Wavenumber spectra of the chlorophyll “a” concentration and the sea surface temperature in the area of the anticyclonic eddy in the South China Sea

The wavenumber spectra of the chlorophyll “a” concentration (Chla) and the sea surface temperature (SST) were obtained from the data of the shipborne fluorometer and satellite measurements in the area of the anticyclonic eddy in the South China Sea in February—March 2004. In the southwestern part of the eddy, the slope of SST spectrum, received from the ship data was − 2.6 ± 0.1 at scales of 3–110 km. At the northeastern edge of the eddy, the slope of SST spectrum was − 1.7 ± 0.1 at the scales of 6–60 km. The slopes of Chla spectra were on average two times flatter than the slopes of the SST spectra, which was most likely due to the predominance of biological factors connected with winter phytoplankton bloom in SCS. The comparison with the spectra calculated from the Level 2 data of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Terra and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS)/SeaStar showed that the slopes of SST spectra coincided within a narrow margin of errors, but the slopes of Chla spectra differed over two times. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed.