Xuwen Wang, Qiang Wang, Lili Zeng, Rui Shi, Yikai Yang, Ju Chen, Yunkai He
{"title":"Intensification of the Winter South China Sea Western Boundary Current During 2014–2024","authors":"Xuwen Wang, Qiang Wang, Lili Zeng, Rui Shi, Yikai Yang, Ju Chen, Yunkai He","doi":"10.1029/2026JC024035","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Understanding the low-frequency variability of the western boundary current (WBC) is essential for the redistribution of heat, salt and energy in the South China Sea (SCS). Long-term acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) mooring observations show a strengthening trend in the winter SCS WBC from 2014 to 2024. Diagnosis of the vorticity budget suggests that the trend is primarily attributed to the enhanced basin-scale wind stress curl and secondarily to the weakening of the joint effect of baroclinicity and relief (JEBAR), which overall serves as a vorticity sink. The trend of JEBAR is associated with a warming center west of the Luzon Strait, which enhances the baroclinic effect along the northern SCS continental slope, leading to a positive trend of JEBAR and weakening of vorticity consumption.</p>","PeriodicalId":54340,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans","volume":"131 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3000,"publicationDate":"2026-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026JC024035","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"OCEANOGRAPHY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Understanding the low-frequency variability of the western boundary current (WBC) is essential for the redistribution of heat, salt and energy in the South China Sea (SCS). Long-term acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) mooring observations show a strengthening trend in the winter SCS WBC from 2014 to 2024. Diagnosis of the vorticity budget suggests that the trend is primarily attributed to the enhanced basin-scale wind stress curl and secondarily to the weakening of the joint effect of baroclinicity and relief (JEBAR), which overall serves as a vorticity sink. The trend of JEBAR is associated with a warming center west of the Luzon Strait, which enhances the baroclinic effect along the northern SCS continental slope, leading to a positive trend of JEBAR and weakening of vorticity consumption.
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：
京公网安备 11010802042870号
