dominates, specially when the northeast winds are weak. This northward current could be originated from the SCS [Chuang, 1986]. By analyzing the water properties southwest of Taiwan, the SCS water is frequently found. It mixes with the Kuroshio water and moves to the north. Owing to the limited observations, the water circulation pattern and the evolution of monsoon and Mei-Yu in SCS are not well understood. Therefore, the first phase of our national SCS program concentrates on the data collection and process study. The development of numerical model and ability of forecast will be followed. In the next section, the proposed fieldwork and its time frame are introduced.
3.2. Fieldwork in 1996-1999
Since our resource is limited, the proposed fieldwork generally concentrates in the northern part of the SCS. We are looking forward to cooperating with other nations and institutes, specially of the Southeast Asian countries. The proposed fieldwork can be generally divided into two parts. One is to emphasize in the northern-central SCS while the other is in the Taiwan and Luzon Straits.
The work in the northern-central basin includes deployment of three ATLAS buoys of the newest generation, three subsurface ADCPs, three ATLAS buoys and Argos drifters, installation of two island tidal stations, and measurements of large-scale hydrographic and marine boundary layer. The newest generation of ATLAS buoys will be able to measure winds, air temperature, relative humidity, rainfall., short wave radiation, Sea Surface Temperature (SST), Sea Surface Salinity (SSS), subsurface temperature at 10 depths, and subsurface salinity at 3 depths (real time). This is a joint work with PMEL/NOAA which
