Seasonal variations of several main water masses in the southern Yellow Sea and East China Sea in 2011

The seasonal variations of several main water masses in the southern Yellow Sea (SYS) and East China Sea (ECS) in 2011 were analyzed using the in-situ data collected on four cruises. There was something special in the observations for the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC), the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM) and the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) during that year. The YSWC was confirmed to be a seasonal current and its source was closely associated with the Kuroshio onshore intrusion and the northerly wind. It was also found that the YSCWM in the summer of 2011 occupied a more extensive area in comparison with the climatologically-mean case due to the abnormally powerful wind prevailing in the winter of 2010 and decaying gradually thereafter. Resulting from the reduced Changjiang River discharge, the CDW spreading toward the Cheju Island in the summer of 2011 was weaker than the long-term mean and was confined to flow southward in the other seasons. The other water masses seemed normal without noticeable anomalies in 2011. The Yellow Sea Coastal Current (YSCC) water, driven by the northerly wind, flowed southeastward as a whole except for its northeastward surface layer in summer. The Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) was the strongest in summer and the weakest in winter in its northward movement. The Kuroshio water with an enhanced onshore intrusion in autumn was stable in hydrographic features apart from the seasonal variation of its surface layer.     

A numerical study on seasonal variations of the Taiwan Warm Current

Princeton Ocean Model (POM) is employed to investigate the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) and its seasonal variations. Results show that the TWC exhibits pronounced seasonal variations in its sources, strength and flow patterns. In summer, the TWC flows northeast in straight way and reaches around 32°N; it comes mainly from the Taiwan Strait, while its lower part is from the shelf-intrusion of the Kuroshio subsurface water (KSSW). In winter, coming mainly from the shelf-intrusion of the Kuroshio northeast of Taiwan, the TWC flows northward in a winding way and reaches up around 30°N. The Kuroshio intrusion also has distinct seasonal patterns. The shelf-intrusion of KSSW by upwelling is almost the same in four seasons with a little difference in strength; it is a persistent source of the TWC. However, Kuroshio surface water (KSW) can not intrude onto the shelf in summer, while in winter the intrusion of KSW always occurs. Additional experiments were conducted to examine effects of winds and transport through     

On the Taiwan Warm Current Water

With the use of historical data from their 1982-1985 special observation at the source area of the Taiwan Warm Current the authors conducted studies to clarify the temperature and salinity characteristics, variability, and origin of the Taiwan warm Current Water, and its influence on the expanding direction of the Changjiang Diluted Water.The main results are given below.(1)The Taiwan Warm Current Water can be divided into the "Surface Water of the Taiwan Warm Current" formed due to the mixing of the Kuroshio Surface Water flowing northward along the east coast of Taiwan with the Taiwan Strait Water, and the "Deep Water of the Taiwan Warm Current" originated from Kuroshio Subsurface Water to the east of Taiwan. It is characterized by stable low temperature and stable high salinity in summer. The maximum seasonal variation and maximum secular variation of temperature and salinity are 1.87℃, 0.26‰ and 2.96℃, 0.37‰, respectively.(2)The variation in strength of the Taiwan Warm Current is the main influe     

Warming trend in northern East China Sea in recent four decades

Global warming has become a notable trend especially since an abrupt climate change in 1976. Response of the East China Sea (ECS) to the global warming trend, however, is not well understood because of sparse long-term observation. In this paper, hydrographic observation data of 1957–1996 are collected and reviewed to study climatological variability in northern ECS. Significant warming trends are found in both summer and winter. In summer, the average SST is about 0.46°C higher during the period of 1977-19...     

