Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139

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Marine Pollution Bulletin

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Intra- and inter-seasonal variations in the hydrological characteristics and T

nutrient conditions in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer
Junjie Wanga, Zhigang Yua,b, Qinsheng Weib,c, Fuxia Yanga, Mingfan Donga, Dandan Lia,
Zhimei Gaoa, Qingzhen Yaoa,b,⁎
a
Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean
University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
b
Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao, China
c
First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, 6 Xianxialing Road, Qingdao 266061, China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Based on field survey in the southwestern Yellow Sea (SWYS) during April–September 2017, the spatiotemporal
Southwestern Yellow Sea variations in the hydrological characteristics and nutrient conditions were coupled and analyzed; the intra-
Nutrients seasonal variations in the upwelling in the front of the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM) and impacts on
Hydrological properties nutrient transport were explored. The coastal area was controlled by the low-salinity high-nutrient Lubei Coastal
Upwelling
Current, Subei Coastal Current, and Yangtze River Diluted Water from north to south; at bottom, the north-
Intra- and inter-seasonal variations
eastern SWYS was controlled by the low-temperature high-salinity high-nutrient YSCWM. Temperature, salinity
Ecological impacts
and nutrient fronts formed around YSCWM. The upwelling velocity in the front increased during April to late
June and decreased in early September; the upwelled fluxes of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (0.29×103-
7.77×103 μmol·m-2d-1), phosphate (0.02×103-0.27×103 μmol·m-2d-1) and silicate (0.98×103-8.75×103
μmol·m-2d-1) showed similar variations during April–September. The upwelled nutrients could potentially con-
tribute to local green tide development and phytoplankton growth during spring–summer.

1. Introduction
Yellow Sea is a semi-enclosed marginal sea bordered by Chinese
mainland in the west and the Korean Peninsula in the east with a total
area of approximately 380,000 km2 and an average depth of 44 m (Sun,
2006). The southwestern Yellow Sea extends from the Shandong Pe-
ninsula in the north to the Yangtze River Estuary in the south, lying
west of 125°E (Fig. 1). The southwestern Yellow Sea is abundant in
fishery resources and the famous Lvsi, Dasha, and Haizhou Bay Fishing
Grounds are located in this area (Yao, 2009). The coast of the south-
western Yellow Sea is one of the most economically developed and
populated areas in China. Impacted by the complex current system, the
southwestern Yellow Sea presents complex hydrological, chemical, and
ecological features, and the nutrient conditions are complex and vari-
able both spatially and temporally (Wang et al., 1999; Wei et al.,
2016b).
Nutrients are essential for phytoplankton growth (Tyrrell, 1999),
whereas changed nutrient concentrations, compositions and their dis-
tributions may induce certain algal blooms under suitable hydrological
conditions (Ferreira et al., 2007; Glibert and Burkholder, 2011; Glibert,
2017; Wei et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2019). The occurrence of massive
green tides have been reported in the southwestern Yellow Sea during
spring to summer since 2007, especially near Qingdao coast (Keesing
et al., 2011; Ye et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2013; Hu et al., 2019). Co-oc-
currence of green tide, golden tide, and red tides was observed in this
area during spring to summer in 2017 (Kong et al., 2018). Other eco-
logical disasters such as jellyfish blooms were also recorded in this area
(Dong et al., 2010; Sun, 2012). These ecological disasters cause en-
ormous economic loss and exert threats to local ecosystems (Dong et al.,
2010; Ye et al., 2011), drawing increasing attention to the nutrient
conditions in the southwestern Yellow Sea.
Over the past decades, numerous studies have been conducted on
the current system (Guan, 1994; Lie, 1999; Zou et al., 2001; Tang et al.,
2004; Lie and Cho, 2016) and associated nutrient conditions in the
southern Yellow Sea (Wang et al., 1999; Fu et al., 2012; Mi et al., 2012;
Jin et al., 2013; Wei et al., 2016b). The horizontal and vertical dis-
tributions of dissolved inorganic nutrients including nitrate (NO3-N),
silicate (SiO3-Si), and phosphate (PO4-P), as well as temperature and

