Long-term variation in the salinity of the Southern Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass, 1976–2006

This paper discusses the long-term variation in the salinity of the Southern Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (SYSCWM) and examines factors influencing the SYSCWM based on hydrographic datasets of the China National Standard section and the Korea Oceanographic Data Center. The mean salinity at the center...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of oceanography 2017-06, Vol.73 (3), p.321-331
Main Authors: Li, Ang, Yu, Fei, Si, Guangcheng, Wei, Chuanjie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cold water
Cold water masses
Deep layer
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Empirical analysis
Evaporation
Fluctuations
Flux
Freshwater
Freshwater & Marine Ecology
Inland water environment
Intrusion
Oceanographic data
Oceanographic institutions
Oceanography
Original Article
Orthogonal functions
River discharge
River flow
Rivers
Saline water
Salinity
Salinity effects
Surface salinity
Trends
Water discharge
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Summary:This paper discusses the long-term variation in the salinity of the Southern Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (SYSCWM) and examines factors influencing the SYSCWM based on hydrographic datasets of the China National Standard section and the Korea Oceanographic Data Center. The mean salinity at the center of the SYSCWM showed a decreasing long-term trend. In empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis, the second EOF mode showed a similar long-term trend. The mean salinity of the center of the SYSCWM was related to the intrusion of saline water from the Yellow Sea Warm Current (YSWC), the salinity of the source area of the YSWC, the evaporation minus precipitation (E–P) flux, and discharge from the Changjiang River. The decreasing salinity trend to the southwest of Cheju Island produced a freshening trend in the YSWC, resulting in a reduction in the salinity of the SYSCWM. The freshening trends of the water from the northwest Pacific and the South China Sea were seen as the reason for the decreasing salinity trend from the intrusion of water into the Yellow Sea (YS). The freshwater flux influenced the surface salinity and was brought to deep layers by strong mixing in winter. The mean E–P flux signal and Changjiang River discharge signal lagged the first principal component of the SYSCWM by approximately 5 months.
ISSN:0916-8370
1573-868X
DOI:10.1007/s10872-016-0405-x