Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064

Circulation and biogeochemical processes in the East China

Sea and the vicinity of Taiwan: an overview and a
brief synthesis
Abstract

The East China Sea shelf (including the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea) is a very challenging system for hydrodynamic
and biogeochemical studies due to its complicated physical and chemical forcing. It receives much attention because of
its capacity for absorbing atmospheric CO2 in spite of large riverine fluxes of terrigenous carbon. This volume reports
field observations and modeling studies during the Kuroshio Edge Exchange Processes and ensuing projects, which are
a part of the continental margins study in the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study. A 3-D numerical model has been
developed to simulate the climatological circulation in the East China Sea. The model result is supported by
observations in the seas around Taiwan. The significance of inflow from the Taiwan Strait is emphasized. Geochemical
tracers prove useful in understanding the water and material transport. Biogeochemical studies suggest very efficient
recycling of organic carbon by bacterial and protozoan consumption in the shelf water, but a finite amount of
particulate organic carbon with a significant terrigenous fraction is exported from the shelf. The fine-grained sediments
in the inner shelf appear to be an important source of organic carbon for export. Future studies are needed to improve
our understanding of key physical and biogeochemcial processes, to develop coupled physical–biogeochemical models,
and to catch and survey the elusive spring algal bloom. A tantalizing goal of our ongoing effort is to document or even
to predict future changes in the East China Sea shelf caused by the operation of the Three-Gorge Dam, which is under
construction in the middle reach of the Yangtze River.
r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction riverine flux of carbon discharged to the shelf

water, ECS has been found to be a sink rather than
The continental shelf of the East China Sea a source of atmospheric CO2 (Peng et al., 1999;
(ECS), together with the Yellow Sea and Bohai Tsunogai et al., 1999; Chen and Wang, 1999).
Sea, forms a contiguous shelf of about Tsunogai et al. (1999) coined the term ‘‘continental
0.75  1012 m2 in area (Fig. 1). The large shelf is shelf pump’’ to describe this phenomenon. Case
bordered by the Okinawa Trough to the east studies at several other shelf seas also show similar
and connected to the South China Sea through results as the ECS: that these shelf waters absorb
the Taiwan Strait to the south. The Kuroshio rather than release CO2 (Liu et al., 2000a). These
flows to the east of Taiwan, enters the Okinawa findings have drawn attention to the role of
Trough through the Suao-Yonaguni Pass continental margins in the global carbon cycle
(Wong et al., 2000), and then flows along the shelf (Liu et al., 2000a, b; Yool and Fasham, 2001).
break. However, the mechanism and the capacity of the
Two of the largest rivers in the world, the ‘‘continental shelf pump’’, which is effected by a
Changjiang (Yangtze River) and the Yellow River, combination of physical and biogeochemical
empty into the ECS. Despite the substantial processes, remain unclear.

0967-0645/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0967-0645(03)00009-2
1056 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064

Fig. 1. Bathymetry of the ECS and seas around Taiwan. SOT represents the southern Okinawa Trough. The ECS shelf in this issue is
defined as the contiguous shelf including the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. The Changjiang River mouth is labeled in the map. The
Yellow River, not shown, discharges to the west end of the Bohai Sea. Contour lines indicate depths of 50 m (dashed), 100, 200, 2000,
4000 and 6000 m. The 200 m contour marks the shelf break.

The purpose of this special issue is to present (KEEP) project and the initial stages of the Long-
observational and modeling studies regarding term Observations and Research of the East China
circulation, chemical distribution, biological pro- Sea (LORECS) and Strait Watch of Environment
cesses in the lower trophic level and cross-shelf and Ecosystem with Telemetry (SWEET). Of
export of materials in the ECS and the vicinity of particular importance are the four cruises con-
Taiwan. Most of the work was done during the ducted in four different seasons between December
second (1994–1997) and the third (1997–2000) 1997 and October 1998. These projects, sponsored
phases of the Kuroshio Edge Exchange Processes by the National Science Council of the Republic of
 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064 1057