⁎
Corresponding author at: Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology,
Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China.
E-mail address: qzhyao@ouc.edu.cn (Q. Yao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111139
Received 28 December 2019; Received in revised form 14 March 2020; Accepted 31 March 2020
Available online 29 May 2020
0025-326X/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
J. Wang, et al.
Fig. 1. Study area and location of sampling stations in the southwestern Yellow Sea during (a) April, (b) May, (c) June, and (d) August–September in 2017.
salinity at the surface and bottom of the South Yellow Sea during four
seasons of 1996–1998 showed that the distributions of nutrients were
consistent with those of currents and watermasses (Wang, 1999; Wang
et al., 1999). Evidence has shown that the nutrient distribution and
transport within the southwestern Yellow Sea are impacted by the
current system (Mi et al., 2012; Wei et al., 2016b), which is constituted
by the Subei Coastal Current (SCC) (Zhang et al., 1996; Zang et al.,
2003), the Lubei Coastal Current (LCC) extension (Guo, 1993; Wei
et al., 2011a), the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM) (He et al.,
1959; Hu and Wang, 2004; Li et al., 2016a), the Yangtze River Diluted
Water (YRDW) (Pan et al., 1997; Wang, 1998; Zhou et al., 2009), and
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Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
the front of the Taiwan Warm Current (TWC) (Weng and Wang, 1985;
Bai and Hu, 2004). Moreover, different nutrient forms (Chen et al.,
2002; Liu et al., 2003b; Shi et al., 2015), nutrient limitations (Lin et al.,
2002; Wang, 2003; Gao et al., 2004; Fu et al., 2012) and their ecological
effects (Fu et al., 2012; Liu et al., 2015; Zhou et al., 2015; Wei et al.,
2016a; Li et al., 2017) were explored. In addition to seasonal variations
(Wang et al., 2003; Gao et al., 2004; Mi et al., 2012; Wei et al., 2016b),
long-term variation trends were also studied (Lin et al., 2005; Li et al.,
2015; Wei et al., 2015; Li et al., 2017). However, deficiencies exist in
studies on the intra-seasonal variations in the hydrological features and
nutrient conditions in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to
J. Wang, et al.
summer, when ecological disasters are reported to frequently occur in
this area over the recent decade (Keesing et al., 2011; Ye et al., 2011;
Liu et al., 2013; Kong et al., 2018; Zhang et al., 2019). Moreover,
previous studies mainly focus on the South Yellow Sea/ Yellow Sea
(Wang et al., 2003; Gao et al., 2004; Mi et al., 2012; Xin et al., 2015;
Song et al., 2016; Wei et al., 2016b) or locally important cross-shelf
transect (e.g. 35°N in Wang, 1999; Wei et al., 2010; Mi et al., 2012;
Wang et al., 2014; Wei et al., 2016b and 36°N in Kim et al., 2000; Wei
et al., 2011b; Fu et al., 2012; Wei et al., 2013a), while only a few were
about the southwestern Yellow Sea (Jin et al., 2013; Li et al., 2015; Wei
et al., 2018), where hydrodynamics and nutrient transport are complex
and variable and consequent ecological responses may directly impact
the populated coastal area. Furthermore, despite existent studies on
nutrient budgets for the entire Yellow Sea (Chung et al., 1991; Bashkin
et al., 2002; Wang et al., 2002; Tian et al., 2003; Liu et al., 2016),
studies on the nutrient transport due to the upwelling around the
YSCWM within the southwestern Yellow Sea are limited. Evidence has
shown the upwelling in the front may be a locally important nutrient
source which supports phytoplankton growth and algal blooms during
spring to summer (Wei et al., 2016b; Wei et al., 2018; Wei et al., 2019).
The upwelled nutrient fluxes during the entire summer or spring were
previously estimated based on unchanged upwelling velocity and nu-
trient conditions for the whole season (Jin et al., 2013; Wei et al.,
2016b; Wei et al., 2018), while the intra- and inter-seasonal variations
in the upwelling properties and upwelled nutrient fluxes during spring
to summer remain unclear.
In this paper, a coupled analysis on the hydrological and nutrient
conditions in the southwestern Yellow Sea and their spatiotemporal
variations were performed based on data from field surveys with in-
tensive sampling during spring to summer in 2017. The current system
was depicted and the potential relationship between hydrodynamic
characteristics and nutrient conditions were explored. The intra- and
inter-seasonal variations in the upwelling properties in the front of the
YSCWM and their impacts on nutrient transport during
April–September were particularly discussed and quantitatively esti-
mated for the first time. This paper provides a detailed understanding of
the physical-chemical conditions and biogeochemical process in the
southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer and improves
knowledge on the role of upwelling as a nutrient supply in this area,
which will lay a foundation for exploring the generation mechanisms
and mitigation strategies of local green tides.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Sample collection and measurements
The data were collected during four surveys in the southwestern
Yellow Sea during spring to summer in 2017 (Table 1 and Fig. 1). These
cruises were supported by the Scientific and Technological Innovation
Project of the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and
Technology. At each station, vertical profiles of full-depth temperature,
salinity, and density were recorded in situ using an SBE911 Plus self-
contained CTD (conductivity–temperature–depth) profiling system
(Sea-Bird Electronics Inc., USA). Discrete water samples were collected
from Niskin bottles at depths of 0 m, 5 m, 10 m, 20 m, 30 m, 50 m and
2 m above the seabed (or fewer depths if shallower). The samples were
Table 1
Information on the cruises in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer in 2017.
Time Latitude Longitude Station numbers
April 21–30 31–36°N 119.75–124.5°E 59
