Saltier sea surface water conditions recorded by multiple mid-Holocene corals in the northern South China Sea

ABSTRACTRadiocarbon (14C) generated by the thermonuclear tests in the late 1950s to early 1960s has been used as a tracer to study atmospheric and oceanic circulations, carbon exchange between different reservoirs, and fossil fuel emissions. Here we report the first measurements of 14C in atmospheric CO2 of maritime air collected over the South China Sea (SCS) during July 2014. We also present 14C of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in the sea surface water in the same region. Most of the Δ14C values of the atmospheric CO2 vary in the range of 15.6±1.6‰– 22.0±1.6‰, indicating that the central SCS maritime air is well-mixed and consistent with the clean background air in the Northern Hemisphere. The 14C values of the DIC (DI14C) in the surface seawater vary between 28.3±2.5‰ and 40.6±2.7‰, mainly due to the lateral mixing between the SCS and western Pacific. The average surface seawater DI14C is 15.4 ± 5.1‰ higher than that of the maritime air 14CO2. The reversal of the sea–air Δ14C gradient occurred at ∼2000, marking the start of the upper ocean transferring bomb 14C back to the atmosphere in the SCS.

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Sea surface cooling in the Northern South China Sea observed using Chinese sea-wing underwater glider measurements

Deep Sea Research Part I Oceanographic Research Papers ◽

10.1016/j.dsr.2015.08.009 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 105 ◽

pp. 111-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Chunhua Qiu ◽

Huabin Mao ◽

Jiancheng Yu ◽

Qiang Xie ◽

Jiaxue Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

South China Sea ◽

South China ◽

Northern South China Sea ◽

Sea Surface ◽

Underwater Glider ◽

Surface Cooling ◽

China Sea ◽

Sea Surface Cooling

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Spatial structure of eukaryotic ultraplankton community in the northern South China Sea

Biologia ◽

10.2478/s11756-014-0361-0 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 69 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zhao-Yu Jiang ◽

You-Shao Wang ◽

Fu-Lin Sun

Keyword(s):

Surface Water ◽

South China Sea ◽

South China ◽

Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis ◽

Northern South China Sea ◽

Water Environment ◽

Group Method ◽

China Sea ◽

Pair Group ◽

Gradient Gel Electrophoresis

AbstractSpatial distribution, diversity and composition of eukaryotic ultraplankton community of the northern South China Sea (nSCS) surface water and the relationship with the in situ water environment were investigated by the method of polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). A total of 18 DGGE intensive bands were detected and the sequence analysis of these DGGE bands revealed that Alveolata was the dominant eukaryotic ultraplankton group of surface water in the nSCS (50%). Other species belonged to Bicoecea, Bolidophyceae, Polycystinea and Chlorophyta, which accounted for less proportion of eukaryotic ultraplankton in the study area. Unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages clustering of the sampling stations indicated that all stations were classified mainly based on geographical proximity. Redundancy analysis (RDA) was employed to further investigate the relationships between DGGE band pattern and the environmental variables. Based on the RDA analysis, temperature, salinity, phosphorus and silicate were the important factors to shape the eukaryotic ultraplankton community composition in the nSCS.

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