. DOI: 10.3878/j.issn.1006-9585.2016.15245
Citation: YIN Ming, XIAO Ziniu, LI Xin, LI Chongyin. Evolement of the Kuroshio Warm Tongue in the East China Sea and Its Relationship with Temperature in China[J]. Climatic and Environmental Research, 2016, 21(3): 333-345. DOI: 10.3878/j.issn.1006-9585.2016.15245

Evolement of the Kuroshio Warm Tongue in the East China Sea and Its Relationship with Temperature in China

  • Based on the high-resolution analysis data and the sea surface temperature derived from LASG/IAP (State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics/Chinese Academy of Sciences) Climate systems Ocean Model 2.0 (LICOM2.0), the relationship between the Kuroshio warm tongue in the East China Sea and temperature in China is analyzed using correlation and composite analysis methods. Possible reasons for the Kuroshio warm tongue changes are discussed. The results show that the interannual and interdecadal variations in the warm tongue during the winter and spring are significant. There was an abrupt change from cold to warm in the warm tongue in the winter of 1996. Besides, the warm tongue underwent a similar abrupt change in the spring of 1997, when it changed from cold to warm as well. Accordingly, the variability of temperature in winter and the following spring on the time scales from interannual to interdecadal has been detected in China. Temperature in winter after 1997 was higher compared with that before 1997, and the temperature increase is more significant in spring than in winter. In this paper, the border zone response of East-Asia circulation and climate to the SSTA in the Kuroshio region is mainly reflected in the positive correlation between the index of Kuroshio warm tongue (IKWT) and temperature in East China in winter. The high correlation can maintain until the following spring. The significant positive correlation can also be detected between the IKWT and the index of land-sea thermal difference (ILSTD) in April. When the warm tongue is strong (weak) in winter, the ILSTD is high (low). The positive correlation between the IKWT and temperature can be found in the central and southern regions of China in spring as well. When the springtime warm tongue is strong (weak), the temperature is high (low) in these regions. There is possibly a feedback mechanism for the interaction between PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and the warm tongue. The enhancement of the westerly winds can lead to decreases in the SST in the central Pacific by increasing the heat release from the ocean to the atmosphere and displacing isotherms southwestward by Ekman drift. The central Pacific cooling corresponds to a PDO warm phase. Enhanced negative wind-stress-curl forces stronger southward Sverdrup flow in the subtropical North Pacific gyre, which is compensated by a stronger Kuroshio in the East China Sea. Two months later, the heat carried by the Kuroshio arrives in the central North Pacific, leading to increases in SST in this region. This period corresponds to a cold PDO phase.
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