May 14–22 31–36°N 119.75–125°E 59
June 12–22 33.5–36.5°N 119.75–124°E 42
August 24–September 25 31–36.5°N 119.75–124°E 46
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Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
filtered in situ through 0.45 μm pore-size, pre-cleaned millipore filters.
One filtrate was placed in acid-cleaned polyethylene bottles, poisoned
using chloroform, and immediately frozen for determining dissolved
nitrate (NO3-N), ammonia (NH4-N), nitrite (NO2-N), and phosphate
(PO4-P). Another filtrate was poisoned using chloroform and kept in
darkness at 4 °C for determining silicate (SiO3-Si). Dissolved inorganic
nitrogen (DIN) was calculated as the sum of NO3-N, NO2-N, and NH4-N.
The analytical precision for all nutrients was better than 3%. All sam-
pling and analytical methods followed the Chinese national seawater
analysis standards (Standardization Administration of the People's
Republic of China, 2007), which ensured that the data were comparable
throughout the study period.
2.2. Data analyses
The distributions of hydrological parameters (i.e. temperature,
salinity, and density) and nutrient concentrations at both the surface
(i.e. 0 m) and bottom layers (i.e., 2 m above the seabed) of the south-
western Yellow Sea during April to September were coupled and ana-
lyzed. Correlation analyses between nutrient concentrations and tem-
perature or salinity were made to explore the relationships between the
hydrological and nutrient features in the areas influenced by different
currents or watermasses.
To better examine the coupling between physical and chemical
processes in the southwestern Yellow Sea and possible vertical nutrient
transport in the front, the vertical profiles of hydrological and nutrient
conditions along the typical cross-shelf transect of 35°N (Stations
A01–A10 in Fig. 1) were also analyzed. The nutrient fluxes transported
into the euphotic zone (assuming 10 m layer as the average bottom
boundary of the euphotic zone (Fu et al., 2009)) due to the upwelling in
the front of the YSCWM along the 35°N transect during April–Sep-
tember in 2017 were calculated by multiplying the nutrient con-
centrations of the upwelled water by the upwelling velocity (Wei et al.,
2016b). In the front, the upwelling velocity was calculated using the
following Eq. (1) (Wyrtki, 1961; Guan, 1962):
w = Kz ln(T TD ),
z (1)
where w is the upwelling velocity (unit: 10−5 m/s), z is the depth (unit:
m, positive in the downward direction), T is the temperature (unit: °C),
TD is the temperature where the upwelling starts (unit: °C), and Kz is the
vertical eddy diffusion coefficient and assumed to be 1 in this study as
was indicated by Guan (1962). The polynomial linear regression fitting
method was used to obtain the relationship between ln(T − TD) and z.
Based on the depth where the upwelling starts (D), temperature (TD)
and nutrient concentrations at the depth of D, and relationship between
ln(T − TD) and z in the front, the upwelling velocity and upwelled
nutrient fluxes were estimated. The potential ecological impacts of the
upwelled nutrients were analyzed using chlorophyll-a data along the
same transect obtained from Kong et al. (2018) and green tide data in
the southwestern Yellow Sea obtained from Song et al. (2018) during
the same periods in 2017.
Research vessels Time for 35°N transect
Chinese research vessel Science No. 3 April 22
Chinese research vessel Science No. 3 May 22
Chinese research vessel Science No. 3 June 9
June 22
Chinese research vessel Science No. 3 September 1
J. Wang, et al.
Fig. 2. Horizontal distributions of temperature (T, unit: °C) and salinity (S) at the surface and bottom of the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer in
2017: (a–d) Surface temperature, (e–h) surface salinity, (i–l) bottom temperature, and (m–p) bottom salinity. The first column: April; the second column: May; the
third column: June; the last column: August–September.
3. Results
3.1. Spatiotemporal variations in the distributions of temperature and
salinity during spring to summer
The temperature distribution at the surface of the southwestern
Yellow Sea showed minor horizontal difference and the difference be-
came smaller as the temperature increased during April–September
(Fig. 2). The temperature was lower at bottom than at surface. At
bottom, an obvious cold area in the northeast of the southwestern
Yellow Sea (i.e. controlled by the YSCWM) was observed, stretching
southwestward and maintaining stably low temperature during spring
to summer. As the bottom temperature along the Jiangsu coast in-
creased from April to September, the horizontal difference increased
between the temperature of the warm Jiangsu coast and that of the cold
YSCWM-controlled area and the temperature front around the cold
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Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
YSCWM-controlled area was intensified. As the surface temperature
increased during April–September, the vertical temperature difference
between the bottom of the YSCWM-controlled area and the surface
water above increased.
The salinity distribution was consistent at bottom and surface and
the bottom salinity tended to be slightly higher (Fig. 2). Three low-
salinity areas were observed in the southwestern Yellow Sea: one near
the Yangtze River Estuary (i.e. controlled by the YRDW), one along the
Jiangsu coast (i.e. controlled by the SCC) and one along the south-
western Shandong coast (i.e. controlled by the LCC). The low-salinity
area near the Yangtze Estuary stretched northeastward and was larger
at surface than at bottom. During August–September, an offshore de-
tached low-salinity water was observed off the Yangtze Estuary at
surface. The low-salinity area along the Jiangsu coast overall increased
from April to September and was connected with the low-salinity area
along southwestern Shandong coast in the north and the low-salinity
J. Wang, et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139

