Physics and Biogeochemistry of the East Asian Marginal Seas

The East Asian Marginal Seas (EAMS) include the East Sea (also known as the Japan Sea, EJS), the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea. The EJS is a deep (< 3500 m), semi-enclosed sea and is connected to the Pacific through narrow and relatively shallow straits. The EJS is often called a miniature ocean since it is a major anomaly in the ventilation and overturning circulation in the Pacific. The upper EJS is well affected by changes in circulation and biogeochemistry of the neighboring shelf seas, the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, as a branch of the Kuroshio transports the shelf water into the EJS. During the last century, the water circulation and biogeochemistry of the EAMS have been strongly affected by changes in climate, river water discharge (i.e., the Changjiang River and the Yellow River), groundwater discharge, and air-sea exchanges. 

This special issue aims to look into the changes in physics and biogeochemistry of the EAMS lying at the forefront in response to climate change and human footprint. 

Topics may include, but are not limited to the followings: 

- water circulation and ventilation changes based on various physical and chemical approaches

- hydrodynamics, water masses, mixing, sea level and current variability, fronts, eddies, and internal waves/tides

- dynamics of nutrients and trace elements: fluxes, evolution, and cycling

- carbon cycles: POC, DIC, DOC, CDOM, and other related components

- terrestrial material inputs: atmospheric inputs, groundwater inputs, and riverine inputs.

- water and material transports: box model approaches, numerical models, and tracers

- sediment transport and sedimentation; sedimentary geochemistry