Modeling dissolved organic carbon exchange across major straits and shelf breaks in the South China Sea

Abstract

The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest semienclosed marginal sea in the western Pacific. The advective supply of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from the open ocean to the SCS influences its carbon cycle and biogeochemical processes. However, quantitative studies of DOC exchange across different straits and the shelf to the SCS are particularly limited. In this study, we investigated seasonal DOC transport across four major straits and cross-shelf breaks using a coupled physical–biogeochemical model. The modeling results show that the seasonal variations in DOC transport through the major straits are largely controlled by the monsoon. In winter, associated with the northeast monsoon, the magnitudes of DOC transport from the four straits are generally larger than those in summer with the southwest monsoon. DOC transport is eastward at the Luzon Strait and northward at the Taiwan and Karimata straits during the southwest monsoon and changes direction during the northeast monsoon. The annual mean of depth-integrated DOC transport is 86.7 Tg C yr−1 westward at the Luzon Strait, 19.1 Tg C yr−1 northward at the Taiwan Strait, 25.9 Tg C yr−1 southward at the Karimata Strait, and 46.0 Tg C yr−1 southward at the Mindoro Strait. DOC transport across the shelf break is a result of geostrophic or quasigeostrophic balance. In the north and west, the annual net cross-shelf break transports are onshore with magnitudes of 8.8 and 31.1 Tg C yr−1, respectively. In the southern SCS, the annual net transport is offshore with a magnitude of 18.3 Tg C yr−1. The net export of total labile and semilabile DOC from the SCS has a flux of 10.7 Tg C yr−1. This study provides seasonal budgets of DOC exchange between the SCS and its adjacent oceans, which contribute to a better evaluation of the carbon cycle in the SCS.