Abstract
Primary productivity in the East China Sea and its adjacent area was measured by the13C tracer method during winter, summer and fall in 1993 and 1994. The depth-integrated primary productivity in the Kuroshio Current ranged from 220 to 350 mgC m−2d−1, and showed little seasonal variability. High primary productivity (above 570 mgC m−2d−1) was measured at the center of the continental shelf throughout the observation period. The productivity at the station nearest to the Changjiang estuary exhibited a distinctive seasonal change from 68 to 1,500 mgC m−2d−1. Depth-integrated primary productivity was 2.7 times higher in the shelf area than the rates at the Kuroshio Current. High chlorophyll-a specific productivity (mgC mgChl.-a−2d−1) throughout the euphotic zone was mainly found in the shelf area rather than off-shelf area, probably due to higher nutrient availability and higher activity of phytoplankton at the subsurface layer in the shelf area.
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Hama, T., Shin, K.H. & Handa, N. Spatial variability in the primary productivity in the East China Sea and its adjacent waters. J Oceanogr 53, 41–51 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02700748
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02700748