Distribution Characteristics of Mean Seawater Temperature Related to the Thermocline in the Deep-Water Area of Nansha

On the bisis of determining the there elements of themocline ( depth [upper bound depth ], thickness and intensity ) and the maximum vertical temperature gradient of the surveying station, the paper calculates the mean temperature of the Nansha deep-water surveying station within the upper-bound depth layer of thermocline and the mean temperature below the lowerbound depth of thermocline between the 300m and 800m layers,respectively. Analysis indicates that the horizontal distribution of mean seawater temperature shows a distinct trend of the lowtemperature seawater slowly moving from tbe northeast to the southeast of Nansha,which seems to have been driven by the Northeast Monsoon. The larger the vertical temperature radient is, the greater is its capability of preventing the heat of the upper seawater from diffusing into the deeper layers on the vertical direction.