Seasonal variability of Kuroshio intrusion northeast of Taiwan Island as revealed by self-organizing map

The self-organizing map method is applied to satellite-derived sea-level anomaly fields of 1993-2012 to study variations of the Kuroshio intrusion northeast of Taiwan Island. Four major features are revealed, showing significant seasonal variability of the intrusion. In general, the intrusion increases （decreases） with a high （low） sea-level anomaly at the edge of the East China Sea shelf in winter （summer）. Open-ocean mesoscale eddies play an additional role in modulating the seasonal variation of the intrusion. Further analyses are needed to study eddy-Kuroshio interaction dynamics.     

Study on the seasonal variation of the suspended sediment distribution and transportation in the East China Seas based on SeaWiFS data

The monthly mean suspended sediment concentration in the upper layer of the East China Seas was derived from theretrieval of the monthly binned SeaWiFS Level 3 data during 1998 to 2006.The seasonal variation and spatial distribution of thesuspended sediment concentration in the study area were investigated.It was found that the suspended sediment distribution presentsapparent spatial characteristics and seasonal variations,which are mainly affected by the resuspension and transportation of the sus-pended sediment in the study area.The concentration of suspended sediment is high inshore and low offshore,and river mouths aregenerally high concentration areas.The suspended sediment covers a much wider area in winter than in summer,and for the samesite the concentration is generally higher in winter.In the Yellow and East China Seas the suspended sediment spreads farther to theopen sea in winter than in summer,and May and October are the transitional periods of the extension.Winds,waves,currents,ther-mocline,halocline,pycnocline as well as bottom sediment feature and distribution in the study area are important influencing factorsfor the distribution pattern.If the 10mg L-1 contour line is taken as an indicator,it appears that the transportation of suspended sedi-ment can hardly reach 124°00'E in summer or 126°00'E in winter,which is due to the obstruction of the Taiwan Warm Current andthe Kuroshio Current in the southern Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.     

A spectral mixture model analysis of the Kuroshio variability and the water exchange between the Kuroshio and the East China Sea

For understanding more about the water exchange between the Kuroshio and the East China Sea,We studied the variability of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea(ECS) in the period of 1991 to 2008 using a three-dimensional circulation model,and calculated Kuroshio onshore volume transport in the ECS at the minimum of 0.48 Sv(1 Sv ;106 m3/s) in summer and the maximum of 1.69 Sv in winter.Based on the data of WOA05 and NCEP,The modeled result indicates that the Kuroshio transport east of Taiwan Island decreased since 2000.Lateral movements tended to be stronger at two ends of the Kuroshio in the ECS than that of the middle segment.In addition,we applied a spectral mixture model(SMM) to determine the exchange zone between the Kuroshio and the shelf water of the ECS.The result reveals a significantly negative correlation(coefficient of-0.78) between the area of exchange zone and the Kuroshio onshore transport at 200 m isobath in the ECS.This conclusion brings a new view for the water exchange between the Kuroshio and the East China Sea.Additional to annual and semi-annual signals,intra-seasonal signal of probably the Pacific origin may trigger the events of Kuroshio intrusion and exchange in the ECS.     

Characteristics of Light Transmission in Summer and Winter and Its Relation on Sediment Transport in the East China Sea

Light transmission data collected from June to July 1987 and from February to March 1997 by the R/V Kexue 1 in the East China Sea were used to analyze its distribution characteristics and its relation to the sediment transport in this sea. Some results obtained were: (1) The Taiwan Warm Current flowing northwards seemed to be a barrier preventing suspended matter discharged from the Changjiang River Estuary from continuously moving southeastward and causing the suspended matter to flow along a path near 123°30′E in summer and 123°00′E in winter. (2) Suspended matter in the area adjacent to the Changjiang River Estuary could not be transported southward along the coast in summer due to opposing offshore currents including the Taiwan Warm Current flowing northward and the Changjiang Diluted Water turning northeastward. (3) The thermocline and temperature front bar suspended matter from crossing through.     

An analysis of characteristics of variation of the Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water

The Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water (or the East China Sea Upper Layer Water, or the East China Sea Subsurface Water) lying in the deep and bottom layers off the coast of Fujian-Zhejiang is one of the main watermasses in the continental shelf region of the western East China Sea. The hydrographical conditions and the fishery productions in this region are affected remarkably by the decline and growth of the Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water. Although the temperature, salinity and origin of the Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water have been investigated^[3] by oceanographers the world over, there are up to now few papers published on its characteristics of ariations (seasonal and multiyear variations). Understanding of this problem will be helpful to further characterize this watermass. For this reason, in this paper, section 28°N representing the middle Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water and section 30°N representing the northern Taiwan Warm Current Deep Water are taken for examples, and the method of similar coefficient is used for analysis of this problem. Contribution No. 861 from the Institute of Oceanology, Academia Sinica. This paper was published in Chinese inOceanologia et Limnologia, Sinica 14 (4): 357–366.     

Fuzzy set study of water mass mixing in the source region of the Tsushima Warm Current

PFS-Fuzzy classification (Lu, 1989) was used on observational data obtained during a cruise (July–August, 1987) to classify the water masses in the source area of the Tsushima Warm Current. Their mixing features were studied by using numerical index analysis of fuzzy sets. The calculated results showed there are nine water masses belonging to three basic types. The analyses suggest that, though, in summer, the Surface Water of the Tsushima Warm Current located in a strongly mixed area is a mixture of the East China Sea Mixed Water, the Kuroshio Surface Water and the Kyushu Westerm Coastal Water, it originates mainly from the Kuroshio Surface Water and its deep water comes from the Kuroshio Subsurface Water. This study reveals that 1) regions such as the intensely mixed region, the frontal zone and the transition zone, Water, it originates deep water comes from water, usually have a higher fuzzy degree; 2) water masses with higher stability and little modification have a lower fuzzy degree; and 3) mixed water has a medium fuzzy degree. The differences and similarities in the size and density of these water masses and other waters are discussed.     

Seasonal and intraseasonal variations of the surface Taiwan Warm Current

To study seasonal and intraseasonal variations of the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) in detail Rotated Empirical Orthogonal Function (REOF) and Extended Associate Pattern Analysis (EAPA) are jointly adopted with daily sea surface salinity (SSS), sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface height (SSH) datasets covering 1126 days from American Navy Experimental Real-Time East Asian Seas Ocean Nowcast System in the present paper. Results show that the first and second REOFs of SST in the southern East China Sea (SECS) account for 50.8% and 39.8% of the total variance. The surface TWC contains persistent (multi-year mean), seasonal and intraseasonal components. The persistent one mainly inosculates with the Kuroshio but the seasonal and intraseasonal ones are usually active only on the continental shelf. Its persistent component is produced by inertial flow of the Kuroshio, however its seasonal and intraseasonal ones seems coming from seasonal and intraseasonal oscillations of monsoon force. The seasonal one reaches its maximum in late summer,lasting about four months and the intraseasonal one takes place at any seasons, lasting more than 40 days.     

Analysis of seasonal variation of water masses in East China Sea

Seasonal variations of water masses in the East China Sea （ECS） and adjacent areas are investigated, based on historical data of temperature and salinity （T-S）. Dynamic and thermodynamic mechanisms that affect seasonal variations of some dominant water masses are discussed, with reference to meteorological data. In the ECS above depth 600 m, there are eight water masses in summer but only five in winter. Among these, Kuroshio Surface Water （KSW）, Kuroshio Intermediate Water （KIW）, ECS Surface Water （ECSSW）, Continental Coastal Water （CCW）, and Yellow Sea Surface Water （YSSW） exist throughout the year. Kuroshio Subsurface Water （KSSW）, ECS Deep Water （ECSDW）, and Yellow Sea Bottom Water （YSBW） are all seasonal water masses, occurring from May through October. The CCW, ECSSW and KSW all have significant seasonal variations, both in their horizontal and vertical extents and their T-S properties. Wind stress, the Kuroshio and its branch currents, and coastal currents are dynamic factors for seasonal variation in spatial extent of the CCW, KSW, and ECSSW, whereas sea surface heat and freshwater fluxes are thermodynamic factors for seasonal variations of T-S properties and thickness of these water masses. In addition, the CCW is affected by river runoff and ECSSW by the CCW and KSW.     

DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SEASONAL THERMOCLINE IN THE DEEP SEA REGION OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＸｕｅｔａｌ.(1993)ｓｔｕｄｉｅｄｔｈｅｂａｓｉｃｃｈａｒａｃｔｅｒｉｓｔｉｃｓｏｆｔｈｅｔｈｅｒｍｏｃｌｉｎｅｉｎｔｈｅｃｏｎｔｉｎｅｎｔａｌｓｈｅｌｆａｎｄｉｎｔｈｅｄｅｅｐｓｅａｒｅｇｉｏｎｏｆｔｈｅＳｏｕｔｈＣｈｉｎａＳｅａ(ＳＣＳ)ａｎｄｔｈｅｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｃｅｓｂｅｔｗｅｅｎｔｈｅｍｂｙａｎａｌｙｚｉｎｇ1907-1990ｈｉｓｔｏｒｉｃａｌｄａｔａｏｎｔｈｅＳＣＳ.Ｈｅｐｏｉｎｔｅｄｏｕｔｔｈａｔｔｈｅｔｈｅｒｍｏｃｌｉｎｅｉｎｔｈｅｄｅｅｐｓｅａｒｅｇｉｏｎｅｘｉｓ…     

Characteristics of Light Transmission in Summer and Winter and Its Relation to Sediment Transport in the East China Sea

INTRODUCTIONTheSubeiShoalandtheChangjiangRiverestuarineareainthewestoftheHuanghaiandEastChinaSeasisoneofthemarginalseasintheworld ,wheresuspendedmatterisextremelyhigh .Here ,notonlyistheretheTaiwanWarmCurrentoneoftheKuroshio’sbranchesintheEastChinaSea,butalsotheHuanghaiCoastalCurrent,andChangjiangDilutedWater.Sothestrongmixingbetweenthecoastalandoffshorewaterscomplicatessuspendedmatterdistributioninthisarea.HowthesuspendedmatterdischargedfromtheChangjiangRiverandtheabandonedHuan…     

Numerical Simulation of Wintertime Mesoscale Eddies in the East China Sea

INTRODUCTIONAnimportantachievementofoceanographysincethe 1960swasthediscoveryofmesoscaleed dieswithspatialscaleofhundredsofmeters,andtimescaleofhours;andaverageflowvelocityofabout 10cm s.Theenormousenergyofthemesoscaleeddyiscomparabletothatofacycloneoran ticycloneintheatmosphere .Themesoscaleeddyisoneoftheimportantfactorsthatdecidethechangeoftheocean .Intherecentdecades,ChineseandforeignscientistshavedonelotsofworkontheEastChinaSeasmesoscaleeddies,theformationmechanismofwhicharethefocuso…     

A modelling study of inter-annual variation of Kuroshio intrusion on the shelf of East China Sea

Inter-annual variability of the Kuroshio water intrusion on the shelf of East China Sea (ECS) was simulated with a nested global and Northwest Pacific ocean circulation model. The model analysis reveals the influence of the variability of Kuroshio transport east of Taiwan on the intrusion to the northeast of Taiwan: high correlation (r = 0.92) with the on-shore volume flux in the lower layer (50–200 m); low correlation (r = 0.50) with the on-shore flux in the upper layer (0–50 m). Spatial distribution of correlations between volume fluxes and sea surface height suggests that inter-annual variability of the Kuroshio flux east of Taiwan and its subsurface water intruding to the shelf lag behind the sea surface height anomalies in the central Pacific at 162°E by about 14 months, and could be related to wind-forced variation in the interior North Pacific that propagates westward as Rossby waves. The intrusion of Kuroshio surface water is also influenced by local winds. The intruding Kuroshio subsurface water causes variations of temperature and salinity of bottom waters on the southern ECS shelf. The influence of the intruding Kuroshio subsurface water extends widely from the shelf slope northeast of Taiwan northward to the central ECS near the 60 m isobath, and northeastward to the region near the 90 m isobath.     

