Recently, CUI Qianfang, a doctoral student in our laboratory, estimated the dissolved organic carbon transport flux in the East China Sea by combining satellite remote sensing and numerical simulation. The results were published in the internationally renowned Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, with the corresponding author Researcher HE Xianqiang.
Marginal sea transport plays a key role in transporting terrestrial materials to the ocean. Due to the mixing of terrestrial and oceanic water, sediment resuspension, and biological effects, the spatiotemporal changes in material components and circulation structures in marginal seas are complex, making it difficult to effectively estimate transport fluxes through on-site observations. In addition, although numerical simulation can obtain a three-dimensional flow field well, it is difficult to achieve accurate simulation of complex ecological processes. To this end, this paper innovatively proposes a marginal sea dissolved organic carbon (DOC) transport flux estimation model that combines satellite remote sensing and numerical simulation, and applies it to the East China Sea. We used satellite remote sensing inversion to obtain the DOC concentration in the surface layer of the East China Sea, and further used the DOC profile distribution model to estimate the three-dimensional distribution of DOC concentration. Using numerical simulation methods, we obtain the three-dimensional flow field of the East China Sea. Using remotely sensed DOC and simulated flow fields, the horizontal transport flux of DOC in the East China Sea was estimated (Figure 1). The results show that in the Yangtze River Estuary, the coast of Fujian and Zhejiang, the Taiwan Strait and the Kuroshio area, the DOC flux is high all year round, but there are seasonal changes. On the East China Sea shelf, there are three DOC transport belts from west to east from south to north. These transport belts are stronger in the summer half of the year, but weaker or even disappear in the winter half of the year. In addition, there is a DOC transport belt extending northward from the Taiwan Strait to the Yangtze River Estuary. From an annual average point of view, the net DOC flux from the Taiwan Strait to the East China Sea is the largest, reaching 30.65 TgC yr-1, mainly from the east side of the Taiwan Strait; followed by the Kuroshio DOC flux, reaching 18.75 TgC yr- at the 200-meter isobath. 1. Mainly input from the 26-26.5°N continental slope. The net export of DOC in the East China Sea is mainly located at the northern boundary (32°N), reaching -52.75 TgC yr-1, and is mainly exported from the outer shelf of 100-200 meters.
Figure 1. Monthly average DOC horizontal transport flux distribution in the East China Sea
Citation: Cui, Q. (Cui Qianfang), X. He (corresponding author, He Xianqiang), Q. Liu, Y. Bai, C. T. A. Chen, X. Chen and D. Pan. Estimation of lateral DOC transport in marginal sea based on remote sensing and numerical simulation. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2018, doi: 10.1029/2018JC014079.
