文献类型：期刊文献

英文题名：Impact of the sea surface temperature front over the northern South China Sea on low cloud transition: an observational and numerical case study

作者：Long, Jingchao[1,2,3,4];Lin, Jinghong[5];Zhuang, Shuqi[1,2,3];Zhu, Lingjing[1,2,3,4];Luo, Jing[6];Xie, Zihan[1,2,3];Chen, Yang[7];Xu, Jianjun[1,2]

机构：[1]Guangdong Ocean Univ, South China Sea Inst Marine & Meteorol, Coll Ocean & Meteorol, 1 Haida Rd, Zhanjiang 524088, Peoples R China;[2]Guangdong Ocean Univ, Weastern Guangdong Key Lab Marine Meteorol Disaste, Zhanjiang, Peoples R China;[3]Guangdong Ocean Univ, Resources & Environm Continental Shelf Sea & Deep, Key Lab Climate, Zhanjiang, Peoples R China;[4]Minist Nat Resources, Key Lab Space Ocean Remote Sensing & Applicat, Beijing, Peoples R China;[5]Taishan Meteorol Bur, Jiangmen, Peoples R China;[6]Huizhou Meteorol Bur, Huizhou, Peoples R China;[7]Xichang Satellite Launch Ctr, Wenchang, Peoples R China

年份：2026

卷号：64

期号：8

外文期刊名：CLIMATE DYNAMICS

收录：SCI-EXPANDED(收录号：WOS:001840201100001)、、Scopus(收录号：2-s2.0-105046507106)、WOS

基金：The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive review comments, which certainly helped to improve our manuscript. This study was jointly supported by the Natural Science Foundation from Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation Meteorological Joint Fund (grant no. 2025A1515510014; 2024A1515510034), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 41905006), Program for scientific research start-up funds of Guangdong Ocean University (grant no. R19018), Tropical Ocean Environment in Western Coastal Waters Observation and Research Station of Guangdong Province (grant no. 2024B1212040008), Innovative Team Plan for Department of Education of Guangdong Province (No. 2023KCXTD015, No.2024KCXTD042).

语种：英文

外文关键词：SST fronts; Northern South China Sea; CALIPSO; Low cloud transition

外文摘要：Sea surface temperature (SST) fronts exert a strong influence on regional climate, yet their effects over the northern South China Sea (NSCS) remain poorly understood. Using CALIPSO satellite observations, ERA5 reanalysis, and high-resolution numerical simulations, this study investigates the climatology of low cloud transitions and a typical case on 8 January 2022 during a cold air outbreak crossing the SST front. The aim is to clarify how the SST front modulates the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) and low cloud evolution. Results show that: (1) Under the influence of continental cold high pressure, northeasterly flows transport cold air across the SST front, forming a typical MABL structure with a stable upper layer and turbulent lower layer. (2) In the frontal zone, both cloud-top and cloud-base heights rise by up to 500 m, and cloud cover increases sharply, mainly due to a boundary-layer secondary circulation induced by the SST front. (3) South of the front, low cloud cover decreases while the cloud layer continuously lifts, associated with MABL decoupling driven by SST warming and latent heat release, consistent with the "deepening-warming-decoupling" mechanism. (4) Under northeasterly winds (i.e., along-frontal wind), the response of the MABL to the SST front is primarily dominated by pressure adjustment mechanism. A relatively weaker secondary circulation across the front still plays an important role in the evolution of low cloud heights and low cloud types across the front. These findings highlight the important role of SST fronts in regulating MABL structure and low cloud transitions over the NSCS.