Detection and characteristics analysis of the western subarctic front using the high-resolution SST product

Changyuan Chen; Chen Wang; Huimin Li; Denghui Hu; Gang Li; Xin Chen; Yijun He

doi:10.1007/s13131-022-2102-5

Volume 42 Issue 6

Jun. 2023

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Changyuan Chen, Chen Wang, Huimin Li, Denghui Hu, Gang Li, Xin Chen, Yijun He. Detection and characteristics analysis of the western subarctic front using the high-resolution SST product[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2023, 42(6): 24-32. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2102-5

Citation:

Changyuan Chen, Chen Wang, Huimin Li, Denghui Hu, Gang Li, Xin Chen, Yijun He. Detection and characteristics analysis of the western subarctic front using the high-resolution SST product[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2023, 42(6): 24-32. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2102-5

Citation:

Changyuan Chen, Chen Wang, Huimin Li, Denghui Hu, Gang Li, Xin Chen, Yijun He. Detection and characteristics analysis of the western subarctic front using the high-resolution SST product[J]. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 2023, 42(6): 24-32. doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2102-5

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Detection and characteristics analysis of the western subarctic front using the high-resolution SST product

doi: 10.1007/s13131-022-2102-5

Changyuan Chen^{1, 2},
Chen Wang^{1, 2
,
,},
Huimin Li^{1, 2},
Denghui Hu³,
Gang Li^{1, 2},
Xin Chen^{1, 2},
Yijun He^{1, 2}

1.
School of Marine Sciences, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
2.
Key Laboratory of Space Ocean Remote Sensing and Application, Ministry of Natural Resources, Beijing 100081, China
3.
Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201203, China

Funds: The Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province under contract No. BK20210666; the National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract Nos 41620104003 and 42006163; the Startup Foundation for Introducing Talent of Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology; the National Key Research and Development Program of China under contract No. 2021YFB3901004; the Graduate Innovation Project of Jiangsu Province under contract No. KYCX21_0980.

More Information

Corresponding author: cwang@nuist.edu.cn
Received Date: 2022-06-05
Accepted Date: 2022-09-13

Available Online: 2023-06-21

Publish Date: 2023-06-25

Abstract

Abstract

Oceanic front plays a significant role in the ocean vertical mixing and the regulation of air-sea interaction, among others. The western branch of the subarctic front (WSAF) located in the Northwest Pacific has attained lots of attention given its strong intensity and widespread influence on this region. In this study, we take advantage of the merged sea surface temperature (SST) at a high spatial resolution of 0.05° to investigate the characteristics of WSAF. The front detection algorithm that combines the Sobel operator and histogram analysis is adopted. It is advantageous in both preserving the front intensity represented by the SST gradient as well as reducing the detection noise level. We systematically applied this algorithm to the daily SST products for front detection, based on which the WSAF characteristics including its intensity, occurrence of frequency, latitudinal position and coverage area are then extracted. WSAF is mostly located within a small latitude range between 40°N and 41°N with a clear seasonal trend in its intensity that peaks in the winter and troughs in the summer. The seasonal variation of WSAF intensity is almost consistent throughout the temporal period of interest from 2010 to 2018. Similar seasonality is observed for its occurrence of frequency with the winter-summer contrast reaching up to 5%. The findings presented here shall help better interpret the WSAF characteristics in the long-term run as well as their impact on the regional weather and climate patterns at high spatial resolution.
- sea surface temperature,
- western subarctic front,
- front detection,
- characteristics analysis

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References(38)

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