Intraseasonal fluctuations in low-level meridional winds over the south China Sea and the western Pacific and monsoonal convection over Indonesia and northern Australia

1988 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. L. Sumathipala ◽  
T. Murakami
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Northern Australia ◽  
The South ◽  
Low Level ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Meridional Winds ◽  
The Western Pacific

scholarly journals The South China Sea: A Geopolitical Analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Martin D Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The United States ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
The South ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Geographic Setting ◽  
Territorial Water ◽  
The Western Pacific

Since 1945 the South China Sea and the western Pacific has functioned as an uncontested global common patrolled by overwhelming U.S. naval and air power projected from a series of peripheral and over the horizon bases. The dramatic rise of China alters this situation and has transformed the South China Sea into a frontier of control as China seeks to morph this maritime theater into a landward extension of the Chinese coast where it can deploy land-based tactics into an arena previously dominated by maritime power and tactics to secure the South China Sea as a de facto territorial water that serves multiple Chinese strategic interests. Hence, the attempt by a land-based Eurasian power (China) to carve a permanent bridgehead into Spykman’s Eurasian maritime periphery. Against, this trend the United States has countered with President Obama’s Asian Pivot. However, the implementation of the Asian Pivot is limited by several post Cold War developments and certain constraints inherent in the geographic setting of the South China Sea. Beyond the South China Sea, the geographic setting favors the U.S. and its allies. Consequently, American options acting singly or in coalition with other nations, most notably Japan and Australia, remain more flexible and able to serve as a long term counterweight to Chinese force projection capabilities into the western Pacific proper. 

scholarly journals The South China Sea is not a mini-Atlantic: plate-edge rifting vs intra-plate rifting

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 902-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinxian Wang ◽  
Chi-Yue Huang ◽  
Jian Lin ◽  
Zhimin Jian ◽  
Zhen Sun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Passive Margin ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Plate Edge ◽  
China Sea ◽  
The Western Pacific

Abstract The South China Sea, as ‘a non-volcanic passive margin basin’ in the Pacific, has often been considered as a small-scale analogue of the Atlantic. The recent ocean drilling in the northern South China Sea margin found, however, that the Iberian model of non-volcanic rifted margin from the Atlantic does not apply to the South China Sea. In this paper, we review a variety of rifted basins and propose to discriminate two types of rifting basins: plate-edge type such as the South China Sea and intra-plate type like the Atlantic. They not only differ from each other in structure, formation process, lifespan and geographic size, but also occur at different stages of the Wilson cycle. The intra-plate rifting occurred in the Mesozoic and gave rise to large oceans, whereas the plate-edge rifting took place mainly in the mid-Cenozoic, with three-quarters of the basins concentrated in the Western Pacific. As a member of the Western Pacific system of marginal seas, the South China Sea should be studied not in isolation on its origin and evolution, but in a systematic context to include also its neighboring counterparts.

Diurnal Cycle of Coastal Convection in the South China Sea Region and Modulation by the BSISO

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-53
Author(s):  
Weixin Xu ◽  
Steven A. Rutledge ◽  
Kyle Chudler
Keyword(s):  
South China Sea ◽  
South China ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
The South China Sea ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Total Precipitation ◽  
The South ◽  
Low Level ◽  
China Sea ◽  
Diurnal Cycles

AbstractUsing 17-yr spaceborne precipitation radar measurements, this study investigates how diurnal cycles of rainfall and convective characteristics over the South China Sea region are modulated by the Boreal Summer Intraseasonal Oscillation (BSISO). Generally, diurnal cycles change significantly between suppressed and active BSISO periods. Over the Philippines and Indochina, where the low-level monsoon flows impinge on coast lines, diurnal cycles of rainfall and many convective properties are enhanced during suppressed periods. During active periods, diurnal variation of convection is still significant over land but diminishes over water. Also, afternoon peaks of rainfall and MCS populations over land are obviously extended in active periods, mainly through the enhancement of stratiform precipitation. Over Borneo, where the prevailing low-level winds are parallel to coasts, diurnal cycles (both onshore and offshore) are actually stronger during active periods. Radar profiles also demonstrate a pronounced nocturnal offshore propagation of deep convection over western Borneo in active periods. During suppressed periods, coastal afternoon convection over Borneo is reduced, and peak convection occurs over the mountains until the convective suppression is overcome in the late afternoon or evening. A major portion (> 70%) of the total precipitation over Philippines and Indochina during suppressed periods falls from afternoon isolated to medium-sized systems (< 10,000 km2), but more than 70% of the active BSISO rainfall is contributed by nocturnal (after 18 LT) broad precipitation systems (> 10,000 km2). However, offshore total precipitation is dominated by large precipitation systems (> 10,000 km2) regardless of BSISO phases and regions.

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