Spatial and Temporal Scale Variations of Sea Surface Temperature in the East Sea Using NOAA/AVHRR Data |
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| Authors: | Kyung-Ae Park Jong Yul Chung |
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| Institution: | (1) Research Institute of Oceanography, Seoul National University, Korea;(2) Department of Oceanography, Seoul National University, Korea |
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| Abstract: | Sea surface temperature fields in the East Sea are composed of various spatial structures such as eddies, fronts, filaments,
turbulent-like features and other mesoscale variations associated with the oceanic circulations of the East Sea. These complex
SST structures have many spatial scales and evole with time. Semi-monthly averaged SST distributions based on extensive satellite
observations of SSTs from 1990 through 1995 were constructed to examine the characteristics of their spatial and temporal
scale variations by using statistical methods of multi-dimensional autocorrelation functions and spectral analysis. Two-dimensional
autocorrelation functions in the central part of the East Sea revealed that most of the spatial SST structures are anisotropic
in the shape of ellipsoids with minor axes of about 90–290 km and major axes of 100–400 km. Two dimensional spatial scale
analysis demonstrated a consistent pattern of seasonal variation that the scales appear small in winter and spring, increase
gradually to summer, and then decrease again until the spring of the next year. These structures also show great spatial inhomogeneity
and rapid temporal change on time scales as short as a semi-month in some cases. The slopes in spectral energy density spectra
of SSTs show characteristics quite similar to horizontal and geostrophic turbulence. Temporal spectra at each latitude are
demonstrated by predominant peaks of one and two cycles per year in all regions of the East Sea, implying that SSTs present
very strong annual and semi-annual variations.
This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
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| Keywords: | Sea surface temperature semi-monthly averaged SST spatial and temporal scales autocorrelation functions seasonal variations geostrophic turbulence |
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