A preliminary study on the tidal effects on the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water and its ecosystem using a physics-ecosystem coupled model

Abstract

A physics-ecosystem coupled model was developed to study the marine ecosystem around the Korean Peninsula. The physical module of the model uses a finite difference grid in the horizontal coordinates (C-grid) and a hybrid σ-z grid in the vertical coordinate to describe realistically the shallow and mild slope topography along with the deep and steep slope topography. The ecosystem module, which is based on the Ecological Regional Ocean Model (ERGOM) of Neumann (2000), is composed of ten variables, that is, three nutrient types (nitrates, ammonia and phosphates), three phytoplankton functional groups (diatoms, flagellates and blue-green algae), two zooplankton group (micro- and meso-zooplankton), detritus and dissolved oxygen, and it also comprises bottom detrital sediment. Tidal effects on the behavior of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW) were tested using the developed model. In the normal experiment including tide, YSBCW is located in the central area of the Yellow Sea. In the case of the circulation experiment excluding tide, however, YSBCW is moved to the east side of the Yellow Sea, and the stratification in the latter case is weaker than in the former. The responses of ecosystem variables in the YSBCW were also investigated and will be discussed for the two cases.ertical coordinate to describe realistically the shallow and mild slope topography along with the deep and steep slope topography. The ecosystem module, which is based on the Ecological Regional Ocean Model (ERGOM) of Neumann (2000), is composed of ten variables, that is, three nutrient types (nitrates, ammonia and phosphates), three phytoplankton functional groups (diatoms, flagellates and blue-green algae), two zooplankton group (micro- and meso-zooplankton), detritus and dissolved oxygen, and it also comprises bottom detrital sediment. Tidal effects on the behavior of the Yellow Sea Bottom Cold Water (YSBCW) were tested using the developed model. In the normal experiment including tide, YSBCW is located in the central area of the Yellow Sea. In the case of the circulation experiment excluding tide, however, YSBCW is moved to the east side of the Yellow Sea, and the stratification in the latter case is weaker than in the former. The responses of ecosystem variables in the YSBCW were also investigated and will be discussed for the two cases.