| Session Description |
The shelf-seas contribute disproportionately significantly to the biological productivity and biogeochemistry of the global ocean. However, the present understanding of their behaviors are based primarily on the observations from temperate shelf-seas even though recent observations indicate that diverse behaviors may exist among regional sub-sets so that the general behaviors of the world’s shelf-seas cannot be depicted accurately until the behaviors in the different sub-sets may be documented. The tropical shelf-seas are one of the regional sub-sets that have been largely overlooked. The Northern South China Sea Shelf-sea (NoSoCS) is a globally significant shelf-sea in this sub-set. It extends southwest-ward from the southern Taiwan Strait to Hainan Island and from the coast of southern continental China to the deep northern South China Sea. It is down wind from the increasingly industrialized and urbanized Pearl River basin and is the receiving water of the Pearl River runoff. As a result, it, and especially its inner shelf, is under an ever increasing load of anthropogenic material. Furthermore, upwelling occurs at and internal waves reach certain locations along its outer-shelf. Thus, the oceanography and especially the biogeochemistry of this shelf-sea may be affected by a rich set of driving forces. This session will focus on the biogeochemistry and its controlling mechanisms in this shelf-sea. |
