Oceanic front plays a significant role in the ocean vertical mixing and the regulation of air-sea interaction, among others. The western branch of the subarctic front (WSAF) located in the Northwest Pacific has attained lots of attention given its strong intensity and widespread influence on this region. In this study, we take advantage of the merged sea surface temperature (SST) at a high spatial resolution of 0.05° to investigate the characteristics of WSAF. The front detection algorithm that combines the Sobel operator and histogram analysis is adopted. It is advantageous in both preserving the front intensity represented by the SST gradient as well as reducing the detection noise level. We systematically applied this algorithm to the daily SST products for front detection, based on which the WSAF characteristics including its intensity, occurrence of frequency, latitudinal position and coverage area are then extracted. WSAF is mostly located within a small latitude range between 40°N and 41°N with a clear seasonal trend in its intensity that peaks in the winter and troughs in the summer. The seasonal variation of WSAF intensity is almost consistent throughout the temporal period of interest from 2010 to 2018. Similar seasonality is observed for its occurrence of frequency with the winter-summer contrast reaching up to 5%. The findings presented here shall help better interpret the WSAF characteristics in the long-term run as well as their impact on the regional weather and climate patterns at high spatial resolution.
| 科 Family | 属数 Number of genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) | 属 Genus | 种数 Number of species | 占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae | 2 | 11 | 5.26 | 鹅膏菌属 Amanita | 10 | 4.78 |
| 小菇科 Mycenaceae | 2 | 12 | 5.74 | 丝盖伞属 Inocybe | 5 | 2.39 |
| 多孔菌科 Polyporaceae | 8 | 14 | 6.70 | 蜡蘑属 Laccaria | 5 | 2.39 |
| 红菇科 Russulaceae | 3 | 23 | 11.00 | 小皮伞属 Marasmius | 6 | 2.87 |
| 小菇属 Mycena | 11 | 5.26 | ||||
| 光柄菇属 Pluteus | 5 | 2.39 | ||||
| 红菇属 Russula | 17 | 8.13 | ||||
| 栓菌属 Trametes | 5 | 2.39 |