Distribution of Different Biogeographical Tintinnids in Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea

There were different biogeographical tintinnids in the oceans. Knowledge of their distribution pattern and mixing was important to the understanding of ecosystem functions. Yellow Sea (YS) and Bohai Sea (BS) were semi-enclosed seas influenced by warm water intrusion and YS cold bottom water. The occurrence of tintinnids in YS and BS during two cruises (summer and winter) were investigated to find out: i) whether warm-water tintinnids appeared in YS and BS; ii) whether boreal tintinnids appeared in high summer; iii) the core area of neritic tintinnids and iv) how these different biogeographical tintinnids mixed. Our results showed that tintinnid community was dominated by neritic tintinnid. We confirmed the occurrence of warm-water tintinnids in summer and winter. In summer, they intruded into BS and mainly distributed in the upper 20 m where Yellow Sea Surface Warm Water (YSSWW) developed. In winter, they were limited in the surface water of central deep region (bottom depth >50 m) of YS where were affected by Yellow Sea Warm Water (YSWW). Boreal tintinnids occurred in YS in high summer (August) and in winter, while they were not observed in BS. In summer, the highest abundance of boreal tintinnids occurred in Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water, indicating the presence of an oversummering stock. In winter, they were concentrated in the north of YSWW. Vertically, neritic tintinnids abundance was high in the bottom layers. Horizontally, high neritic tintinnids abundance in bottom layers occurred along the 50 m isobath coinciding with the position of front systems. Front systems were the core distribution area of neritic tintinnids. High abundance areas of warm-water and boreal tintinnids were clearly separated vertically in summer, and horizontally in winter. High abundance of neritic tintinnids rarely overlapped with that of warm-water or boreal tintinnids.     

Seasonal evolution of circulation and thermal structure in the Yellow Sea

In this paper, the authors used the Princeton Ocean Model (POM) to simulate the seasonal evolutions of circulation and thermal structure in the Yellow Sea. The simulated circulation showed that the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC) was a compensation current of monsoon-driven current, and that in winter, the YSWC became stronger with depth, and could flow across the Bohai Strait in the north. Sensitivity and controlling tests led to the following conclusions, In winter, the direction of the Yellow Sea Coastal Current in the surface layer was controlled partly by tide instead of wind, In summer, a cyclonic horizontal gyre existed in the middle and eastern parts of the Yellow Sea below 10 m. The downwelling in upper layer and upwelling in lower layer were somehow similar to Hu et al. (1991) conceptual model. The calculated thermal structure showed an obvious northward extending YSWC tongue in winter, its position and coverage of the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass in summer.     

ANALYSIS OF Cu, Cd, Co AND Ni IN SURFACE WATER OF THE KUROSHIO AREA IN THE EAST CHINA SEA

Study of 1986 and 1987 heavy metal distribution in surface water of the Kuroshio area in the East China Sea showed regional and slight seasonal variations in distribution and concentration . Heavy metal levels in Taiwan Strait, the sea area north of Taiwan and the continental shelf are higher than those in the main axis of the Kuroshio . Dissolved Cu in summer and winter decreases with the increase of salinity , but dissolved Cd has no obvious change with salinity .     

SST variations of the Kuroshio from AVHRR observation

1 INTRODUCTION The Kuroshio Current (KC), being the western boundary current in the North Pacific subtropical gyre, is the second strongest current in the world af- ter the Gulf Stream and is famous as a strong and fast flow. KC plays an important role in…