Circulation and biogeochemical processes in the East China Sea and the vicinity of Taiwan: an overview and a brief synthesis

The East China Sea shelf (including the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea) is a very challenging system for hydrodynamic and biogeochemical studies due to its complicated physical and chemical forcing. It receives much attention because of its capacity for absorbing atmospheric CO2 in spite of large riverine fluxes of terrigenous carbon. This volume reports field observations and modeling studies during the Kuroshio Edge Exchange Processes and ensuing projects, which are a part of the continental margins study in the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. A 3-D numerical model has been developed to simulate the climatological circulation in the East China Sea. The model result is supported by observations in the seas around Taiwan. The significance of inflow from the Taiwan Strait is emphasized. Geochemical tracers prove useful in understanding the water and material transport. Biogeochemical studies suggest very efficient recycling of organic carbon by bacterial and protozoan consumption in the shelf water, but a finite amount of particulate organic carbon with a significant terrigenous fraction is exported from the shelf. The fine-grained sediments in the inner shelf appear to be an important source of organic carbon for export. Future studies are needed to improve our understanding of key physical and biogeochemcial processes, to develop coupled physical–biogeochemical models, and to catch and survey the elusive spring algal bloom. A tantalizing goal of our ongoing effort is to document or even to predict future changes in the East China Sea shelf caused by the operation of the Three-Gorge Dam, which is under construction in the middle reach of the Yangtze River.

[1]  G. Gong,et al.  Planktonic community respiration in the East China Sea: importance of microbial consumption of organic carbon , 2003 .

[2]  F. Millero,et al.  Carbon budget in the East China Sea in spring , 1999 .

[3]  S. Chao,et al.  The Kuroshio edge exchange processes (KEEP) study — an introduction to hypotheses and highlights , 2000 .

[4]  Dongxiao Zhang,et al.  Mean transport and seasonal cycle of the Kuroshio east of Taiwan with comparison to the Florida Current , 2001 .

[5]  Jing Zhang,et al.  Nutrient elements in large Chinese estuaries , 1996 .

[6]  S. Chao,et al.  Continental margin carbon fluxes. , 2000 .

[7]  Gwo-Ching Gong,et al.  Chemical hydrography and chlorophyll a distribution in the East China Sea in summer: implications in nutrient dynamics , 1996 .

[8]  Shenn-Yu Chao,et al.  A climatological description of circulation in and around the East China Sea , 2003 .

[9]  Gwo-Ching Gong,et al.  Distributions, stoichiometric patterns and cross-shelf exports of dissolved organic matter in the East China Sea , 2003 .

[10]  Houng-Yung Chen,et al.  Nitrate-based new production and its relationship to primary production and chemical hydrography in spring and fall in the East China Sea , 2003 .

[11]  G. Wong,et al.  Geochemical dynamics of iodine in marginal seas: the southern East China Sea , 2003 .

[12]  D. Cacchione,et al.  Observations of storm and river flood-driven sediment transport on the northern California continental shelf , 2000 .

[13]  S. Kao,et al.  Distribution of terrigenous lipids in marine sediments off northeastern Taiwan , 2003 .

[14]  R. Macdonald,et al.  Exploring continental margin carbon fluxes on a global scale , 2000 .

[15]  S. Watanabe,et al.  Is there a “continental shelf pump” for the absorption of atmospheric CO2? , 1999 .

[16]  S. Kao,et al.  Organic carbon and nitrogen contents and their isotopic compositions in surficial sediments from the East China Sea shelf and the southern Okinawa Trough , 2003 .

[17]  K. Liu,et al.  Monsoon-forced chlorophyll distribution and primary production in the South China Sea: observations and a numerical study , 2002 .

[18]  C. Chen,et al.  Carbon, alkalinity and nutrient budgets on the East China Sea continental shelf , 1999 .

[19]  C. Hung,et al.  Speciation of dissolved iodine: integrating nitrate uptake over time in the oceans , 2001 .

[20]  Jiao Nian-zh.  PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND NEW PRODUCTION IN SPRING IN THE EAST CHINA SEA , 1998 .

[21]  Gwo-Ching Gong,et al.  Cross-shelf and along-shelf nutrient fluxes derived from flow fields and chemical hydrography observed in the southern East China Sea off northern Taiwan , 2000 .

[22]  Y. Nozaki,et al.  Residence times of surface water and particle-reactive 210Pb and 210Po in the East China and Yellow seas , 1991 .

[23]  R. Tseng,et al.  Lagrangian observations of surface flow patterns in the vicinity of Taiwan , 2003 .

[24]  G. Gong,et al.  Synechococcus growth and mortality rates in the East China Sea: range of variations and correlation with environmental factors , 2003 .

[25]  Shenn-Yu Chao,et al.  Seasonal variation of volume transport in the major inflow region of the Taiwan Strait: the Penghu Channel , 2003 .

[26]  F. Chai,et al.  Physicobiological oceanographic remote sensing of the East China Sea: Satellite and in situ observations , 1998 .

[27]  David M. Glover,et al.  A new coupled, one-dimensional biological-physical model for the upper ocean: Applications to the JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site , 1996 .

[28]  G. Gong,et al.  Cross-shelf variation in carbon-to-chlorophyll a ratios in the East China Sea, summer 1998 , 2003 .

[29]  T. Tang,et al.  The flow pattern north of Taiwan and the migration of the Kuroshio , 2000 .

[30]  Gwo-Ching Gong,et al.  Seasonal variation of chlorophyll a concentration, primary production and environmental conditions in the subtropical East China Sea , 2003 .

[31]  M. Fasham,et al.  An Examination of the “Continental shelf pump” in an open ocean general circulation model , 2001 .

[32]  K. Chung,et al.  Variabilities of particulate flux and 210Pb in the southern East China Sea and western South Okinawa Trough , 2003 .

[33]  F. Shiah,et al.  The coupling of oligotrich ciliate populations and hydrography in the East China Sea: spatial and temporal variations , 2003 .

[34]  Hu Dun-xin.  Upwelling and sedimentation dynamics , 1984 .

[35]  G. Gong,et al.  Seasonal and spatial variation of bacterial production in the continental shelf of the East China Sea: possible controlling mechanisms and potential roles in carbon cycling , 2003 .