Assessing the Application of Argo Profiling Float Data to the Study of the Seasonal Variation of the Hydrological Parameters and the Current Field East of Luzon Strait

Figures & data

Fig. 1 Seasonal distribution of Argo profiling floats from 2006 to 2010 in (a) spring (the black line shows the Taiwan–Ishigakijima section and the star denotes Ishigakijima island), (b) summer, (c) fall and (d) winter.

Fig. 2 Seasonal mean wind velocity in (a) spring, (b) summer, (c) fall and (d) winter.

Fig. 3 T-S diagram from Argo data in the northwestern Pacific Ocean from 2006 to 2010 in (a) spring, (b) summer, (c) fall and (d) winter. The curves in red are fitted using the least squares method. The lines of constant density are shown in the figure.

Table 1. Seasonal mean MLD for 2006–10.

	MLD (m)
	Max.	Min.	Mean	Std. Dev.	Mean in 2006
Spring	118	29	81	21	94
Summer	59	25	33	6	30
Fall	77	35	62	7	66
Winter	179	49	101	21	116

Fig. 4 Distribution of the multi-year seasonal mean MLD (units are metres) in (a) spring, (b) summer, (c) fall and (d) winter.

Fig. 5 Current field in spring. (a) current field at 10 m computed from Argo data, (b) current field at 200 m computed from Argo data, (c) geostrophic current field extracted from altimetric data, and (d) current field at 10 m computed from Levitus data.

Fig. 6 As in Fig. 5 but for summer.

Fig. 7 As in Fig. 5 but for fall.

Fig. 8 As in Fig. 5 but for winter.

Fig. 9 Vertical distribution of the combined seasonal longitudinal current (obtained from the current derived from Argo data with the Ekman drift current) speed contour along the section east of Taiwan Island shown in Fig. 1a (units cm s⁻¹; the black contours denote the northward current while the grey contours denote the southward current) in (a) spring, (b) summer, (c) fall and (d) winter.

Table 2. Seasonal variations of the Kuroshio transport east of Taiwan Island.

	Transport (Sv)
	Depth-Integrated Transport	Southward Transport	Northward Transport	Northward Ekman Transport	Northward transport (Chu, 1976)	Northward transport (Yuan et al., 1998)
Spring	13.6	0.8	14.4	0.19	29.6	—
Summer	10.6	0.9	11.5	0.12	25.0	30.0
Fall	17.1	0.8	17.9	0.16	33.4	—
Winter	15.2	0.7	15.9	0.28	—	—

Chu , T.-Y. 1976 . Study of the Kuroshio Current between Taiwan and Ishigakijima . Acta Oceanographica Taiwanica , 6 : 1 – 24 .

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Yuan , Y. , Kaneko , A. , Su , J. , Zhu , X. , Liu , Y. , Gohda , N. and Chen , H. 1998 . The Kuroshio east of Taiwan and in the East China Sea and the currents east of Ryukyu Islands during early summer of 1996 . Journal of Oceanography , 54 ( 3 ) : 217 – 226 . (doi:10.1007/BF02751697)

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