Response of the South China Sea to Tropical Cyclone Ernie 1996

A moving tropical cyclone is an intense localized source of surface wind st ress and wind stress curl that produces a significant response in the ocean environment, especially in the ocean thermal structure, the upper ocean cu rrents, and the sea surface elevation. Such a response has been well identi fied in the open-ocean region, but not in the coastal ocean region. In this study we use the Princeton Ocean Model with 20 km horizontal resolution an d 23 sigma levels conforming to a realistic bottom topography to identify t he response of the South China Sea to Tropical Cyclone Ernie 1996, Results show strong similarities in the responses between open ocean and coastal re gions, including near-surface strong asymmetric response such as divergent currents with near-inertial oscillations, significant sea surface temperatu re cooling, blase to the right of the storm track, sea surface depressions in the wake of the storm, and subsurface intense upwelling and cooling at t he base of the mixed layer to the right of the storm track. The unique feat ures of the SCS response to Ernie are also discussed.