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Seasonal cycle of marine heatwaves in the northern South China Sea

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Abstract

The seasonal properties and heat budget of marine heatwaves (MHWs) on the northern South China Sea (SCS) continental shelf are investigated. The winter MHWs are generally the warmest, gradually weakening in the following seasons. In winter and spring, all events have a temperature elevated by more than 1 °C while approximately half of the MHWs in summer and fall have temperatures elevated by less than 1 °C. The MHW duration is longest in winter, second longest in fall, and shortest in spring. Three types of MHWs have been defined based on the main heat source; i.e., air–sea heat flux dominant, ocean advection dominant, and mixed types. Air–sea heat flux is the dominant source for more than 80% of MHWs in winter and fall, ~ 70% of MHWs in spring, and ~ 50% in summer. There are slightly more ocean advection dominant events than Mixed-MHWs. Ocean advection always weakens an air–sea heat flux dominant MHW and enhances other types of events, so that the net heat supply is smallest for air–sea heat flux dominant MHW types. Ocean advection is mainly modulated by cross-slope water exchanges along the continental shelf edge. The offshore (onshore) cross-slope flow induces a negative (positive) contribution to MHW development. These results provide new insight into the seasonal cycle of MHWs on the northern SCS continental shelf.

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Data availability statement

The OISST, NCEP and OFES data for this paper are available at http://apdrc.soest.hawaii.edu/data/data.php.

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Acknowledgements

The OISST, NCEP and OFES data for this paper are available at http://apdrc.soest.hawaii.edu/data/data.php. This study was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LTO2113), the Marine Economic Development Project of Guangdong Province (GDNRC [2020]050), the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Technology for Safeguarding of Maritime Rights and Interests and Application, SOA (SCS1501) the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2021A1515012538), and MESTA-2021-C003.

Funding

This study was supported by the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LTO2113), the Marine Economic Development Project of Guangdong Province (GDNRC [2020]050), the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Technology for Safeguarding of Maritime Rights and Interests and Application, SOA (SCS1501), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2021A1515012538), and MESTA-2021-C003.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South China Sea Institute of Planning and Environmental Research, State Oceanic Administration, Guangzhou, 510300, China

    Yinxia Wang, Cuiping Zhang, Song Tian, Qidong Chen, Shan Li, Jisheng Zeng, Zheng Wei & Sumei Xie

  2. Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Survey Technology and Application, MNR, Guangzhou, China

    Yinxia Wang, Song Tian, Qidong Chen, Shan Li, Jisheng Zeng, Zheng Wei & Sumei Xie

  3. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

    Yinxia Wang

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  1. Yinxia Wang
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Contributions

YW is the first author who analyzed and wrote the manuscript. JZ and ZW collected the data and analyzed the variability. CZ, ST, QC, SL and SX participated in the discussion and writting of the main manuscript text. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jisheng Zeng or Zheng Wei.

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Wang, Y., Zhang, C., Tian, S. et al. Seasonal cycle of marine heatwaves in the northern South China Sea. Clim Dyn 61, 3367–3377 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06747-1

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