Abstract
In the central Bohai Sea, both historical data and in situ observations show that the distribution of high chlorophyll concentration is consistent with warm water. The previous studies confirm that the warm water is caused by a joint effect of wave and tidal mixing. In this paper, the authors have coupled the Princeton ocean model (POM) with a biochemical model to further investigate the formation of the high chlorophyll concentration. When the wave mixing is excluded, the water temperature is lower and the chlorophyll concentration is also lower than the observation. However, if the wave mixing is included, strong wave mixing in the upper layer brings the warm water downward and nutrients upward so that both temperature and nutrients tend to be uniformly high from the surface to the bottom. This provides an environment which is favorable for the growth of the phytoplankton. Therefore the chlorophyll concentration, as a symbol of phytoplankton, shows high value in the central Bohai Sea. In conclusion, the wave mixing plays an important role in the formation of high chlorophyll concentration in the central Bohai Sea.
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Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China under contract Nos 40930844 and 41106094; the Ph.D. Programs Foundating of Ministry of Education of China under contract No. 2011013213001.
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Wang, Y., Wu, D. & Lin, X. The preliminary study of the high chlorophyll in the central Bohai Sea in summer. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 31, 66–72 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0177-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-012-0177-0