PHYSICOBIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHIC REMOTE-SENSING OF THE EAST CHINA SEA - SATELLITE AND IN-SITU OBSERVATIONS

The satellite remote sensing on the NOAA Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR, 1981 to 1986) and the Nimbus7 coastal zone color s canner (CZCS) (1978 to 1986) data sets were used to study the physicob iological characteristics of the East China Sea. The oceanographic dyn amics of the East China Sea are greatly influenced by a counterclockwi se circulation system that consists of the Kuroshio - Tsushima Current - Yellow Sea Warm Current on the eastern side of the Sea, and the Coa stal Current on the western side. The former, coming from tropical ope n ocean with high temperature and salinity, brings oligotrophic water with very low chlorophyll concentrations; the latter has a low salinit y but high nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations. Our analysis demon strated that variation of the physicobiological features shifted syste matically from each subarea to the next, as exemplified by the tempera ture increase and the pigment decrease from northwest to southeast. Th is was matched by spatial and seasonal distributions of dissolved oxyg en in the East China Sea. We also found that the CZCS pigment images c learly indicated the positions of the biological productivity front in the Changjiang Estuary, which was just beyond the boundary of the tur bid zone along the coastal areas of the East China Sea. They also show ed the seasonal variation of the direction of the Changjiang River dis charge tongue. The ocean color and infrared images complemented each o ther, and they were very useful in the interpretation of the spatial a nd monthly variations of the circulation patterns in the East China Se a.