Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103658
Title: Effects of the cold tongue in the South China Sea on the monsoon, diurnal cycle and rainfall in the maritime continent
Authors: Koseki, Shunya
Koh, Tieh-Yong
Teo, Chee-Kiat
Keywords: DRNTU::Social sciences::Geography::Natural disasters
Issue Date: 2012
Source: Koseki, S., Koh, T. Y., & Teo, C. K. (2013). Effects of the cold tongue in the South China Sea on the monsoon, diurnal cycle and rainfall in the Maritime Continent. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 139(675), 1566-1582
Series/Report no.: Quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Abstract: We investigate the effects of the cold tongue in the South China Sea (SCS) on the winter monsoon, rainfall and diurnal cycle in the maritime continent using a numerical model verified with satellite rainfall and reanalysis data. Composite analysis of the observation and reanalysis data based on cold tongue index indicates that the penetration of the monsoon to Java Sea is enhanced when the cold tongue is strong. A sensitivity experiment without the cold tongue shows that the winter monsoon is diminished over SCS and around coastal regions because of anomalous low-level cyclonic circulation associated with enhanced convection over SCS due to the warmer sea surface temperature (SST). The diurnal cycle, in particular the night–morning rainfall, over the sea in coastal regions is modified. The effect on daytime rainfall over the land is relatively weaker. Along the northern coast of Java far from the SCS, the night–morning rainfall is much reduced over the Java Sea when the cold tongue is suppressed because of the weakened land-breeze front as a result of the weakened northerly monsoon. In contrast, the afternoon–evening rainfall on Java Island is slightly enhanced, showing that the local impacts are not simply the result of large-scale subsidence from the convective anomaly in the SCS. Along the northwestern coast of Borneo adjacent to the SCS, the weakened winter monsoon tends to reduce the rainfall at the land-breeze front near the coastline. On the other hand, the warmer SST forces a stronger land breeze and the weakened monsoon encourages further and faster offshore propagation of the land-breeze front. Consequently, the rainfall peak shifts further offshore in the sensitivity experiment. We conclude that the cold tongue has two effects, the sustenance of a strong monsoon (indirect effect) and the cooling of local SST (direct effect), which have opposite influences on the diurnal cycle in the Maritime Continent.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103658
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/19300
ISSN: 0035-9009
DOI: 10.1002/qj.2052
Schools: School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences 
Research Centres: Temasek Laboratories 
Earth Observatory of Singapore 
Rights: © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society.
Fulltext Permission: none
Fulltext Availability: No Fulltext
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