China, have been recognized as a part of seasonal variation of the inflow in the Taiwan
continental margins research of the Joint Global Strait is based on recent direct observations of
Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS). Better knowledge of transport by Wang et al. (2003), Tseng and Shen
the physical–biogeochemical processes may allow (2003), and Jan and Chao (2003).
us to unravel some of the existing mysteries of the Tseng and Shen (2003) demonstrate the presence
ECS, such as the function of the shelf pump, and of a continuous northward flow through the
may help us to detect or even predict environ- Taiwan Strait in fall in the trajectories of two
mental changes in the ECS after the operation of surface drifters. The speed of the drifters is
the three-Gorge Dam, scheduled to begin in 2009. between 30 and 50 cm/s in the strait. When
Earlier work of KEEP has been reported in a reaching the shelf north of the Taiwan Strait, the
previous special volume (Wong et al., 2000). drifters move slower. The trajectories show oscilla-
Overviews of the physical, chemical and biological tions at the period of the semi-diurnal tides. The
aspects of this special issue are presented, followed onset of the northeast monsoon results in one
by a brief synthesis and future prospectus. drifter’s southward movement and entrainment by
the Kuroshio at the shelf break northeast of
Taiwan, where the trajectory shows cyclonic
2. Circulation rotation in a cold dome.
Based on time-series of shipboard acoustic
The Kuroshio, the Changjiang runoff, and the doppler current profiler (ADCP) data from eight
East Asia monsoons are the dominant factors repeated cruises, Jan and Chao (2003) demonstrate
affecting the circulation in the ECS. The Kuroshio the seasonal variation of the flow through the
enters the region along the east coast of Taiwan Penghu Channel, where the major transport
and exits along the southern coasts of Japan through the Taiwan Strait occurs. The transport
(Fig. 2). The average transport is 22 Sv is northward, varying from a maximum of 1.5 Sv
(1 Sv=106 m3/s) east of Taiwan (Lee et al., 2001). during the southwest monsoon to zero at the peak
Of particular interest to the transport processes in of the northeast monsoon in winter. The max-
the ECS is the meander in the southern Okinawa imum flow speed reaches 1 m/s in summer. The
Trough and the associated upwelling at the shelf diminishing transport in winter implies that a
break northeast of Taiwan (Tang et al., 2000). northward warm current against the wind in the
The Changjiang is a major source of fresh water Penghu Channel is not likely in winter.
on the ECS shelf. Its annual discharge is about Liang et al. (2003) have compiled the shipboard
900 km3/yr (Zhang, 1996), maximum in July and ADCP measurements in the seas surrounding
minimum in January. Discharge from other rivers, Taiwan to provide information on surface currents
including the Yellow River, are much lower and in the Taiwan Strait and the Kuroshio east of
therefore relatively insignificant in affecting the Taiwan. The meander of the Kuroshio in the
overall circulation on the shelf. Seasonal variation Luzon Strait and the intrusion onto the shelf at the
in the position of the Changjiang plume has a shelf break northeast of Taiwan are shown in the
profound influence on the water characteristics on composite flow field (Fig. 2). The northward flow
the shelf. Shelf circulation in the region is forced through the Taiwan Strait onto the shelf north of
by the strong northeast monsoon from late Taiwan is demonstrated in summer. Whether
September to early April and the weaker south- the flow in the Taiwan Strait continues north-
west monsoon from May to August. The monthly ward, stops altogether or even reverses under the
climatological circulation in the ECS is given in northeast monsoon in winter is not resolved
the numerical results of Lee and Chao (2003). because of the gap in data and lack of water mass
Monsoon winds, Changjiang runoff, volume information.
transports through the Taiwan Strait and the Lee and Chao (2003) present numerical model
Tsushima Strait, and the Kuroshio current are results with focus on the dispersal of the Chang-
included in their numerical simulation. The jiang plume and the mesoscale features along the
1058 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064