(caption on next page)

5
J. Wang, et al.
Fig. 3. Horizontal distributions of nutrient concentrations (unit: μmol/L) at the surface and bottom of the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer in 2017.
Surface nutrient concentrations: (a–d) DIN, (e–h) PO4-P, and (i–l) SiO3-Si; bottom nutrient concentrations: (m–p) DIN, (q–t) PO4-P, and (u–x) SiO3-Si. The first
column: April; the second column: May; the third column: June; the last column: August–September.
area near the Yangtze Estuary in the south. Salinity fronts formed be-
tween the tongue-shaped high-salinity area offshore and the strip-
shaped low-salinity area from the northmost southwestern Shandong
coast to the southmost Yangtze River Estuary.
3.2. Spatiotemporal variations in the nutrient distributions during spring to
summer
The nutrient concentrations were higher nearshore than offshore at
the surface of the southwestern Yellow Sea, especially for DIN and SiO3-
Si, and the high-nutrient area nearshore extended from the south-
western Shandong coast in the north to the Yangtze River Estuary in the
south, with the Jiangsu coast in the middle (Fig. 3). The nutrient con-
centrations in the high-nutrient Subei coast decreased during
April–May and increased during May–September. The highest DIN
concentration at the surface of Subei coast decreased from 21.3 μmol/L
in April to 15.8 μmol/L in May and increased to >28.0 μmol/L during
June–September; the highest PO4-P concentration decreased from
0.5 μmol/L in April to 0.3 μmol/L in May and increased to 0.5 μmol/L
in June and 0.8 μmol/L during August–September; the highest SiO3-Si
concentration decreased from 24.4 μmol/L in April to 17.6 μmol/L in
June and increased to 24.6 μmol/L during August–September. The
high-nutrient area near the Yangtze River Estuary extended north-
eastward to the north of 33°N during April–June, and then retreated to
the south of 33° and was connected with the high-nutrient Subei coastal
area during August–September. Nutrient fronts can be identified be-
tween the high-nutrient coastal area and adjacent low-nutrient offshore
area and became intensified during August–September. At bottom, in
addition to the high-nutrient area nearshore, a tongue-shaped high-
nutrient area offshore was observed in the northeast of the south-
western Yellow Sea, stretching southwestward. This high-nutrient area
and its nutrient concentrations overall increased during April–Sep-
tember, especially for PO4-P and SiO3-Si. The maximum PO4-P con-
centration in this area increased from 0.5 μmol/L in April to 1.0 μmol/L
during May–June and 1.2 μmol/L during August–September; the max-
imum SiO3-Si concentration increased from 14.1 μmol/L in April to
18.0 μmol/L in May, 21.2 μmol/L in June, and 27.2 μmol/L during
August–September; the maximum DIN concentration increased from
9.2 μmol/L in April to 14.5 μmol/L in May and 19.6 μmol/L in June,
and slightly decreased to 18.5 μmol/L during August–September. Nu-
trient fronts formed around this high-nutrient offshore area at bottom
and became intensified during April–September.
4. Discussion
4.1. Hydrodynamic variations in the southwestern Yellow Sea
Based on the temperature and salinity distributions in the south-
western Yellow Sea during April–September (Fig. 2), the hydrological
features of the areas controlled by different watermasses or currents
were summarized and compared (Fig. 4) and the current system was
roughly depicted (Fig. 5).
The coastal area of the southwestern Yellow Sea was controlled by
the LCC, SCC, and YRDW from north to south both at surface and
bottom (Fig. 5). The LCC and SCC had similar low-salinity features
(<the central Yellow Sea Watermass (CYSWM), YSCWM, TWC, and
bottom mixed water (BMW) but > the YRDW) while the temperature of
the LCC tended to lower than that of the SCC, especially during
April–June (Fig. 4). During April–May, the LCC along the southwestern
Shandong coast was connected with the SCC along the Jiangsu coast at
about 35°N (Fig. 5). The surface area controlled by the LCC stayed
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Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
roughly unchanged during April–September while the bottom area
controlled by the LCC stretched eastward to 122.5°E, 36.5°N during
June–September. The northward SCC tended to flow northeastward
during June–September, which is consistent with the northeastward
SCC extension in summer observed in previous studies based on current
measurements (Liu and Hu, 2009; Zhang et al., 2016), remote-sensing
analysis (Yuan et al., 2008), numerical model simulations (Naimie
et al., 2001; Li, 2010; Qiao et al., 2011) and physical-chemical coupling
analysis (Wei et al., 2016b). The surface area controlled by the SCC
increased during April–June and decreased during June–September
while the bottom area controlled by the SCC decreased during
April–May and increased during May–September. The SCC-controlled
area was larger at surface than at bottom in the north of Haizhou Bay
(at about 35°N), especially during June–September with the north-
eastward SCC extension; the SCC-controlled area was smaller at surface
than at bottom near 33°N, where the SCC was connected with the
YRDW. The northeastward extension of the YRDW near the Yangtze
Estuary had the lowest salinity and highest temperature among all
currents and watermasses, though the feature in June was not obvious
due to lack of data in the south of 33.5°N. The YRDW in the south-
western Yellow Sea extended northeastward and the extending direc-
tion tended to be more eastward during April–September, with the
surface YRDW reaching the east of 124°E during August–September.
The YRDW-controlled area overall increased during April–September
and was smaller at bottom than at surface.
The salinity of the CYSWM at the surface of the east of the south-
western Yellow Sea was higher than those of the LCC, SCC, and YRDW.
The CYSWM area decreased during April–June as the coastal area
controlled by the SCC and YRDW increased. The YSCWM at the bottom
of the northeast of the southwestern Yellow Sea had the lowest tem-
perature and second-highest salinity among all currents and water-
masses. A BWM at bottom was observed between the SCC, YRDW, TWC
and YSCWM during April–May, which is consistent with the observa-
tions of watermasses in the South Yellow Sea in the spring (i.e. May) of
1992 by Zhang et al. (1996). As the YSCWM-controlled area increased
during April–June and was stably maintained during Au-
gust–September, the area of BMW decreased during April–May and
disappeared from June, which is consistent with the observed current
system in the summer of 2006 by Wei et al. (2016b). The north-
westward TWC at the bottom of the southeast of the southwestern
Yellow Sea had the highest salinity and highest temperature.
The surface and bottom temperature of the LCC, SCC, YRDW,
CYSWM, BMW, and TWC increased during April–September while the
temperature of the YSCWM stayed stably low (Fig. 4). Temperature
fronts formed between the YSCWM and other watermasses or currents
and were intensified during spring to summer (Fig. 2), which corre-
sponds to the sea surface temperature fronts identified in previous
studies (Park and Chu, 2006; Chen, 2009; Huang et al., 2010). Salinity
fronts between the low-salinity LCC and SCC and high-salinity CYSWM,
BMW, and YSCWM stably existed during April–September, which is
consistent with the haline fronts in the Yellow Sea identified by Park
and Chu (2006) and Chen (2009).
4.2. Hydrodynamic impacts on nutrients in the southwestern Yellow Sea
The horizontal nutrient distributions (Fig. 3) and the areas con-
trolled by different currents and watermasses during April–September
(Figs. 2 and 5) indicate that the nutrient conditions near the south-
western Shandong coast were mainly influenced by the LCC, those near
the Jiangsu coast by the SCC, those off the Yangtze River Estuary by the
YRDW, those at the bottom of the southeast of the southwestern Yellow
J. Wang, et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139

