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Observation of the supercritical Pearl River plume front under the downwelling-favorable winds

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Abstract

For the Pearl River plume, the supercritical, distinct plume front appears in downwelling-favorable winds, which is easily observed due to the distinct boundary between the plume water and the ambient water. In this paper, in situ and satellite observations of a plume front are utilized to explore the Pearl River plume front properties under the downwelling-favorable winds. Field observations clearly show frontal structure, especially the two-layer structure in the plume water and the downward- motion of water in the frontal region. The Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) images are also analyzed to unveil the plume front: there is a white stripe on the west side out of the river mouth under downwelling-favorable winds, which is identified as a supercritical plume front, and the width of the plume front is about 250 m. The normalized velocity gradient shows the intense velocity convergence in the front region. Also, analyses of ASAR images imply that the river discharge plays an important role in controlling the location and shape of the front.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physical and Environmental Oceanography, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Peng Bai

  2. College of Information Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    YanZhen Gu

  3. Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    YanZhen Gu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Lin Luo

  5. Qinhuangdao Marine Environmental Monitoring Central Station of SOA, Qinhuangdao, 066000, China

    WanLei Zhang

  6. 91039 Army, PLA, Beijing, 102401, China

    KaiGuo Fan

Authors
  1. Peng Bai
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  2. YanZhen Gu
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  3. Lin Luo
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  4. WanLei Zhang
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  5. KaiGuo Fan
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Correspondence to YanZhen Gu.

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Bai, P., Gu, Y., Luo, L. et al. Observation of the supercritical Pearl River plume front under the downwelling-favorable winds. Sci. China Earth Sci. 58, 2059–2066 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5108-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-5108-4

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