Fig. 2. Distribution of mean sea surface temperature (SST) in December in the ECS and seas around Taiwan overlaid with observed
(blue vectors, south of 23oN) and modeled (black vectors, north of 23 N) surface currents. The SST data in  C are averaged from
stacked data of December in 1999–2001 obtained by AVHRR onboard NOAA satellites. The observed currents represent the long-
term average at 30 m measured by the ship-board acoustic doppler current profiler (Liang et al., 2003) under northeast monsoon
(November–April). For clarity only those south of 23 N are shown for the observed currents. The modeled currents (Lee and Chao,
2003) are averages in the upper 50 m. The flow field agrees with the thermal field well.

shelf break of the ECS. On the shelf of the ECS, of Taiwan and southwest of Kyushu and upwelling
the southward coastal current in fall and winter and downwelling areas at the shelf break, but the
and the northward expansion of the flow from the cyclonic cold eddy off northeast coast of Taiwan is
Taiwan Strait in spring and summer are repro- too small to be resolved by their model. The
duced. The Changjiang plume is greatly influenced modeled meander of the Kuroshio as it encounters
by this circulation pattern. The plume forms a the shelf break of the ECS near Taiwan agrees
narrow band flowing southward along the coast of with the observed composite flow of Liang et al.
China in winter (Fig. 2), but disperses toward (2003). The model shows persistent upwelling east
north and east in summer. The model reproduces of the Okinawa Island although verification by
anticyclonic meanders of the Kuroshio northeast observations is needed.
 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064 1059

3. Geochemistry and material transport water mass exchange roughly balances the input.
This makes the ECS shelf not an important source
It has been demonstrated that the Kuroshio nor sink of DOC.
strongly influences not only the circulation in the On the other hand, the ECS shelf is definitely an
ECS shelf but also its chemistry (e.g., Gong et al., important source of particulate matter to the deep
1996; Liu et al., 2000c) through water mass sea. The southern Okinawa Trough (SOT) is noted
exchanges, which are yet to be fully explored. as an important sink of particulate matter from the
Wong and Zhang (2003) illustrate the two major shelf. A direct observation of shelf export is
species of dissolved iodine, namely, iodate (IO3 ) provided by Chung et al. (2003), who deployed
and iodide (I ), as a pair of novel tracers to time-series sediment traps and current meters in
indicate origin of water masses and biogeochem- the slope area of the southern ECS and the western
ical processes in the southern ECS. Their survey SOT (Fig. 1) to collect and study the settling
results show the composition of the upwelling particulate matter. They measured particulate
Kuroshio subsurface water with elevated concen- mass fluxes, the associated currents, size distribu-
tration of iodate and depressed concentration of tions, chemical compositions, and particle-active
iodide. In contrast, the variations in the concen- radioisotopes. The time-series collection scheme
tration of iodate and iodide among other surface and the many sampling sites distributed in the
water masses are relatively small. They conclude SOT region throughout the second and third
that within the shelf system, iodate is consumed stages of KEEP provided information on the
and iodide is produced. The frontal exchanges spatial and temporal variation of the settling
between the shelf system and the Kuroshio result particulate matter. These results are used to
in a net export of iodide from the shelf system to evaluate the mixing and transport of the particu-
the Kuroshio, implying the ocean margins are a lates in the KEEP study area. They find that the
significant net source of iodide to the ocean near-bottom traps collected much higher fluxes of
interior. radioactive nuclides (i.e., 210Pb) than those derived
The ‘‘continental shelf pump’’ is facilitated by from the inventories of radioactivity in the under-
the cross-shelf exchange of water masses and lying sediments. They suggest the large fluxes of
materials. Using a global general circulation particulate matter observed near bottom are not
model, Yool and Fasham (2001) show that the the flux of deposition but a flux in transit.
shelf pump is capable of absorbing more than The particulate organic matter (POM) exported
0.5 Pg C annually if the shelf pump functions to the SOT off northeastern Taiwan may come
similarly in all margins. They also demonstrate from plankton produced in the overlying water
that the shelf pump would be more efficient if the column, from the ECS shelf, from the runoff of the
carbon export is in the organic form. Several Lanyang River in northeastern Taiwan, or from
papers in this issue address the export of dissolved other rivers farther south on the east coast of
and particulate organic matter from the shelf. Taiwan. In order to trace the origin of POM, there
There are many studies of dissolved organic are two different approaches reported in this issue:
matter (DOM) in the open ocean, but relatively employing either organic compounds or isotopic
few studies are carried out in the marginal seas. signature to indicate the sources. Jeng et al. (2003)
Hung et al. (2003) describe the distributions of use hydrocarbon distribution to identify the source
dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and stoichio- of organic matters. They examine n-alkanes, n-
metric patterns (namely, relative abundance of fatty alcohols and sterols in the sediments from
nitrogen and phosphorus in the dissolved organic SOT and conclude that most of the extracted lipids
form) in the ECS. Their results give evidence to the were of terrestrial origin.
efficient recycling of DOM in the ECS shelf; the Alternatively, Kao et al. (2003) use carbon and
dissolved organic phosphorus (DOP) is especially nitrogen isotopes as tracers to track down the
labile. Because the intruding Kuroshio surface elusive export flux of organic matter from the shelf
water is enriched in DOC, the DOC export via to the deep sea. Comparing isotopic characteristics
1060 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064