Fig. 4. The temperature-salinity features of the areas influenced by different currents or watermasses in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer. (a–d)
Surface temperature-salinity features in (a) April; (b) May; (c) June; (d) August–September. (e–h) Bottom temperature-salinity features in (e) April; (f) May; (g) June;
(h) August–September. The dots with different colors represent the water samples in the areas influenced by different currents or watermasses: yellow for the Subei
Coastal Current (SCC), dark green for the Lubei Coastal Current (LCC), red for the Yangtze River Diluted Water (YRDW), light blue for the central Yellow Sea
Watermass (CYSWM), dark blue for the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM), light green for the bottom mixed water (BMW), and purple for the Taiwan Warm
Current (TWC). (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 5. The current system and influenced area in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer. (a–d) Surface current system in (a) April; (b) May; (c) June;
(d) August–September. (e–h) Bottom current system in (e) April; (f) May; (g) June; (h) August–September. The arrows indicate the currents and the dashed lines
indicate the boundaries of the influenced areas. LCC represents Lubei Coastal Current, SCC represents the Subei Coastal Current, YRDW represents the Yangtze River
Diluted Water, CYSWM represents the central Yellow Sea Watermass, YSCWM represents the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass, BMW represents the bottom mixed water
and TWC represents the Taiwan Warm Current.

7
J. Wang, et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139

Fig. 6. The nutrient vs. salinity relationships in the areas influenced by different currents or watermasses in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer:
(a–d) the Subei Coastal Current (SCC) at surface, (e–h) the SCC at bottom, (i–l) the Yangtze River Diluted Water (YRDW) at surface, (m–o) the YRDW at bottom, (p–s)
the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM) at bottom. The first column: April; the second column: May; the third column: June; the last column: August–September. In
the figures, ‘r’ represents the linear correlation coefficient and ‘k’ represents the slope of the fitted line.

Sea by the TWC, and those at the bottom of the northeast of the
southwestern Yellow Sea by the YSCWM (Figs. 3 and 5).
The correlation analyses of nutrient-salinity relationships of the SCC
showed that both the surface and bottom concentrations of DIN, PO4-P,
and SiO3-Si decreased as salinity increased during April–September
(Fig. 6(a–h)), which indicates that the terrestrial source was dominant
in the SCC-controlled area, and the nutrient concentrations decreased
offshore during the freshwater-seawater mixing process. The absolute
values of the negative slopes of the fitted nutrient-salinity lines of the
SCC were obviously lower at surface in June (Fig. 6(c)) and at bottom
during August–September (Fig. 6(h)), which could be closely related to
the nutrient consumption during the large-scale outbreak of green tides
in the Subei coastal area in June (Fig. 9) (Fan et al., 2014; Shi et al.,
2015; Li et al., 2016b) and the nutrient release due to the macroalgal
decomposition during July–September (Fig. 9) (Sfriso et al., 1987;
Wang et al., 2012; Shi et al., 2015).
Under the impacts of the freshwater discharge from the Yangtze
River (Wang and Tu, 2005), the YRDW showed similar negative nu-
trient-salinity correlation during April–September, except for the posi-
tive PO4-P-salinity correlation at the bottom in April and at the surface

