A three-dimensional mixed finite-difference Galerkin function model for the oceanic circulation in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea in the presence of M2 tide

Abstract

This paper, as a sequel to Lee et al. (Continental Shelf Research 20 (2000) 863) describes the simulation of the oceanic current in the Yellow Sea (YS) and the East China Sea (ECS) with forcings of M2 tide as well as oceanic flows prescribed at the open boundary. The model is three dimensional and barotropic, and uses a finite-difference approximation in the horizontal plane and function expansions in the vertical direction. The bottom stress is represented by the conventional quadratic friction law and the vertical eddy viscosity takes a flow-related form. A radiation condition is employed along the open boundaries to handle the M2 tide and oceanic flows simultaneously. From a series of numerical calculations with M2 tide forcing only, the bottom friction coefficient, 0.0035, has been found as an optimum value with which RMS errors (amplitude, phase lag) are calculated as 16.4 cm, 19.5°. Calculations have also been carried out to investigate the effects of using an empirical function expansion for the current profiles below the main stream of Kuroshio. Despite the bias of the tidal propagation and the associated flux, the tidal chart has been calculated with tolerable accuracy. The model calculation confirms the results of Exp. 4 of Lee et al. (Continental Shelf Research 20 (2000) 863), in that the tide-enhanced bottom friction effectively blocks the penetration of northwestward flow into the YS known as the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC). The presence of small gyres, however, complicates the circulation near the southern YS and west of Cheju Island and tidal residual currents omnipresent at the shallow sea region off the Chinese coast between 32°N and 34.5°N also contribute to the suppression of the formation of the YSWC. The distribution of the sea surface elevation averaged over the M2 tidal period is qualitatively in good agreement with that of Yanagi et al. (Continental Shelf Research 17 (1997) 655), calculated from the TOPEX altimetric data. Calculation with an inflow of 25.1 Sv through open boundaries on both sides of Taiwan shows that 1.15 Sv goes through Korea/Tsushima Strait, 0.36 Sv through the north of Tokara Strait (between Kyushu and Yakushima Island), 20.95 Sv through Tokara Strait and 2.77 Sv through open boundaries along the Ryukyu Islands. Calculations with fortnightly variation in M2 open boundary forcings show that the oceanic circulation as well as tidal residuals vary significantly in the southern Yellow Sea; penetration of oceanic flows into the Yellow Sea occurs deeper at the neap tide than at the spring tide. The seasonal variation in the volume transport of the oceanic inflows/outflows without baroclinic effects has little effect on the exchange between the YS and the ECS. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.