Jet-like features of Jiulongjiang River plume discharging into the west Taiwan Strait

Abstract

In-situ data from the summer cruise of 2010 in the west Taiwan Strait are used to study the spatial distribution of the Jiulongjiang River plume (JRP). The results show that in the 2 m layer, the JRP debouches into the west Taiwan Strait in the form of jets, with one branch through the Xiamen Bay (Xiamen JRP) and another through the channel between Jinmen and Weitou (JinWei JRP). Driven by the summer southwesterly monsoon, the upwelling-related Dongshan low temperature and high salinity water flows northeastward in the form of a jet as well. To a certain degree, the Dongshan low temperature and high salinity jet restricts the Xiamen JRP from spreading further offshore and drags the JinWei JRP northeastward at the same time. Meanwhile, a terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) distribution model on the basis of molecular collision theory in thermodynamics and statistical physics is applied to analyze the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) turbidity data. The correlation coefficient of the theoretical model to the MODIS turbidity data reaches 0.96 (significant at a 95% level of confidence). The result clarifies the dynamic mechanism for the turbidity distribution characteristics. It is the salinity in macro-scale that plays a decisive role in the turbidity variability in the coastal water. This suggests that the satellite-derived turbidity data can be used as an indicator to show the spreading patterns of the JRP. Based on the turbidity data from 2003 to 2011, we conclude that there are four main spreading patterns of the JRP.

Keywords

Jiulongjiang River plume / jet current / terrestrial DOM / MODIS data / Taiwan Strait

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2009CB21208) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos: 41276006, 41121091 and 40810069004). The authors would like to express their appreciation to the crew of R/V Yanping 2 and all of the cruise participants for help with the field work. We thank Ms. Yonghong Li for providing the MODIS satellite data, Mr. Zhenyu Sun and Ms. Jia Zhu for their insightful suggestions. Zheng also appreciates the financial support by a Key Program from the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of China. We are grateful to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments for improving the manuscript.

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