8
J. Wang, et al.
in June (Fig. 6(i–o)). Studies have shown that the buffer mechanism due
to the sorption and desorption of PO4-P by suspended particulate matter
will influence the PO4-P concentration in estuaries, and the mixing
process of the low-salinity freshwater with the high-salinity seawater
will enhance phosphorus transform from particulate form to dissolved
form (Carritt and Goodgal, 1954; Cui and Sun, 1991; Fang, 2000; Wang
et al., 2009). The mixing off the Yangtze River Estuary, therefore, may
result in higher PO4-P concentrations where salinity is higher (Shen
et al., 2008). The bottom nutrient concentrations overall increased
during spring to summer. However, the surface nutrient concentrations
increased in May as the floating Ulva prolifera moved northwestward
away from the YRDW-controlled area (Cao et al., 2019), sharply de-
creased in June due to the four outbreaks of red tides with areas > 100
km2 (Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China,
2018), and increased again with the red tide disintegration during
August–September (Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's
Republic of China, 2018).
The positive nutrient-salinity correlation of the YSCWM showed
that as the salinity increased, the nutrient concentrations of the
YSCWM-controlled area increased (Fig. 6(p–s)). The nutrient-tempera-
ture correlation of the YSCWM changed from positive in April to in-
significant in May and increasingly negative during June–September
(Fig. S1(p–s)).
Overall, the negative nutrient-salinity relationship of the SCC and
YRDW indicates the dominant impact of terrestrial nutrient sources in
the coast area and mixing process between the low-salinity high-nu-
trient nearshore waters and high-salinity low-nutrient offshore waters.
Evidence has shown that riverine export (Liu et al., 2009; Gao et al.,
2014; Wang et al., 2018a), wastewater discharge (Liu et al., 2013; Wei
et al., 2015), mariculture (Liu et al., 2013; Gao et al., 2014; Li et al.,
2015; Li et al., 2017), and phytoplankton metabolism (Wang et al.,
2003; Liu et al., 2013; Wei et al., 2015) have important impacts on the
high nutrient concentrations in the coast area of the southwestern
Yellow Sea. At bottom, the high-salinity, low-temperature, and high-
nutrient YSCWM stretched horizontally southwestward. Biological
process (i.e. nutrient uptake and release) and intensified stratification
have important impacts on the nutrient distributions at the surface
above the YSCWM during spring to summer (Jin et al., 2013). During
April–September, the nutrient fronts (Fig. 3) correspond to the salinity
and temperature fronts (Fig. 2) and are consistent with the boundaries
of the SCC, YRDW, and YSCWM during spring to summer, which may
influence the water exchange and thereby the nutrient transport and
distribution in the southwestern Yellow Sea (Chen, 2009; Jang et al.,
2013; Wei et al., 2016b).
4.3. The YSCWM and the upwelling in its front
4.3.1. Hydrological characteristics
The location of the SCC and the YSCWM indicated by horizontal
distributions of salinity and temperature during April and
August–September (Figs. 2 and 5) is consistent with their location in
spring and summer described by Wei et al. (2016b), respectively. The
coldest core area of the YSCWM was located at about 122.5°E, 36°N in
April and gradually moved southward to 122.5°E, 35.5°N during Au-
gust–September (Fig. 2). As the temperature of this coldest core area
stayed stable during April–September, the isotherms surrounding the
YSCWM became more intensive. The lowest temperature in the core
area of the YSCWM slightly increased from 5.0 °C in April to 7.2 °C
during August–September. Meanwhile, the temperature at the surface
above the core area increased rapidly from 14.1 °C in April to 26.0 °C
during August–September, and the highest temperature at the bottom
of the Subei coast (adjacent to the YSCWM in the southwest) also in-
creased rapidly from 16.8 °C in April to 26.8 °C during Au-
gust–September. Thus, the vertical temperature difference between the
core area and the surface above increased from 9.1 °C in April to 18.8 °C
during August–September and the horizontal temperature difference at
9
Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
bottom between the core area of the YSCWM and adjacent SCC in-
creased from 11.8 °C in April to 19.6 °C during August–September.
The YSCWM along the 35°N transect was located deeper than 30 m
between Stations A06–A10 and strong stratifications of temperature,
salinity, and density were observed in the upper layers (Fig. 7), which
corresponds to the stratification identified in summer in the central
South Yellow Sea (Wang, 1999; Wang et al., 1999; Zou et al., 2001;
Jang et al., 2013). The stratifications above the YSCWM became in-
tensified as the surface temperature and vertical temperature difference
increased during April–September (Fig. 7(a, d, g, j, and f)); an obvious
thermocline began to form above the YSCWM at the depth of about
20 m in May, and the intensity of thermocline increased during
May–September. Similarly, the salinity and density stratifications be-
came intensified as the salinity and density of the surface water de-
creased and the vertical differences increased; obvious halocline and
pycnocline were observed around Station A04 near the coast, and the
intensities and influencing areas of halocline and pycnocline increased
from April to September. The vertical fronts of temperature, salinity
and density (Fig. 7) correspond to the horizontal location of the front
between the low-salinity high-temperature SCC and high-salinity low-
temperature YSCWM (Fig. 2). The front became intensified as the dif-
ference between the temperature or salinity of the SCC and YSCWM
increased during April–September. The contours of temperature, sali-
nity, and density upwelled at the depth of 15–30 m between Stations
A02a–A04 along the 35°N transect (Fig. 7), which indicates marked
upwellings of low-temperature, high-salinity, and high-density bottom
water from the YSCWM in the front. This is consistent with the up-
welling in the front of the YSCWM observed in previous studies (Guan,
1962; Xia and Guo, 1983; Zhao, 1987; Liu et al., 2003a; Lü et al., 2010)
and the upwelling was proved to be tidal-generated (Zhao, 1987, 1996;
Liu et al., 2003a; Lü et al., 2010; Ren et al., 2014). The upwelling in the
front stretched towards the coast from Station A04 on April 22 to Sta-
tion A02a on June 22 and retreated to around Stations A03–A04 in
early September. The depth that the upwelling could reach changed
from 20 m on April to about 10 m on June 22 and deeper than 20 m on
September 1.
4.3.2. Vertical nutrient distributions along the typical cross-shelf transect
(35°N transect)
According to the vertical nutrient distributions along the 35°N
transect (Fig. 8), the full-depth high-nutrient area at Stations A01–A02
corresponds to the low-salinity low-density area controlled by the SCC
(Fig. 7). An obvious high-nutrient area was observed in the water
deeper than 30 m between Station A06 and Station A10 (Fig. 8), which
corresponds to the location of the low-temperature, high-salinity, and
high-density YSCWM (Fig. 7). The highest nutrient concentrations were
located in the coldest core area of the YSCWM (Fig. 8). As the intensity
of the YSCWM along the 35°N transect increased during spring to
summer, the highest DIN concentration increased from 9.1 μmol/L to
19.6 μmol/L during April–June and slightly decreased to 15.6 μmol/L
in early September; the highest PO4-P concentration increased from
0.5 μmol/L in April to about 1.0 μmol/L during May–June and
1.2 μmol/L in early September; the highest SiO3-Si concentration in-
creased from 12.0 μmol/L in April to 17–18 μmol/L during May–June
and 25.2 μmol/L in early September. As the YSCWM stretched near-
shore during April–June (Figs. 2 and 5), the vertical front of the high-
nutrient area also moved from Stations A04–A05 to Stations A02–A02a
(Fig. 8); in early September, the vertical front of the high-nutrient area
retreated to Station A04 in correspondence to the retreat of the
YSCWM. In the front, the nutrient contours upwelled and the nutrient
concentrations in the upper layers were higher than those in the upper
layers of adjacent waters. During spring to summer, the nutrient con-
centrations at the surface above the YSCWM remained low, especially
during May to June when phytoplankton growth was enhanced. Evi-
dence has shown that nutrients in the euphotic zone were substantially
utilized due to the acceleration of phytoplankton growth and
 J. Wang, et al.

