Modeling the largest inflow of Changjiang freshwater into the Yellow Sea in 2012 with particle-tracking experiment

Abnormally low-salinity water originating from the Changjiang River (CR) was observed at the central Yellow Sea (YS) in 2012, which was quite unique compared to other years. In this study, the intrusion process of the Changjiang Diluted Water (CDW) into the YS interior was examined using a hindcast simulation (2003–2012) with particle-tracking experiments. The particles representing the behavior of the CDW were released at the CR mouth from May to August, and then tracked. The simulated salinity patterns coincide fairly well with those derived from observations, particularly showing a large low-salinity structure around the central YS in 2012. A substantial intrusion of freshwater into the YS occurred in 2012, and this accounted for approximately 16% of all the released particles in 2012 which is twice as high as the mean average covering the 10 years. According to the trajectories in 2012, the particles took less than 50 days to travel from the mouth to the YS interior and followed mainly two paths toward the YS. One pathway traveled northward to the central entrance of the YS and then reached the western coast of Korea. This pathway was attributed to the strong easterly winds in late June and early August when three consecutive typhoons passed through the YS, which was a unique pattern that is rarely found in other years. The other pathway involved particles trapped along the Jiangsu coast drifting farther to the north up to the Shandon Peninsula against the anticyclonic tidal residual circulations during the passage of typhoons.