Transport reversals at Taiwan strait during October and November 1999

The observed transport reversals at Taiwan Strait during October and November 1999 are examined by analytic solutions, a numerical ocean model, and the prediction from a real-time, North Pacific Ocean, data-assimilating model. Wind stress explains a majority of the transport reversals. The reversals are forced by a combination of the local wind and the remote wind in the Yellow and East China Seas. The connection between the Yellow and East China Seas wind stress and transport reversals at Taiwan Strait is provided by coastally trapped waves. The waves are generated by the northerly winter wind bursts in the Yellow Sea and are enhanced in the East China Sea by alongshore northerly wind.