On the Rough Sea Occurrence and its trend in the South China Sea

 

Osinowo Adekunle Ayodotun, Xiaopei Lin, Zhao Dongliang and Wang Zhifeng

 

 

Full Lenghth Research Paper I Published April,2016

 

Journal of Physical Science and Environmental Studies Vol. 2 (1), pp. 6-22

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a thirty year (1976 to 2005) spatio-temporal variation and trends in the occurrence of rough sea events in the South China Sea (SCS). The largest percentage frequencies of rough sea occurred around large regions within the central and northern SCS. Rough sea occurrence is highest during winter (up to 16%). In the central SCS, rough sea occurred most often (25 to 30%) in December. The regional distribution of the annual trends of rough sea occurrence showed that increasing trends are most significant (0.1%-0.13% yr^-1) around Luzon strait and adjacent waters. The area extent of the significant increase in rough sea is largest in winter. A significant increasing trend in rough sea occupied the largest region in the northern and central SCS in December with the strongest trend (up to 1% yr^-1) around Xisha. The rough sea exhibits a significant increasing trend of 0.032%yr^-1 as a whole in the SCS. The trend (0.12%yr^-1) is strongest in winter. Monthly and diurnal trend analysis also showed that the trend is most significant in December (0.25% yr^-1) and at 0hr (0.034% yr^-1). Areas around Hainan, Kalimantan and Palawan with general low values of rough sea occurrence are associated with shadowing, island blocking, refraction or complex topography.

Key words: Annual, Percentage, Seasonal, Significant, Monthly, Significant wave height, Diurnal and Wave watch III (WW3).

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