Abstract
Abstract. The Kuroshio flows along the edges of the marginal East Asian seas such as the South China Sea (SCS) and East China Sea (ECS). Exchanges of materials and energy between the Kuroshio and the marginal seas partly control the environments of the marginal seas. In particular, saline water from the Kuroshio maintains certain salinity in the shelf water in the ECS. Nutrients from the subsurface of the Kuroshio may influence primary production on the shelf. We summarize how the Kuroshio comes into contact with the shelf water or marginal seas, describing phenomena related to the exchange between the Kuroshio and the ECS along with the SCS, using reports in the literature along with original data. The Kuroshio tends to intrude into the SCS through the Luzon Strait in various manners such as direct intrusion, associated with eddies and as a loop current. The Kuroshio intrusion into the shelf region of the ECS has distinct seasonal variation and the Taiwan Warm Current plays a significant role in the determination of water properties in the outer shelf associated with the Kuroshio intrusion. We then examine physical processes related to the interaction between the Kuroshio and shelf water. Interaction between the Kuroshio and the bottom topography is an important process in the control of the exchange around the shelf break. Vertical mixing and frontal eddies are also important factors that control the water exchange and formation of water masses in the outer shelf. Wind stress plays a significant role in the exchange with a rather event-like manner. To determine the source of the water masses, chemical tracers could be powerful tools and it is suggested that a significant part of the shelf water consists of Kuroshio intermediate water.
Highlights
Marine environments around shelves and in marginal seas usually depend on a supply of nutrients from land, in regions influenced by a large amount of fresh water from rivers
Physical processes of the nutrient supply regarding how the nutrients are introduced to the shelf from the open ocean are not well known, whereas there are several candidates for the major processes of water exchange between the open ocean and shelf water, such as frontal eddies along the Kuroshio, bottom intrusion around the shelf break, and upwelling caused by topography or wind fields
In the South China Sea (SCS), “Deep Ocean Exchange with the Shelf” occurs in the central part of the marginal sea, and exchange through the Luzon Strait described in this paper is that between deep oceans because the northern part of the SCS has a deep basin
Summary
Marine environments around shelves and in marginal seas usually depend on a supply of nutrients from land, in regions influenced by a large amount of fresh water from rivers. The nutrient budget for the shelf region of the East China Sea (ECS) was calculated using a box model by Chen and Wang (1999), who found that the nutrient supply to the shelf region from the open ocean could exceed that from Changjiang. When the Kuroshio flows into the ECS through the deep sill between the islands of Taiwan and Yonaguni, it faces the continental slope and turns right following the bottom topography, while the current field in the region is strongly related to fluctuations in the Kuroshio. Baroclinic motion of the stratified fluid would make it possible for part of the Kuroshio to have cross-isobath motion This would result in significant interaction between the shelf and deep waters. We summarize phenomena related to the exchange between the Kuroshio and the shelf observed in the ECS and South China Sea (SCS), and discuss dynamical processes concerning the exchange
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