Riverine and Oceanic Nutrients Govern Different Algal Bloom Domain Near the Changjiang Estuary in Summer

Abstract

Abstract The Changjiang Estuary and adjacent sea area in the East China Sea suffer from frequent harmful algal blooms. However, the relative importance of riverine nutrient input from the Changjiang River and oceanic nutrient input from the Taiwan Warm Current and Kuroshio Current to the development and distribution of summer phytoplankton blooms in this area remains unclear. To address this problem, we deployed a coupled physical‐biological model. The coupled model successfully reproduces the main hydrographic and biogeochemical features in this domain. Both satellite observations and model results show two regions of elevated chlorophyll concentrated in this site. Simulated results show that harmful algal blooms in the region north of the Zhoushan Islands are mainly driven by riverine nutrients from the Changjiang River, while algal blooms in the region south of the Zhoushan Islands are mainly controlled by nutrients from the open ocean. Nutrient input, particularly phosphate, from the Kuroshio subsurface water contributes most to the accumulation of dinoflagellate biomass and chlorophyll in the southern region, while the Taiwan Warm Current has less influence. This has implications for nutrient control and land management practices: Although reducing riverine nutrient loads may significantly reduce phytoplankton growth north of the Zhoushan Islands, it will have little effect in the area to the south.