of sedimentary organic matter all over the ECS for the outer shelf. The two mean values are
and the adjacent Okinawa Trough, they find statistically indistinguishable. It is counter-intui-
uncanny similarity (d13C= 23% to 21%, tive that the eutrophic coastal zone is not more
d15N=3.5% to 4.5%) between sediments from productive than the oligotrophic waters in the
the inner shelf near the China coast and from the outer shelf on the annual basis. This is mainly due
Trough. They report that the coastal belt of to the rather low primary production under the
elevated total organic carbon content extends northeast monsoon, which prevails from October
southward from Changjiang mouth and veers to April. Independently, Gong et al. (2003) Chen
offshore towards SOT just north of Taiwan, and Chen (2003) reach the same conclusion that
indicating a pathway for channeling fine-grained light limitation caused by high turbidity of the
sediments from the inner shelf to SOT. coastal water under strong wind prevents high
primary production in the coastal waters.
The papers by Chang et al. (2003a, b) and by
4. Biology and carbon cycling Chen and Chen provide important attributes of
the phytoplankton community. Using the volume
It is remarkable that the ECS shelf waters are of the phytoplankton cells to estimate the biomass
undersaturated with respect to atmospheric CO2 in terms of carbon unit, Chang et al. (2003b)
both in the warm and the cold seasons (e.g., Peng determined the carbon to chlorophyll ratios in
et al., 1999; Tsunogai et al., 1999). As the sea- three typical environments of the ECS shelf,
surface temperature of the shelf water increases namely, the coastal zone, the middle shelf and
markedly (>27 C) in mid-summer (Gong et al., Kuroshio upwelling zone. The large variation of
1996), fairly efficient autotrophic uptake of carbon the C:Chl ratio, ranging from 18 in the coastal
must be in action to keep the fugacity of CO2 in zone to 94 in the outer shelf, points to the
the surface water below saturation. In this special environmental control of the phytoplankton phy-
issue, four papers deal with the autotrophic siology. The range is considerably larger than that
processes in the ECS, while three other papers (32–80) considered in existing biogeochemical
deal with heterotrophic processes that convert modeling (Doney et al., 1996; Liu et al., 2002).
organic carbon into CO2 during respiration. These Using the 15N uptake data, Chen and Chen report
studies put constraints on how the biological that on average, 40% of the primary production in
processes may contribute to the shelf pump. the ECS shelf is supported by nitrate uptake.
Gong et al. (2003) show that biological fixation Chang et al. (2003a) report that Synechococcus,
of carbon (i.e. primary productivity) is the highest one of the major primary producers in the ECS,
in summer. The favorable temperatures, higher contribute 5–63% of the total primary production.
light intensities, and copious supply of inorganic They also report that more than 37% of the
nutrients (from the Changjiang runoff and coastal Synechococcus production is not consumed by
upwelling under the southwest monsoon) in grazers (i.e. flagellates and ciliates) in spring and
summer lead to the maximal growth of autotrophs summer.
within the plume of Changjiang diluted water and The high primary production in summer does
the adjacent coastal zone. Due to the phosphate not necessarily lead to higher organic carbon
poor condition of the Changjiang runoff, Gong export. The favorable conditions in summer not
et al. propose that the supply of dissolved only make autotrophs flourish but also enhance
inorganic phosphorus from the coastal upwelling heterotrophic activities. Chiang et al. (2003)
and, perhaps, organic and particulate phosphorus, report highest ciliates abundance in summer, and
which is enriched in the Changjiang discharge and ascribe it to the rich supply of food in the
may be readily hydrolyzable, fuel the high primary Changjiang plume during the highest runoff of
production in summer. Their estimated annual the year. Shiah et al. (2003) report maximal
mean of primary productivity is 155 gC/m 2 yr 1 bacterial growth rate in summer. The summer
for the coastal waters and 144727 gC/m 2 yr 1 carbon demand of ciliates could reach as high as
 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064 1061

