Using the fuzzy cluster analysis and the temperature-salinity (T-S) similarity number analysis of cruise conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) data in the upper layer (0–300 m) of the northern South China Sea (NSCS), we classify the upper layer water of the NSCS into six water masses: diluted water (D), surface water (SS), the SCS subsurface water mass (U_S), the Pacific Ocean subsurface water mass (U_P), surface-subsurface mixed water (SU) and subsurface-intermediate mixed water (UI). A new stacked stereogram is used to illustrate the water mass distribution, and to examine the source and the distribution of U_P, combining with the sea surface height data and geostrophic current field. The results show that water mass U_P exists in all four seasons with the maximum range in spring and the minimum range in summer. In spring and winter, the U_P intrudes into the Luzon Strait and the southwest of Taiwan Island via the northern Luzon Strait in the form of nonlinear Rossby eddies, and forms a high temperature and high salinity zone east of the Dongsha Islands. In summer, the U_P is sporadically distributed in the study area. In autumn, the U_P is located in the upper 200 m layer east of Hainan Island.

Near-bottom currents play important roles in the formation and dynamics of deep-water sedimentary systems. This study examined the characteristics and temporal variations of near-bottom currents, especially the tidal components, based on two campaigns (2014 and 2016) of in situ observations conducted southeast of the Dongsha Island in the South China Sea. Results demonstrated near-bottom currents are dominated by tidal currents, the variance of which could account for ~70% of the total current variance. Diurnal tidal currents were found stronger than semidiurnal currents for both barotropic and baroclinic components. The diurnal tidal currents were found polarized with predominantly clockwise-rotating constituents, whereas the clockwise and counterclockwise constituents were found comparable for semidiurnal tidal currents. It was established that diurnal tidal currents could induce strong current shear. Baroclinic tidal currents showed pronounced seasonal variation with large magnitude in winter and summer and weak magnitude in spring and autumn in 2014. The coherent components accounted for ~65% and ~50% of the diurnal and semidiurnal tidal current variances, respectively. The proportions of the coherent and incoherent components changed little in different seasons. In addition to tidal currents, it was determined that the passing of mesoscale eddies could induce strong near-bottom currents that have considerable influence on the deep circulation.

In this study, the sectional characteristics of temperature, salinity and density off the central Zhejiang coast were analyzed using three sections of observational data in the spring of 2016. The results are as follows: (1) a cold water patch was observed in the middle layer of sections from 10 to 25 m, and a weak upwelling was observed at the upper layer near the central Zhejiang coast; (2) several thermoclines, inverted thermoclines, and haloclines were observed in the survey area; (3) the Taiwan Warm Current Water (TWCW) climbing from the slope towards the survey area affected the thermocline, making it thinner and intensified; however, the TWCW was not strong enough to break through the thermocline to reach the sea surface.

After validated by the in-situ observation, the slab model is used to study the wind-generated near-inertial energy flux (NIEF) in the South China Sea (SCS) based on satellite-observed wind data, and its dependence on calculation methods and threshold criteria of the mixed layer depth (MLD) is investigated. Results illustrate that the total amount of NIEF in the SCS could be doubled if different threshold criteria of MLD are adopted. The NIEF calculated by the iteration and spectral solutions can lead to a discrepancy of 2.5 GW (1 GW=1×10⁹ W). Results also indicate that the NIEF exhibits spatial and temporal variations, which are significant in the boreal autumn, and in the southern part of the SCS. Typhoons are an important generator of NIEF in the SCS, which could account for approximately 30% of the annual mean NIEF. In addition, deepening of the MLD due to strong winds could lead to a decrease of NIEF by approximately by 10%. We re-estimate the annual mean NIEF in the SCS, which is (10±4) GW and much larger than those reported in previous studies.

Four trawl-resistant bottom mounts, with acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) embedded, were deployed in the Karimata Strait from November 2008 to June 2015 as part of the South China Sea-Indonesian Seas Transport/Exchange and Impact on Seasonal Fish Migration (SITE) Program, to estimate the volume and property transport between the South China Sea and Indonesian seas via the strait. The observed current data reveal that the volume transport through the Karimata Strait exhibits significant seasonal variation. The winter-averaged (from December to February) transport is –1.99 Sv (1 Sv=1×10⁶ m³/s), while in the boreal summer (from June to August), the average transport is 0.69 Sv. Moreover, the average transport from January 2009 to December 2014 is –0.74 Sv (the positive/negative value indicates northward/southward transport). May and September are the transition period. In May, the currents in the Karimata Strait turn northward, consistent with the local monsoon. In September, the southeasterly trade wind is still present over the strait, driving surface water northward, whereas the bottom flow reverses direction, possibly because of the pressure gradient across the strait from north to south.

