AUTHOR=Chen Liang , Xiong Xuejun , Zheng Quanan , Rong Lintai , Wang Yingjie , Gong Qinglong TITLE=Analysis of mooring-observed bottom current on the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea JOURNAL=Frontiers in Marine Science VOLUME=10 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2023.1164790 DOI=10.3389/fmars.2023.1164790 ISSN=2296-7745 ABSTRACT=
The bottom current is an important component of the three-dimensional ocean circulation, which is of significance for the safeties of ocean bottom engineering and facilities, the research on sediment and pollutant transports, and the ecological environment. Due to the lack of observation data, research on the bottom current in the South China Sea (SCS) has been limited. This study systematically analyzes bottom currents from 0.5 to 5 m above the seafloor based on 20-month-long mooring observations on the shelf slope west of the Dongsha Atoll. The spectral analysis results indicate that currents induced by the internal tides and the internal solitary waves (ISWs) comprise dominant constituents of bottom currents with velocity amplitudes up to