108% of primary production, while the annual range of 0.12–0.15. The apparently higher f-ratio is
average is only 40%. The combined carbon attributed to the nitrate regenerated on the shelf,
demand by ciliates and bacteria could reach as which is manifested by the nitrate-enriched, oxy-
high as B200% of the measured primary produc- gen-depleted bottom water observed by Gong et al.
tion in summer. On the annual cycle, bacterial (1996). On the other hand, the enhanced nitrate
growth inside the mid-shelf during cold (winter uptake agrees well with the implication that the
and spring) and warm (summer and autumn) ECS shelf is a preferred site for iodide production,
seasons is regulated by temperature and organic because the reduction of iodate is closely associated
substrate supply, respectively; the estimated bac- with nitrate uptake (Wong and Hung, 2001).
terial carbon demand could be as high as the The strong northward flow observed in the
annual primary production. In autumn, the Taiwan Strait places the annual mean volume
planktonic community respiration demands a transport at 0.86 Sv or higher (Wang et al., 2003;
carbon supply three times the primary production Jan and Chao, 2003), which is considerably larger
(Chen et al., 2003), implying that any leftover of than those (0.36 Sv or less) employed in the box
fixed carbon from summer would be effectively models for water budgeting (e.g., Chen and Wang,
consumed in autumn. The strong carbon demand 1999). This calls for new estimates on the turnover
is attributed mainly to bacterial respiration in the rate of shelf waters in the ECS, and consequently,
mesotrophic inner/mid-shelf waters and mainly to warrants revision of the nutrient and carbon
the protozoan respiration in the oligotrophic outer budgets. This new finding appears to exacerbate
shelf waters. The strong heterotrophic activities the existing discrepancy between estimates of
may be partially induced by organic matter residence time of the ECS shelf water: more than
discharged from the Changjiang, especially in 2 years vs. less than 1 year. The former came from
summer when the runoff reaches maximum. Nozaki et al. (1989), who based their calculation
The physical conditions in summer do not favor on supply and inventory of radium isotopes in
seaward export either. The prevailing southwest shelf waters; the latter was derived from the water
monsoon in summer favors upwelling, which may budget generated by box models of water and salt
prevent sinking particles, especially the organic- balance (e.g., Chen and Wang, 1999). Higher
rich fine particles, from settling (Hu, 1984) and inflow from the Taiwan Strait will drive the
make them more susceptible to bacterial degrada- already low estimate from water budget even
tion in the water column. Strong stratification may smaller. The model results of Lee and Chao
retain the biogenic DOM in the surface water, (2003) show a possibility of reconciliation between
where bacterial degradation or photolysis may the two contradicting estimates. Their flow fields
consume DOM easily. In the less productive outer show that most of the outflow from the Taiwan
shelf, the higher bacterial production/primary Strait veers seaward in the southern ECS shelf and
production ratios observed by Shiah et al. (2003) merge with the Kuroshio south of 28 N. Based on
also makes organic carbon export unfavorable. such a scenario, Liu and Chen (2002) separate the
ECS shelf into two regimes, the southern ECS
shelf that has fast turnover of shelf water and the
5. A brief synthesis and future prospectus northern ECS shelf (including the Yellow Sea and
the Bohai Sea) that shows considerably longer
Findings in this issue have shed new light on the residence time. Most of the data of Nozaki et al.
biogeochemical cycles in the ECS and illuminate (1989) were obtained in the northern regime, and
how the shelf pump may function. Based on hence, produced a rather long residence time.
nutrient and carbon budgeting, Chen (2003) Both the budgeting of DOC (Hung et al., 2003)
suggests that the new production:primary produc- and estimates of carbon demand by heterotrophic
tion ratio or f ratio (0.4) based on 15NO3 uptake is processes (Shiah et al., 2003; Chen et al., 2003)
considerably higher than the fraction of exported suggest little, if any, organic carbon from primary
primary production, which is more likely in the production is available for export. This seems
1062 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064