10
Fig. 7. Vertical distributions of temperature (unit: °C; the first column), salinity (the second column) and density (unit: +103 kg m−3; the third column) along the 35°N transect in the southwestern Yellow Sea during
spring to summer in 2017. (a–c) April 22, (d–f) May 22, (g–i) June 09, (j–l) June 22 and (m–o) September 01. The arrows mark the upwellings in the frontal area; the gray area represents the seabed; A01–A10 represent
the location of sampling stations.
Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
 J. Wang, et al.

11
Fig. 8. Vertical distributions of nutrient concentrations (unit: μmol/L; DIN: the first column, PO4-P: the second column; SiO3-Si the third column) along the 35°N transect in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to
summer in 2017. (a–c) April 22, (d–f) May 22, (g–i) June 09, (j–l) June 22 and (m–o) September 01. The gray area represents the seabed; A01–A10 represent the location of sampling stations.
Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
J. Wang, et al. Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139

Fig. 9. (a) Vertical distribution of the areas with chlorophyll-a concentrations > 2 μg/L along the 35°N transect in the southwestern Yellow Sea during April–June in
2017. The green areas represent the areas with chlorophyll-a concentrations > 2 μg/L; the blue arrows mark the location of upwellings in the front. The chlorophyll-a
data were obtained from Kong et al. (2018). (b–c) Distribution and drift path of the green tides in the southwestern Yellow Sea during spring to summer in 2017: (b)
development from May 13 to June 4; (c) recession from June 4 to July 12. The green tide data were obtained from Song et al. (2018). (For interpretation of the
references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

development of green tides during April-June (Wang, 2000; Wei et al., fluxes were in presented in Table S1. The estimated upwelling velocity
2013b; Wang et al., 2018b; Wei et al., 2018) and intensified stratifi- in the front of the YSCWM along the 35°N transect in the southwestern
cation would greatly mitigate the vertical nutrient transport in the Yellow Sea continuously increased from 2.37 × 10−6 m/s to
central South Yellow Sea (Wang, 1999; Wei et al., 2013b; Wei et al., 8.77 × 10−6 m/s during April to late June and decreased to
2016b). 4.29 × 10−6 m/s in early September (Table 2). The values are within
the range of the upwelling velocity around the boundary of the YSCWM
of 1 × 10−6–23 × 10−6 m/s in previous studies (Guan, 1962; Bi and
4.4. Estimation of nutrient fluxes due to the upwelling in the front of the
Zhao, 1993; Zhang et al., 2002; Lü et al., 2010). Since both the up-
YSCWM
welling velocity and nutrient concentrations of the upwelled water in-
creased during April 22–June 22 and decreased on September 01
The vertical nutrient transport due to the upwelling in the front of
(Tables 2 and S1), the upwelled nutrient fluxes showed consistent
the YSCWM was obviously indicated by the upwelled nutrient contours
variation trends of increasing during April to late June and decreasing
near Stations A03–A02a along the 35°N transect (Fig. 8), which is
in early September. The upwelled nutrient fluxes in the front of the
consistent with the results of the upwelling-induced nutrient transport
YSCWM during April–September in 2017 were
in summer by Wang (1999, 2000) and Wei et al. (2016b). As was de-
0.29 × 103–7.77 × 103 μmol m−2 d−1 of DIN,
scribed in Section 4.3, the western boundary of the upwelling along the
0.02 × 103–0.27 × 103 μmol m−2 d−1 of PO4-P, and
35°N transect in the southwestern Yellow Sea moved from Station A04
0.98 × 103–8.75 × 103 μmol m−2 d−1 of SiO3-Si (Table 2). The values
to Station A02a during April–June and retreated to Stations A03-A04 in
are comparable to the upwelled nutrient fluxes in the same region
early September. Since the upwelling occurred at Station A04 during
during July–August in 2006 of 1.4 × 103 μmol m−2 d−1 of DIN,
this entire period from April to early September, the vertical profiles of
0.1 × 103 μmol m−2 d−1 of PO4–P, and 2.0 × 103 μmol m−2 d−1 of
the temperature and nutrient concentrations at Station A04 were
SiO3–Si estimated by Wei et al. (2016b). However, the upwelled nu-
adopted to calculate the upwelling velocity and upwelled nutrient
trient fluxes in the front of the YSCWM in the southwestern Yellow Sea
fluxes during April–September. The temperature-depth relationships at
are only 6–7% of DIN, 4–6% of PO4–P and 7–13% of SiO3–Si fluxes
Station A04 and relevant polynomial linear regression fitting curves
upwelled in the area off the Yangtze Estuary and in the coast area of the
were presented in Fig. S2 in Supplementary Material and the values of
East China Sea during the same periods because the upwelling
parameters used to calculate upwelling velocity and upwelled nutrient

Table 2
Comparison of the upwelling velocities and upwelled nutrient fluxes at Station A04 in the front of the YSCWM in the southwestern Yellow Sea during
April–September in 2017 and those in other upwelling areas. SWYS represents the southwestern Yellow Sea. The upwelling velocities in the front of the YSCWM were
calculated to three decimal places in this study.
Time Upwelling location Upwelled velocity (10−5 m/s) Upwelled nutrient fluxes (103 μmol m−2 d−1) Sources

