Revisiting the seasonal wave height variability in the South China Sea with merged satellite altimetry observations

Su, Hui; Wei, Chunlei; Jiang, Shaocai; Li, Peiliang; Zhai, Fangguo

doi:10.1007/s13131-017-1073-4

Cited by 15 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…During the winter northeasterly monsoon season, the situation is similar. The largest SWH is pointed to occur in the northern SCS by some studies (e.g., Yu, 1984; Chen, 1987; Qi et al ., 1997; Chen et al ., 2006; Li et al ., 2012; Wu et al ., 2014; Su et al ., 2017), while in the central/southern SCS by others (e.g., Zhou et al ., 2007; Zong and Wu, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…With satellite observations during the period of 2009 to 2015, Su et al . (2017) proved that the smallest climatological seasonal SWH occurs in summer in the northern SCS while in spring in other regions. The largest debate is about the spatial distributions of the SCS SWH in the four seasons.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…As the largest semi‐enclosed sea in the western tropical Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea (SCS) also experiences significant variations in its wave climate. The seasonal, interannual, decadal and long‐term variations of the wave climate in the SCS have been examined in past decades (e.g., Yu, 1984; Chen, 1987; Qi et al ., 1997; Qi and Shi, 1999; Chen et al ., 2006; Zhou et al ., 2007; Guo et al ., 2012; Li et al ., 2012; Zheng et al ., 2014; Zong and Wu, 2014; Wan et al ., 2015; Zhu et al ., 2015; Su et al ., 2017). Observations indicate that the seasonal variability dominates the wave climate in the SCS under the monsoonal wind forcing (e.g., Chen et al ., 2006; Su et al ., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Su et al . (2017) stated that one of the important reasons for the above debate is due to the exclusion of the Pacific Ocean wave climate in regional wave model hindcasts. They speculated that, besides the local sea surface winds inside the SCS, the sea surface winds in the Pacific Ocean also contribute much to the wave height variability in the SCS via the propagation of swells.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, we in the current study extend the research of Su et al . (2017) and aim to quantify the respective contributions of the sea surface winds inside and outside the SCS through a series of numerical simulations. The results indicate that the sea surface winds in the Pacific Ocean indeed contribute greatly to the wave height seasonality in the SCS, especially around the Luzon Strait and in spring.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dynamics of the seasonal wave height variability in the South China Sea

Zhai

et al. 2020

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Wind‐driven ocean surface gravity waves exhibit large fluctuations on multiple scales in both space and time, which greatly impact on air‐sea interactions and human activities in the ocean. The wave height in the South China Sea (SCS) is dominated by the seasonal variability, but the underlying dynamics is poorly understood. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the dynamics of the significant wave height (SWH) seasonality in the SCS using the WAVEWATCH III wave model. The results indicate that the SCS SWH seasonality is dominated by local sea surface winds inside the SCS with a secondary contribution from remote sea surface winds in the tropical western North Pacific Ocean through the propagation of waves. Local sea surface winds alone lead to the SWH maxima occurring in different regions inside the SCS in different seasons. Remote sea surface winds, on the contrary, result in a high SWH tongue extending from the Pacific Ocean into the SCS through the Luzon Strait all year round. They contribute positively to the SCS SWH seasonality, but the contributions are only significant in the northern SCS and decrease westward/southwestward from the Luzon Strait. The SWH in the northern SCS induced by the seasonality of remote sea surface winds is largest in winter while smallest in summer. However, the contribution of remote sea surface winds relative to that of local sea surface winds gets largest in spring, when the local sea surface winds are weakest of the year. The current study emphasizes the importance of sea surface winds in the Pacific Ocean in regulating the SCS SWH seasonality and is helpful for further studies of the dynamics and predictions of wave climate variabilities on multiple time scales in the SCS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%