Upper ocean response and feedback to spring weather over the kuroshio in the East China sea: A coupled atmosphere-ocean model study

Abstract

This study investigated the air-sea interaction over the Kuroshio in the East China Sea by focusing on the response and feedback of the ocean to typical spring weather events. The Weather Research and Forecasting Model was coupled with the HYbrid Coordinate Ocean Model for use in the study. The study period comprised a sequence of typical weathers in the area: prevailing southwesterly winds, the passage of a cold front and the ensuing cold-air outbreak, and the development of a Taiwan low. The air-sea interaction operated on a diurnal time scale under conditions of moderate wind speeds, high insolation, and a shallow oceanic mixed layer. The sea surface temperature and upper ocean heat content increased progressively prior to the frontal passage. The model reproduced the retreat of Kuroshio in response to the strong wind during the cold-air outbreak. The diurnal cycle vanished at high wind speeds. Wind stirring eroded the upper seasonal thermocline and deepened the oceanic mixed layer. The upper ocean heat content decreased because of entrainment cooling and surface heat losses. Surface restratification was subsequently suppressed in the thick and weakly stratified remnant layer. The consequently insufficient recovery of upper ocean heat content may have preconditioned a stagnation of the Taiwan low. The recovery of upper ocean heat content was discussed to derive the implication for climate simulations.