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- Title
Seasonal and spatial variability of surface chlorophyll inside mesoscale eddies in the South China Sea.
- Authors
Xiu, Peng; Guo, Mingxian; Zeng, Lili; Liu, Na; Chai, Fei
- Abstract
Mesoscale eddies can influence biogeochemical cycles through both vertical nutrient or plankton flux and horizontal advection of nutrient or plankton in eddy periphery. In this study, we analyzed the seasonal and spatial variability of near-sea-surface chlorophyll-aconcentrations and their corresponding modulation mechanisms by collocating satellite observations of eddies tracked during 1998–2007 in the South China Sea. We found that in winter, cyclonic eddies show significantly high chlorophyll-ain the eddy core relative to the periphery, suggesting regulation by an eddy-pumping mechanism. While in summer, chlorophyll-avalues in the core of cyclonic eddies are comparable with those in the periphery, and dipole features of chlorophyll-aaround cyclonic eddies are conspicuous, which is largely induced by horizontal eddy advection. For anticyclonic eddies, however, low chlorophyll-ain eddy cores compared with the periphery are consistently present over most of the year. The impact of eddy advection on chlorophyll-adistribution in anticyclonic eddies is not clear from the composite images in different seasons. Variability of chlorophyll-ato the west of the Luzon Strait and northwest of the Luzon Island demonstrate that phytoplankton biomass in these two regions is mainly controlled by an eddy-pumping mechanism. In the regions off the Vietnam coast, chlorophyll-adistributions are generally associated with horizontal eddy advection. This research highlights different mesoscale mechanisms affecting biological structures in the upper ocean, which can potentially disturb ocean biogeochemical cycling processes in the South China Sea.
- Subjects
SOUTH China Sea; MESOSCALE eddies; BIOGEOCHEMICAL cycles; CHLOROPHYLL; SPATIO-temporal variation
- Publication
Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 2016, Vol 19, Issue 3, p250
- ISSN
1463-4988
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1080/14634988.2016.1217118