An N-shape thermal front in the western South Yellow Sea in winter

An N-shape thermal front in the western South Yellow Sea (YS) in winter was detected using Advanced Very High Resolution Radiation (AVHRR) Sea Surface Temperature data and in-situ observations with a merged front-detecting method. The front, which exists from late October through early March, consists of western and eastern wings extending roughly along the northeast-southwest isobaths with a southeastward middle segment across the 20-50 m isobaths. There are north and south inflexions connecting the middle segment with the western and eastern wings, respectively. The middle segment gradually moves southwestward from November through February with its length increasing from 62 km to 107 km and the southern inflexion moving from 36.2A degrees N to 35.3A degrees N. A cold tongue is found to coexist with the N-shape front, and is carried by the coastal jet penetrating southward from the tip of the Shandong Peninsula into the western South YS as revealed by a numerical simulation. After departing from the coast, the jet flows as an anti-cyclonic recirculation below 10 m depth, trapping warmer water originally carried by the compensating Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC). A northwestward flowing branch of the YSWC is also found on the lowest level south of the front. The N-shape front initially forms between the cold tongue and warm water involved in the subsurface anti-cyclonical recirculation and extends upwards to the surface through vertical advection and mixing. Correlation analyses reveal that northerly and easterly winds tend to be favorable to the formation and extension of the N-shape front probably through strengthening of the coastal jet and shifting the YSWC pathway eastward, respectively.