ThisstudyanalyzestheIshii700mheatcontent(HC)intheSouthChinaSea(SCS).Duringthe1978-2012period,theHCintheSCSchangeddramaticallyoninterannualtimescales.Threemainfindingsemergedfromtheanalysis.1)Thefirstspatialpatternoftheempiricalorthogonalfunction(EOF1)wasconsistentlydistributedovermostoftheSCS,whereasthatofthesecondempiricalorthogonalfunction(EOF2)showedadipolesignal.2)TheHCanomaliesintheSCSwerecloselyrelatedtotheSCSsummermonsoonintensity.WhentheHCovermostoftheSCSincreased(decreased)inpreviouswinter,theSCSsummermonsoonwasstrengthened(weakened).Therefore,theHCbehaviorintheSCSduringpreviouswintercanwellpredicttheintensityoftheSCSsummermonsoon.3)HCanomaliesintheSCSlargelyinfluencethemonsoonandWalkercirculations,inturnaffectingthewesternPacificsubtropicalhighandfinallytheSCSsummermonsoon.
