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Observation of summertime upwelling off the eastern and northeastern coasts of Hainan Island, China

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Abstract

Using cruise observations and reanalysis data, this study analyzes the effects of wind, freshwater, and turbulent mixing on the two upwellings: one is off the eastern coast of Hainan Island (HEU) and the other is off the northeastern coast of Hainan Island (HNEU). During the cruise in 2009, the HNEU occurred with southwesterly to southeasterly wind. The relative large values of turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate and diffusivity estimated from the Thorpe scale indicate that the upwelling water is further uplifted to the surface by strong turbulent mixing in the HNEU region. But the HEU was not observed under the southeasterly wind. During the cruise in 2012, the HNEU disappeared in the upper layer with freshwater covered and southeasterly wind, while the apparent HEU only accompanied with southwesterly wind. To obtain the general characteristics, we define three types of upwelling patterns, i.e., the intensified HEU, the intensified HNEU, and both HEU and HNEU in one day, using the reanalysis data. The composites of sea surface temperature (SST), wind, and precipitate for each upwelling pattern identify that the HNEU is associated with the prevailing southeasterly wind and can be limited in the lower layer when it is covered by freshwater. But the HEU is mainly driven by southwesterly wind but is not remarkably affected by freshwater.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate two anonymous reviewers for suggestions that improved this manuscript. This work is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China projects 2015CB954004 and 2009CB421208, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China projects 41276006 and U1405233. The authors also thank the crew of R/V Dongfanghong 2 for help with the cruise survey and Shaoling Shang for helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, 361102, China

    Peigen Lin, Jianyu Hu, Quanan Zheng, Zhenyu Sun & Jia Zhu

  2. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Quanan Zheng

Authors
  1. Peigen Lin
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  2. Jianyu Hu
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  3. Quanan Zheng
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  4. Zhenyu Sun
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  5. Jia Zhu
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Correspondence to Jianyu Hu.

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Responsible Editor: Jörg-Olaf Wolff

Appendix: The triangle of mixing

Appendix: The triangle of mixing

Based on the water mass analysis method summarized by Mamayev (1975), on the T-S (or θ-S) diagram, the three water masses (e.g., A, B, and C, having temperatures and salinity T A , S A ; T B , S B ; T C , S C , respectively) form a triangle of mixing (Fig. 14). The product of the complete mixing of the three water masses will have a temperature and salinity determined by the formulae of mixing:

$$ T=a{T}_A+b{T}_B+c{T}_C, $$
(2)
$$ S=a{S}_A+b{S}_B+c{S}_C, $$
(3)
$$ a+b+c=1, $$
(4)

where a, b, and c are the proportions of the three water masses. The points of mixing result of the three water masses lie within the triangle of mixing. In this study, the proportions a, b, and c are calculated by solving the formula system with the known temperature and salinity of the three water masses and the mixture.

Fig. 14
figure 14

An example of triangle of mixing, namely a nomogram for the determination of the percentage content of water masses. A, B, and C represent three water masses

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The solution is:

$$ a=-\frac{T\left({S}_B-{S}_C\right)-S\left({T}_B-{T}_C\right)+{T}_B{S}_C-{T}_C{S}_B}{T_A\left({S}_B-{S}_C\right)-{S}_A\left({T}_B-{T}_C\right)+{T}_B{S}_C-{T}_C{S}_B}, $$
(5)
$$ b=-\frac{T\left({S}_A-{S}_C\right)-S\left({T}_A-{T}_C\right)+{T}_A{S}_C-{T}_C{S}_A}{T_A\left({S}_B-{S}_C\right)-{S}_A\left({T}_B-{T}_C\right)+{T}_B{S}_C-{T}_C{S}_B}, $$
(6)
$$ c=-\frac{T\left({S}_A-{S}_B\right)-S\left({T}_A-{T}_B\right)+{T}_A{S}_B-{T}_B{S}_A}{T_A\left({S}_B-{S}_C\right)-{S}_A\left({T}_B-{T}_C\right)+{T}_B{S}_C-{T}_C{S}_B}. $$
(7)

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Lin, P., Hu, J., Zheng, Q. et al. Observation of summertime upwelling off the eastern and northeastern coasts of Hainan Island, China. Ocean Dynamics 66, 387–399 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10236-016-0934-2

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