The spatio-temporal variation of aerosol in South
China Sea by using satellite data
Shin-Jie Ho and Shih-Jen Huang
Department of marine environmental informatics, National Taiwan Ocean
University
Abstract
In this research, the sea surface temperature(SST) and aerosol optical depth
data(AOD) of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro- radiometer) Aqua, sea
surface wind of QuikSCAT(Quik Scatterometer) and chlorophyll concentration
data(Chlo) form SeaWiFS (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor) are used to
investigate the spatio-temporal variation of aerosol in South China Sea(SCS).
The climatology data shows the prevailing wind of SCS is dominated by the
northeast and southwest monsoon. The northeast monsoon is in October to April and
southwest monsoon is in May to September. During the northeast monsoon period, the
max wind speed is in December (about 11m/s), the SST is 20oC~29 oC and the Chlo is
about 0.2μg/l~0.9μg/l. The atmospheric suspending materials maybe come from the
Asian dust and the pollutant or industrial emission from many maga-cities. The high
AOD value appears during May and July. Sometimes, all the SCS have high AOD in
the strong breeze. In the southwest monsoon period, the max wind speed appeared in
August(about 8m/s) , the SST in SCS is 27oC~32oC and the Chlo is about 0.1μg/l ~
0.7μg/l , its high concentration appear around Sunda Shelf. The main source of
aerosol included biomass burning in Sumatra and Borneo, from August to October,
the impacted area included middle and south of SCS.
After ignore the upwelling effect, the relationship between Chlo and AOD is
discussed. In the southwest monsoon, there are high correlation all over the SCS in
June and July. In the August and September, the high correlation value appears on the
southern SCS and Thai bay. In the northeast monsoon, the high correlation area is not
obvious but the northern SCS have high relationship between Chlo and AOD in
December.