HR: 16:30h
AN: OS52L-09    [PDF]
TI: A new Interpretation of the Spreading of Antarctic Intermediate Water in the Western North Pacific
AU: * Qu, T
EM: tangdong@hawaii.edu
AF: Tangdong Qu, IPRC/SOEST, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 United States
AU: Lindstrom, E J
EM:
AF: Eric J. Lindstrom, Office of Earth Science, NASA, Washington, DC 20546 United States
AB: Evidence exists to suggest that water enters the South China Sea (SCS) from the Pacific around the sill depth (~2000 m) of the Luzon Strait; from there, part of it upwells and is entrained into shallower isopycnal surfaces by vertical mixing, and eventually flows back to the Pacific in the intermediate layer. This water exchange provides a link between the SCS deep water and the Pacific intermediate water, which is particularly useful in interpreting the spreading of Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW). The traditional view before this study has been that AAIW extends to the mid-latitudes of the western North Pacific, as indicated by high oxygen tongues in the early map of oxygen. Careful examination of historical data indicates that, although relatively high oxygen water does exist in the Okinawa Trough, it is connected with the high oxygen water in the SCS. AAIW is traced to only about 15$\deg$N, and there is no indication of a northward flow of AAIW farther north along the western boundary.
DE: 4223 Descriptive and regional oceanography
DE: 4243 Marginal and semienclosed seas
DE: 4271 Physical and chemical properties of seawater
DE: 4532 General circulation
DE: 4576 Western boundary currents
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 Ocean Sciences Meeting