The Characteristics of Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water in September, 2006

Abstract In order to understand the characteristics of the distribution and the nutrients of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water during summer to fall, temperature, salinity and nutrients have been investigated in the fifteen stations in the Yellow Sea. In september, the Changjiang diluted water with more than 20℃ distributed in the surface and the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water distributed in the layer below 30m depth with less than 10℃. Specially, water mass with less than 5℃ in the layer below 50m depth expanded southward down to the north latitude of 35° with expanding more to the coasts of China than to the coasts of Korea. The salinity of the cold water mass with 8℃ in the deep layer of more than 50m depth was relatively high as 33.5 psu and expanded northward forming fronts of temperature and salinity. The concentration of total inorganic nitrogen was two times higher in the cold water mass than in the surface water, which means that resolution and consumption were low due to cold temperature in the bottom layer. In conclusion, the cold water expanded southward down to the north latitude of 35° by September and had high concentration of nutrients. Key words : Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water, Nutrients, Changjiang diluted water, Yellow Sea WarmCurrent †Corresponding author : 064-754-3433, ycchoi@jejunu.ac.kr