Remote sensing and validation of the South China Sea western boundary current in December 2003, 2004 and 2005

Patterns of the surface South China Sea western boundary current (SCSwbc) in December 2003, 2004 and 2005 were explored using remote sensing sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level anomaly (SLA) and validated by data from drifting buoys and model output. Paths of the surface SCSwbc were diverse in the northern SCS because of eddies in 2003 and 2004 and a zonal band of high SLA. The maximal speeds of SCSwbc in the western SCS exceeded 1.5ms^-1 at the southeast of Vietnamese coast. In December 2004, the latitude of the maximal speed shifted southwards more than 2° to 10° N than the other two years.