Buoyancy leads to high productivity of the Changjiang diluted water: a note

Being the mightiest river emptying into the East China Sea (ECS) and the Pacific Ocean, compounded with the large increase of nitrogen and phosphorus input due to anthropogenic activities, the Changjiang River (Yangtze River) has become a dominating source of these nutrients to the estuary. The high nutrient concentrations notwithstanding, however, outside of the estuary the high biological productivity of the Changjiang diluted water (CDW) are most probably fueled mainly by nutrient-rich subsurface waters originating from the upwelled Kuroshio waters. This is because while the buoyancy of the CDW spreads it out on the ECS continental shelf, the CDW entrains subsurface waters along with the nutrients. Nutrients thus supplied are several times more than those supplied by the Changjiang River.