Journal of Oceanography

, Volume 63, Issue 1, pp 67–75 | Cite as

Annual cycle of stratification and tidal fronts in the Bohai Sea: A model study

  • Hao Liu
Original Article
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

In general, competition between buoyancy mechanisms and mixing dynamics largely determines the water column structure in a shelf sea. A three dimensional baroclinic ocean model forced by surface heat fluxes and the 2.5 order Mellor-Yamada turbulence scheme is used to simulate the annual cycle of the temperature in the Bohai Sea. The difference between the sea surface temperature (SST) and sea bottom temperature (SBT) is used to examine the evolution of its vertical stratification. It is found that the water column is well-mixed from October to March and that the seasonal thermocline appears in April, peaks in July and then weakens afterwards, closely following the heat budget. In addition, the Loder parameter based on the topography and tidal current amplitude is also computed in order to examine tidal fronts in the BS, which are evident in summer months when the wind stirring mechanism is weak.

Keywords

Bohai Sea buoyancy due to heat stratification mixing mechanism 
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Copyright information

© The Oceanographic Society of Japan/TERRAPUB/Springer 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  • Hao Liu
    • 1
    • 2
  1. 1.Institute of OceanologyChinese Academy of SciencesQingdaoChina
  2. 2.Department of OceanographyXiamen UniversityXiamenChina

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