Sea ice and spring bloom in the East /Japan Sea

摘要

Relation between the spring bloom along the Primorye coast and sea ices of the Tatarskiy Strait in the northern East/Japan Sea were investigated using ten-year SeaWiFS chlorophyll-a concentration data and sea ice concentration data DMSP/SSMI for the period of 1998-2007. Year-to-year variations of chlorophyll-a concentration in spring were positively correlated with those of sea ice concentrations at the Tatarskiy Strait in die previous winter. Abrupt increases of nutrients, indispensable for spring bloom at the upper ocean in spring, were supplied from sea-ice melted waters. The water mass from sea ices provided a preferable condition for the spring bloom through changes in vertical stratification structure of water column. Along-coast ratios of stability parameters between the two neighboring months clearly show rapid progress of generation of shallow thermocline due to the ice-originated fresh waters.