TY - JOUR
T1 - Intrusion of the Pearl River plume into the main channel of the Taiwan Strait in summer
AU - Bai, Yan
AU - Huang, Ting Hsuan
AU - He, Xianqiang
AU - Wang, Shu Lun
AU - Hsin, Yi Chia
AU - Wu, Chau Ron
AU - Zhai, Weidong
AU - Lui, Hon Kit
AU - Chen, Chen Tung Arthur
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the crews of the R/V Ocean Researcher I for their help in field sampling. We thank the satellite data receiving station of the Second Institute of Oceanography (SIO/SOA) of China for providing the MODIS and AVHRR data. We also thank NASA for providing the chla, SST and SSW data sets. This study was supported by the National Key Technology Support Program of China (grants # 2013BAD13B01 and # 2012BAH32B01 ), the National Basic Research Program of China (grant # 2009CB421202 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants # 41322039 , # 41321004 and # 41271378 ), and the “ Global Change and Air–Sea Interaction ” project of China ( GASI-03-03-01-01 ). C.T.C acknowledges the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan ( MOST 103-2611-M-110-010 , NSC 101-2611-M-110-010-MY3 ) and the “ Aim for the Top University ” program ( 03c 0302 04 ). Y.C.H. thanks the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan ( MOST 102-2611-M-001-001-MY2 ). J. van Beusekom and anonymous reviewers provided constructive comments which strengthened the manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2013 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The Penghu Channel is the main channel connecting the East and South China Seas, two of the largest marginal seas in the world. Located in the southeast of Taiwan Strait, the Penghu Channel is usually covered by the high salinity water from the South China Sea and the Kuroshio. However, we observed abnormal low-salinity water in the Penghu Channel during a cruise through the southern Taiwan Strait and northern South China Sea in August 2008. We argue that the normalized alkalinity is a good indicator for the identification of a river plume as it is not affected by rainwater. Using satellite-derived water transparency and chlorophyll images and field-measured alkalinity, the source of this low salinity water was found to be the intrusion of the Pearl River plume. A significant phytoplankton bloom across the entire Taiwan Strait occurred with the intrusion event. The intrusion was not a unique event, as we also found a strong jet-shaped Pearl River plume intruding into the Penghu Channel in the summer of 2009 from cloud-free satellite-derived images. Time series satellite data reveal that the Pearl River plume intrudes into the Penghu Channel in the summer of most years. Multiple data analysis and modeling simulation indicate that a large river discharge and strong southwesterly winds on the shelf may be responsible for the significant intrusion of the Pearl River plume into the Penghu Channel in summer. As the Pearl River plume has a high nutrient and dissolved inorganic carbon content, combined with the strong northward flows through the Penghu Channel, such intrusions may contribute to the nutrient dynamics and carbon budget of the East and northern South China Seas.
AB - The Penghu Channel is the main channel connecting the East and South China Seas, two of the largest marginal seas in the world. Located in the southeast of Taiwan Strait, the Penghu Channel is usually covered by the high salinity water from the South China Sea and the Kuroshio. However, we observed abnormal low-salinity water in the Penghu Channel during a cruise through the southern Taiwan Strait and northern South China Sea in August 2008. We argue that the normalized alkalinity is a good indicator for the identification of a river plume as it is not affected by rainwater. Using satellite-derived water transparency and chlorophyll images and field-measured alkalinity, the source of this low salinity water was found to be the intrusion of the Pearl River plume. A significant phytoplankton bloom across the entire Taiwan Strait occurred with the intrusion event. The intrusion was not a unique event, as we also found a strong jet-shaped Pearl River plume intruding into the Penghu Channel in the summer of 2009 from cloud-free satellite-derived images. Time series satellite data reveal that the Pearl River plume intrudes into the Penghu Channel in the summer of most years. Multiple data analysis and modeling simulation indicate that a large river discharge and strong southwesterly winds on the shelf may be responsible for the significant intrusion of the Pearl River plume into the Penghu Channel in summer. As the Pearl River plume has a high nutrient and dissolved inorganic carbon content, combined with the strong northward flows through the Penghu Channel, such intrusions may contribute to the nutrient dynamics and carbon budget of the East and northern South China Seas.
KW - Pearl River plume
KW - Penghu Channel
KW - Satellite observations
KW - Taiwan Strait
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U2 - 10.1016/j.seares.2014.10.003
DO - 10.1016/j.seares.2014.10.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908691422
VL - 95
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - Journal of Sea Research
JF - Journal of Sea Research
SN - 1385-1101
ER -