NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF OCEANIC ELEMENTS IN THE SCS AND ITS NEIGHBORING SEA REGIONS FROM JANUARY TO AUGUST IN 1998

Studies on oceanic conditions in the South China Sea (SCS) and adjacent waters are helpful for thorough understanding of summer monsoons in East Asia. To have a 3-dimensional picture of how the oceanic currents vary, the oceanic elements in the South China Sea (SCS) and its neighboring sea regions in January～August 1998 have been simulated by using the improved Princeton University Ocean Model (POM) in this paper. The main results are in good agreement with that of ocean investigations and other simulations. The results show that the SCS branch of the Kuroshio Current is an important part in the north SCS from January to August; the SCS warm current is reproduced clearly in all months except in winter; there always exists a large-scale anti-cyclonic vortex on the right of the Kuroshio Current from January to August. In the model domain, the surface currents of the SCS have the closest relations with the monsoon with an apparent seasonal variation. In addition, the developing characteristics of the SST in the SCS and its neighboring sea regions before and after the summer monsoon onset are also well simulated by the improved POM. Those are the foundation for developing a coupled regional ocean-atmospheric model system.