Besides the Indonesian throughflow (ITF), the South China Sea throughflow (SCSTF) also contributes to the water transport from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. However, this South China Sea (SCS) branch at the Karimata Strait is poorly observed until 2007, even though its importance has been suggested by numerical studies for decades. In this paper, we review the nearly 10-year field measurement in the Karimata Strait by the execution of the projects of “SCS-Indonesian Seas Transport/Exchange (SITE) and Impacts on Seasonal Fish Migration” and “The Transport, Internal Waves and Mixing in the Indonesian Throughflow regions (TIMIT) and Impacts on Marine Ecosystem”, which extend the observations from the western Indonesian seas to the east to include the main channels of the ITF, is introduced. Some major achievements from these projects are summarized.

A 1.5-layer quasi-geostrophic reduced gravity model is used to study the hysteresis of a periodic or leaking western boundary current (WBC) flowing by a gap. When the periods of the WBC variations are much longer than the Rossby adjustment time scales of the circulation in the vicinity of the gap, the Hopf bifurcations during the Re-increase and Re-decrease loops are delayed to produce a new domain of hysteresis of the Reynolds numbers, and the critical Reynolds numbers of the WBC regime transitions change significantly, with the domain of the hysteresis Reynolds number larger for shorter periodic forcing. When the periods of the WBC variations are comparable to those of the Rossby adjustment time scales of the circulation in the vicinity of the gap, the WBC path inside the gap becomes periodic without hysteresis. The intrusion of the WBC into the western basin generally gets smaller as the period decreases. In addition, the partial leakage of the WBC transport through the gap into the western basin is found to have significant impact on the hysteresis loop of the WBC path when the leaked transport is larger than 1/2 of the WBC. Both the intrusion extent and the critical Reynolds numbers of the WBC regime transition are changed, and the larger the throughflow transport, the larger the change.

This study investigates the temperature inversion phenomenon in the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Estuary (ZRE) using hydrological data collected in a summer cruise during July 6–17, 2015. The results suggest that temperature inversion occurred primarily near the salinity front, with an average temperature difference (ΔT) of 0.42°C between the inversion layer and the underlying water. The inversion layer was approximately 4 m thick on average, with an upper boundary at a depth of 1–6 m and a lower boundary at a depth of 3–10 m. Different mechanisms and dynamic processes were responsible for temperature inversion in different parts of the study area. (1) At the salinity front in the west of the ZRE, the measurements collected by CTD (conductivity, temperature, and depth) showed that the low-salinity water mass on the inner side of the front was approximately 2°C cooler than the high-salinity water mass on the outer side. Temperature inversion occurred when the cooler low-salinity water overlapped the warmer high-salinity water near the front due to the driving force of the background flow. (2) Inversion layers occurred at the mouth of the Taiping waterway as a result of varying horizontal flow between two different water masses under the effects of tides and runoff. (3) To the southwest of Hong Kong, temperature inversion occurred due to the interaction of upwelling and the salinity front.

The trends of the sea surface temperature (SST) and SST fronts in the South China Sea (SCS) are analyzed during 2003–2017 using high-resolution satellite data. The linear trend of the basin averaged SST is 0.31°C per decade, with the strongest warming identified in southeastern Vietnam. Although the rate of warming is comparable in summer and winter for the entire basin, the corresponding spatial patterns of the linear trend are substantially different between them. The SST trend to the west of the Luzon Strait is characterized by rapid warming in summer, exceeding approximately 0.6°C per decade, but the trend is insignificant in winter. The strongest warming trend occurs in the southeast of Vietnam in winter, with much less pronounced warming in summer. A positive trend of SST fronts is identified for the coast of China and is associated with increasing wind stress. The increasing trend of SST fronts is also found in the east of Vietnam. Large-scale circulation, such as El Niño, can influence the trends of the SST and SST fronts. A significant correlation is found between the SST anomaly and Niño3.4 index, and the ENSO signal leads by eight months. The basin averaged SST linear trends increase after the El Niño event (2009–2010), which is, at least, due to the rapid warming rate causing by the enhanced northeasterly wind. Peaks of positive anomalous SST and negatively anomalous SST fronts are found to co-occur with the strong El Niño events.

Through analysis of the results of a verified high-fidelity numerical model, the intra-seasonal variations (ISVs) in the depth of the 22°C isotherm (D22) in the South China Sea (SCS) basin are investigated. The results show that the ISVs in the D22 exhibit distinct seasonality in the SCS. The ISVs in the D22 are quite significant, especially within a band along the northwestern boundary of the basin and at the southern end of the basin during boreal winter. In these areas, the ratio of the standard deviations (STDs) of intra-seasonal band to the STDs of total data could exceed 0.6. Although the ISVs in the D22 are detectable in the area affected by the Vietnam Offshore Current during boreal summer and autumn, these variations are sometimes overwhelmed by oscillations with other frequencies. An analysis of the causes of the ISVs in the D22 in the SCS indicates that sea surface fluxes and wind stirring are not the dominant external driving mechanisms of the phenomena described above. The ISVs in the D22 are thought to be induced mainly by the thermodynamic adjustment of the ocean itself and the associated instabilities. The energy of the northern and southern bands that display strong ISVs in the D22 may be derived from eddy kinetic energy, rather than eddy available potential energy. The diversity of the propagation of the ISVs in the D22 is very conspicuous within these two bands.