DIN PO4-P SiO3-Si

April 22, 2017 35°N in the SWYS −0.237 0.29 0.02 0.98 This study
May 22, 2017 35°N in the SWYS −0.549 2.23 0.13 4.80 This study
June 9, 2017 35°N in the SWYS −0.679 5.25 0.15 6.20 This study
June 22, 2017 35°N in the SWYS −0.877 7.77 0.27 8.75 This study
September 1, 2017 35°N in the SWYS −0.429 1.56 0.06 2.46 This study
July–August 2006 Cold-water patches in the SWYS −1.0 1.4 0.1 2.0 (Wei et al., 2016b)
August 1998 Coast area of the East China Sea −2.7 23 1.5 35 (Wang and Wang, 2007)
May 2004 Off the Yangtze Estuary −3.0 35 2.3 38 (Pei and Shen, 2008)

12
J. Wang, et al.
velocities are much higher in these two areas (Wang and Wang, 2007;
Pei and Shen, 2008).
The upwelled nutrients might contribute significantly to the pri-
mary production and algal blooms in this area. The positive correlations
between the nutrient concentrations and chlorophyll-a concentration in
the upwelling zone as well as those between the upwelled nutrient
fluxes and chlorophyll-a concentration or primary production showed
that the upwelled nutrients around the front of the YSCWM may posi-
tively influence the phytoplankton growth in summer (Wei et al.,
2016b). In this study, we compared the vertical distribution of the high-
chlorophyll-a areas (Kong et al., 2018) and upwelling location in the
front of the YSCWM along the 35°N transect. The horizontal position
and the depth that the upwelling reached match the areas with chlor-
ophyll-a concentrations > 2 μg/L during April 22–June 22 (Fig. 9(a)).
As the vertical nutrient transport is inhibited due to the pycnocline and
thermocline above the YSCWM during spring to summer, nutrients
could become a limiting factor of phytoplankton growth at surface (Wei
et al., 2016a); however, the upward transport of nutrients via stronger
upwelling in the front of the YSCWM during April–June provides a
replenishment (Table 2), which at least partly accounts for the mark-
edly higher chlorophyll-a concentrations in the upwelling zone. More-
over, the northern and eastern boundaries of the areas influenced by the
green tides in the southwestern Yellow Sea from the late May to early
June during 2008–2015 matched the location of the upwelling zone in
the front (Wei et al., 2018), and the upwelling might serve as a “service
station” and provide nutrient availability for macroalgal blooms such as
offshore-floating Ulva prolifera (Wei et al., 2018; Wei et al., 2019). By
tracking the stages of the green tide development and recession in the
southwestern Yellow Sea from spring to summer in 2017 (Fig. 9(b–c)),
we found that the floating Ulva prolifera distributed sporadically at
approximately 121–122°E and 33–34°N near the Subei coast in early
May, and the green tide blooms started gathering in late May, broke out
with a large area extending from the southwestern Shandong coast in
the north to the Subei coast in the south in June, gradually stepped into
recession in the southwestern Shandong coast near Qingdao in July,
and disappeared in August and September. The development of green
tides corresponds to the increases in the upwelled nutrient fluxes in the
front of the YSCWM during April 22–June 22 and decreases on Sep-
tember 1 (Table 2). The spatiotemporal consistency between the up-
welling location and high-chlorophyll-a areas and simultaneity between
the variations in the upwelled nutrient fluxes and green tide develop-
ment during spring to summer indicate that the variations in the up-
welling and upwelled nutrients in the front of the YSCWM could play an
important role in the phytoplankton growth and green tide develop-
ment in the southwestern Yellow Sea.
5. Conclusions
Using the field survey data in the southwestern Yellow Sea during
April–September in 2017, the intra- and inter-seasonal variations in the
hydrological characteristics and nutrient conditions were coupled and
analyzed, and special attention was given to the variations in the up-
welling and upwelled nutrient fluxes in the front of the YSCWM during
spring to summer when green tides developed.
(1) During spring to summer, the coastal area was controlled by the
low-salinity high-nutrient LCC, SCC, and YRDW from north to south
both at surface and bottom. At bottom, the northeast of the
southwestern Yellow Sea was controlled by the low-temperature
high-salinity and high-nutrient YSCWM and thermocline above the
YSCWM became intensified during April–September. Temperature,
salinity and nutrient fronts formed between the YSCWM and other
watermasses or currents.
(2) The upwelling of low-temperature, high-salinity, and high-density
bottom water from the YSCWM stretched towards the coast during
April to late June and retreated offshore in early September. The
13
Marine Pollution Bulletin 156 (2020) 111139
upwelling velocity and upwelled nutrient fluxes increased during
April to late June and decreased in early September. The upwelled
nutrients could potentially contribute to the local green tide de-
velopment and phytoplankton growth during spring to summer.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Junjie Wang: Writing - original draft, Investigation, Formal ana-
lysis, Software, Validation, Visualization. Zhigang Yu: Supervision,
Conceptualization, Writing - review & editing. Qinsheng Wei: Writing -
review & editing. Fuxia Yang: Investigation. Mingfan Dong:
Investigation. Dandan Li: Investigation. Zhimei Gao: Investigation.
Qingzhen Yao: Supervision, Conceptualization, Funding acquisition,
Project administration, Resources, Writing - review & editing.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by The National Key Research and
Development Program of China (2017YFC1404402), The National
Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)-Shandong Joint Fund for
Marine Science Research Centers (41876116), (U1906210), and The
Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (201822006).
We thank our laboratory colleagues for their collaboration in sampling
and data acquisition.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111139.
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