South China Sea Institute of Oceanology grain First prize of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, 2007
Title: Oceanic Variability in the Tropics and its Climatic Effects
(First prize of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province, 2007)
Academies: South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, CAS; First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration; Ocean University of China; Institute of Atmospheric Physics, CAS; Institute of Oceanology, CAS
Achievers: Dongxiao Wang, Qi Wang, Shuqun Cai, Guohong Fang, Rongfeng Li, Zijun Gan, Yiquan Qi, Zexun Wei, Wendong Fang, Qiang Xie, Jilin Sun, Ping Shi, Jinnian Chen
Introduction:
Climatic abnormities happened frequently in the recent decades, and it has impacted on the development of human society and economy greatly. Scientists are now dedicating on the study of climatic changes which are aroused by both natural variability in the earth system and human activities. Large-scale air-sea interaction and climatic changes study is a foreland of Oceanography and Atmospheric Science. The South China Sea (SCS) and its adjacent tropical Oceans are component of the largest warm pool in the world, and they are sensitive key area of air-sea interaction. Study in the mechanism of oceanic variability in the Tropics and its climatic effects is significant for improve the prediction level of disaster climate, resource exploitation and environment protection in the SCS.
The object of this project is to understand the Oceanic variability in the SCS and adjacent Tropics and its effects on climate and weather in China. We discussed the variability mechanism of the SCS and its adjacent Tropics, the internal “pathway” of tropics and subtropics and decadal change, combining many methods in physical oceanography research such as multi-space-time ocean observations, dynamical diagnosis, data assimilation analysis and ocean model study. We have taken part in the global cooperation and competition through the study of defining of the Pacific circulation index and its climatological significance, barotropic and baroclinic Pacific characteristic and, interaction between Indonesian Throughflow and the SCS Throughflow.
The primary discoveries of this project are focus on oceanic dynamics of the SCS and large-scale air-sea interaction. We have gained great evolutions on the observation and simulation of tropic ocean circulation, seasonal-to-decadal variability of tropic ocean thermocline, interannual air-sea coupling characteristic in the Tropics, the SCS warm event, oceanic data assimilation, interannual and decadal variability and numerical study in the Indo-Pacific Oceans. Simultaneity, we have exploited some important study area such as the climatic impact of ENSO on China and East Asian, mid-latitude and Arctic Oscillation (AO) climate study, which enriched the scientific connotation of “Oceanic Variability in the Tropics and its Climatic Effects” and promoted the development of this research foreland greatly. Our results offer new observation truth and theory vision for tropical ocean science, new forecast index for the SCS monsoon, significant support for military oceanography, and young scientists for marine science climate study. We are taking part in the global competition through abroad international cooperation (such as CLIVAR and GODAE), expanding our influence in the international community of physical oceanography and climate study.