difficult to reconcile with the rather strong shelf comprehend the operation of the shelf pump.
pump implied by air–sea CO2 fluxes (Tsunogai Relative to the findings we had established a few
et al., 1999; Peng et al., 1999) and carbon years earlier (Wong et al., 2000), we have gained
budgeting (e.g., Chen and Wang, 1999). It may more insight of the relative significance of different
be premature to jump into conclusion based on biological processes and their relationships with
biological observations, because the spring algal environmental conditions; we have established
bloom, which is not reported in this volume, could better geochemical tracers suitable to trace the
account for as much as 1/3 of the annual primary origin of various biogeochemical substances; most
production in some cases and may result in of all, we have established a numerical hydro-
significant export. However, rather high chloro- dynamic model supported by field observations.
phyll concentrations (Ning et al., 1998) and In the future, the numerical model can be used
production (Jiao et al., 1998) approaching bloom as a tool to explore biogeochemical processes, to
conditions in the mid-shelf have been reported, but delineate carbon transport and transformation in
its extent is yet to be determined. When a large- the ECS shelf and to verify the hypotheses raised
scale spring bloom does occur, primary production in this volume. In order to develop a coupled
may outpace bacterial consumption as indicated physical–biogeochemical model, we need to for-
by the observation of Shiah et al. (2003) that the mulate all essential biogeochemical processes in
ratio of bacterial production vs. primary produc- terms of state variables and relevant parameters.
tion decreases with increasing primary production. The latter may be derived from field observations,
Consequently, a surplus of organic carbon is likely such as the C:Chl ratios observed by Chang et al.
to survive for export. (2003b), or from on board mechanistic experi-
A finite amount of particulate organic carbon ments. More physical and biogeochemical obser-
must be exported from the shelf as indicated by vations are needed to constrain and verify the
direct and indirect evidence (Chung et al., 2003; model. Most needed are simultaneous observa-
Jeng et al., 2003; Kao et al., 2003). Kao et al. (2003) tions of biogeochemical variables (e.g., CO2
infer from carbon and nitrogen isotopic results that fugacity in surface seawater and overlying air,
the inner shelf may be an important source of the nutrient concentrations, autotrophic and hetero-
exported sedimentary organic, which is transported trophic activities, isotopic signatures and biomar-
via the seaward flow off northeastern coast of kers in sediments and particulate matter, etc.), and
Taiwan to the SOT. Their inference is supported by environmental factors (e.g., water column stratifi-
the model results of Lee and Chao (2003) that such cation, hydrography, wind, river discharge, etc.).
a seaward transport is likely to happen under the Although ocean color data obtained by satellite
northeast monsoon. On the other hand, the remote sensing is routinely used to determine
voluminous sediment production on Taiwan is chlorophyll concentrations in surface seawater,
certainly important to the sedimentation in the from which primary productivity may be esti-
SOT. Especially notable is the Lanyang Hsi (Kao mated, application of ocean color algorithm in the
and Liu, 2002), which discharges to the landward ECS shelf is problematic due to severe interference
end of SOT with an average annual load of about from suspended particulate matter and colored
9 Mt. Chung et al. (2003) suggest a near-bottom dissolved organic matter from river runoffs (Gong
sediment movement as an important mode of et al., 1998). In order to fully utilize the remotely
lateral transport from the continental shelf to the sensed ocean color, we need to develop the
bottom of the Okinawa Trough, which may algorithm for Case II waters in the ECS. It will
correspond to the density driven flow observed prove most essential to the future research and
elsewhere (e.g., Ogston et al., 2000). monitoring of the ECS (IOCCG, 2000).
As shown above, substantial amount of field For the ECS shelf, an unprecedented change
work has been conducted in the ECS, but our may occur in the near future as the Three-Gauge
understanding of the physical and biogeochemical Dam begins to interrupt and regulate the flow of
processes is not yet sufficient for us to fully the Changjiang. We hope that our effort will allow
 K.-K. Liu et al. / Deep-Sea Research II 50 (2003) 1055–1064 1063

