Oxygen isotope characteristics of seawaters in the Yellow Sea

Even with large variations in salinity and temperature, isotopic composition of seawaters in summer and winter does not indicate any significant seasonal difference, showing a simple mixing trend. The contrasting difference observed in T-S and δ¹⁸O-S characteristics of surface waters in summer, therefore, reflects the non-conservative nature of temperature in the area, resulted from solar heating at the sea-air interface. The present study implies that seawaters in the area are, in essence, a mixture of two end-members; isotopically light, fresh waters from precipitation and river discharges and isotopically heavy, saline waters originated from the East China Sea as a Kuroshio branch. -from Authors