Acta Oceanol. Sin., 2014, Vol. 33, No. 9, P. 1–11 DOI: 10.1007/s13131-014-0517-3 http://www.hyxb.org.cn E-mail:
[email protected] Ventilation of the Sulu Sea retrieved from historical data LI Li1*, GAN Zijun2 1 Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen 361005, China 2 State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanoglogy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China Received 8 April 2014; accepted 28 May 2014 ©The Chinese Society of Oceanography and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014 Abstract Based on historical observations, ventilation of the Sulu Sea (SS) is investigated and, its interbasin exchange is also partly discussed. The results suggest that near the surface the water renewal process not only oc- curs through the Mindoro Strait (MS) and the Sibutu Passage, but also depends on the inflows through the Surigao Strait and the Bohol Sea from the Pacific and through the Balabac Strait from the South China Sea (SCS). Both inflows are likely persistent year round and their transports might not be negligible. Below the surface, the core layer of the Subtropical Lower Water (SLW) lies at about 200 m, which enters the SS through the Mindoro Strait not hampered by topography. Moreover, there is no indication of SLW inflow through the Sibutu Passage even though the channel is deep enough to allow its passage. The most significant ventilation process of the SS takes place in depths from 200 m to about 1 200 m where intermediate convection driven by quasi-steady inflows through the Mindoro and Panay straits (MS-PS) dominates.