us to use the current observations as the baseline, Chiang, K.P., Lin, C.Y., Lee, C.H., Shiah, F.K., Chang, J.,
against which future changes may be detected. We 2003. The coupling of oligotrich ciliate populations and
hydrography in the East China Sea: Spatial and temporal
also hope to be able to assess impacts upon the
variations. Deep-Sea Research Part II, this issue.
ecosystem of the changed environment using tools Chung, Y., Chung, K., Chang, H.C., Wang, L.W., Yu, C.M.,
yet to be fully developed. Hung, G.-W., 2003. Variabilities of particulate flux and
210
Pb in the southern East China Sea and western South
Okinawa Trough. Deep-Sea Research Part II, this issue.
Doney, S.C., Glover, D.M., Najjar, R.R., 1996. A new coupled,
Acknowledgements one-dimensional biological–physical model for the upper
ocean: application to the JGOFS Bermuda Atlantic
We are grateful for the long-term support of the time-series study (BATS) site. Deep-Sea Research II 43,
National Science Council of the Republic of China, 591–624.
Gong, G.-C., Chen, Y.-L., Liu, K.-K., 1996. Summertime
which made the research presented in this volume hydrography and chlorophyll a distribution in the East
possible. We acknowledge C.-L. Wei and G.-C. China Sea in summer: implications of nutrient dynamics.
Gong, who coordinated the KEEP-III project, Continental Shelf Research 16, 1561–1590.
which produced most contributions. We are in Gong, G.-C., Wen, Y.-H., Schieber, B.D., 1998. Absorption
debt to many reviewers, whose comments greatly coefficient of colored dissolved organic matter and its effect
on the SeaWiFS chlorophyll value in the East China Sea in
improved contents of the papers. Specifically we winter, American Geophysical Union, EOS Transaction,
thank Y.-H. (Telu) Li and S.-Y. Chao for their July 21–24, Taipei, Vol. 79, W42.
comments on this manuscript and H.-J. Lee, I-I Lin Gong, G.-C., Wen, Y.-H., Wang, B.-W., Liu, G.-J., 2003.
and S.-Y. Liu for preparing figures and data. This Seasonal variation of chlorophyll a concentration, primary
work was supported in part by the National Science production and environmental conditions in the subtropical
East China Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part II, this issue.
Council through the grant 91-2611-M-002-005-OP3 Hu, D.-X., 1984. Upwelling and sedimentation dynamics, I.
to K.K. Liu. Peng’s work was supported by the The role of upwelling in Huanghai Sea and East China Sea.
NOAA/OAR/OGP Global Carbon Cycle Program. Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology 2 (1), 12–19.
This is NCOR contribution no. 65. Hung, J.-J., Chen, C.-H., Gong, G.-C., Sheu, D.D., Shiah,
F.-K., 2003. Distributions, stoichiometric patterns and
cross-shelf exports of dissolved organic matter in the East
China Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part II, this issue.
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