DISTRIBUTION OF WINTER SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTERS IN THE SOUTH YELLOW SEA BASED ON LISST DATA

The distribution of winter suspended particulate matters (SPM) in the South Yellow Sea was studied in this paper based on the LISST data acquired in January 2007. Mass concentration of SPM was measured by membrane filtering, drying and weighting in the laboratory. Water temperature and salinity surveyed by CTD were also taken into account in this study. Volume concentration was converted to mass concentration, considering the closely correlation between the volume concentrations of SPM observed by LISST and the mass concentration collected by suction filtration. Furthermore, volume concentrations were preferred to the description of SPM distribution in the South Yellow Sea, because of its high resolution in the vertical direction. Fine particles can be suspended by coastal currents, while coarse biological particles can be transported by the Yellow Sea Warm Current. SPM can be concentrated below the thermocline. This study has provided a perspective to the detailed description of vertical distribution of SPM.