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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 24, 2228, doi:10.1029/2002GL015884, 2002

Bathymetric effect on the winter sea surface temperature and climate of the Yellow and East China Seas

Shang-Ping Xie

International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA
Department of Meteorology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA


Jan Hafner

International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA


Youichi Tanimoto

Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan
Frontier Research System for Global Change, Yokohama, Japan


W. Timothy Liu

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, USA


Hiroki Tokinaga

Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan


Haiming Xu

International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Meteorology, Nanjing, China


Abstract

Whether and how the atmosphere reacts to changes in extratropical sea surface temperature (SST) is under intense debate and this lack of understanding has been a major obstacle in the study of non-El Nino climate variability. Using new satellite measurements, we detect clear ocean-to-atmospheric feedback in the Yellow and East China (YEC) Seas that is triggered by the submerged ocean bottom topography. Under intense surface cooling in winter, water properties are well mixed up to 100 m deep. Ocean depth thus has a strong influence on SST of the continental shelf, leading to a remarkable collocation of warm tongues and deep channels. High winds and increased cloudiness are found over these warm tongues; one such band of ocean-atmospheric co-variation meanders through the basin, following a deep channel for an amazing distance of 1000 km. In addition to these climatic effects, the Kuroshio Front—where the warm current meets the much colder shelf water—strengthens the growth of storms.

Published 28 December 2002.

Index Terms: 3339 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics: Ocean/atmosphere interactions (0312, 4504); 4243 Oceanography: General: Marginal and semienclosed seas.

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Citation: Xie, S., J. Hafner, Y. Tanimoto, W. T. Liu, H. Tokinaga, and H. Xu (2002), Bathymetric effect on the winter sea surface temperature and climate of the Yellow and East China Seas, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29(24), 2228, doi:10.1029/2002GL015884.