Nutrient fluxes through the Taiwan Strait in spring and summer 1999

Transports of water and nutrients (N and P) through the Taiwan Strait were calculated using chemical hydrography and currents observed in May and August 1999. The surveys were conducted along a transect across the strait in the middle section. The velocity fields were determined by phase-averaging currents measured using shipboard Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) on two repeats, which were separated by 1.5 cycles of the dominant M2 tide. Nutrient distributions were also derived from phase-averaged data. The volume transports determined from the two surveys were similar (2.0 Sv and 2.2 Sv, respectively). By contrast, the nutrient fluxes obtained in August (1.82 kmol N/s and 0.34 kmol P/s) were significantly higher than those in May (0.96 kmol N/s and 0.16 kmol P/s), apparently due to coastal upwelling under southwest monsoon in summer. The rather low N/P ratios (6.0 and 5.4 by atoms) of the nutrient fluxes were attributed to the widespread N-deficiency in the upper water column of the North Pacific. The nutrient fluxes were fed mainly through a meridional deep channel off southwest Taiwan. The nutrient contributions from the Taiwan Strait to the East China Sea in spring and summer are comparable to the total riverine contributions from the Changjiang (also know as the Yangtze River) and other smaller rivers for nitrogen, but 8-17 times larger than the latter for phosphate. Therefore, the Taiwan Strait inflow may serve as an important supplement for the P-limiting condition in the huge coastal plume in the East China Sea.