Progress on upwelling studies in the China seas

East Asian marginal seas surrounding China exhibit rich ocean upwelling, mostly in response to the southwesterly summer monsoon. Upwelling in the China seas, namely, the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Bohai Sea, has become increasingly important becau...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reviews of geophysics (1985) 2016-09, Vol.54 (3), p.653-673
Main Authors: Hu, Jianyu, Wang, Xiao Hua
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biogeochemistry
Climate change
East China Sea
El Nino
Global climate
Marine
mechanism
South China Sea
Southern Oscillation
Taiwan Strait
Tropical cyclones
Upwelling
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:East Asian marginal seas surrounding China exhibit rich ocean upwelling, mostly in response to the southwesterly summer monsoon. Upwelling in the China seas, namely, the South China Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Bohai Sea, has become increasingly important because the potential changes in the upwelling may have dramatic ecosystem, socioeconomic, and climate impacts. This paper reviews the progress of upwelling studies in the China seas since the year 2000, by presenting the principal characteristics and new understanding of 12 major upwelling regions in the China seas. Upwelling exhibits long‐term variability at intraseasonal to multidecadal scales as well as short‐term variability frequently caused by tropical cyclones. It is also associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, local environmental variation, and biogeochemical factors. The coastal upwelling around Hainan Island and the upwelling or cold dome northeast of Taiwan Island are specifically highlighted because they have attracted great interest for decades. This paper summarizes upwelling mechanisms in terms of wind, topography, tide, stratification, and background flow, with applications mostly to the China seas. Finally, we propose some topics for future upwelling research, i.e., potential intensification of coastal upwelling under global climate change, downwelling, intrusion of upwelling into coastal embayments, and the influence of upwelling on fishery and biogeochemical processes. Key Points This paper reviewed the studies of upwelling in the China seas conducted since 2000 Upwelling dynamics with applications to the China seas have been summarized Considerations on further upwelling studies have been proposed
ISSN:8755-1209
1944-9208
DOI:10.1002/2015RG000505