Abstract. Sea surface temperature (SST) variability affects marine
ecosystems, fisheries, ocean primary productivity and human activities and
is the primary influence on typhoon intensity. SST drops of a few degrees in
the open ocean after typhoon passages have been widely documented; however,
few studies have focused on coastal SST variability. The purpose of this
study is to determine typhoon-induced SST drops in the near-coastal area
(within 1 km of the coast) and understand the possible mechanism. The
results of this study were based on extensive field data analysis.
Significant SST drop phenomena were observed at the Longdong Buoy in
northeastern Taiwan during 43 typhoons over the past 20 years (1998–2017).
The mean SST drop (ΔSST) after a typhoon passage was 6.1 ∘C,
and the maximum drop was 12.5 ∘C (Typhoon Fungwong in 2008). The
magnitude of the SST drop was larger than most of the observations in the open
ocean. The mean duration of the SST drop was 24 h, and on average, 26.1 h were
required for the SST to recover to the original temperature. The coastal SST
drops at Longdong were correlated with the moving tracks of typhoons. When a
typhoon passes south of Longdong, the strong and persistent longshore winds
induce coastal upwelling and pump cold water up to the surface, which is the
dominant cause of the SST drops along the coast. In this study, it was determined
that cold water mainly intruded from the Kuroshio subsurface into the Okinawa
Trough, which is approximately 50 km from the observation site. The
magnitude of coastal SST drops depends on the area of overlap between
typhoons generating strong winds and the Kuroshio. The dataset used in this
study can be accessed from https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.895002.