As a result, the Changjiang River plume may be a significant source of nutrients, particularly N, to the oligotrophic, N-poor SCS, especially in the La Niña years. The concentration of NO 3 + NO 2 was higher than 18 μmol L −1 at both places, which was as much as 40 times higher than the northward moving South China Sea (SCS) water to the east.
Waters of 17 ☌ and S < 32 could also be found off the coast of China in the central Taiwan Strait. Waters as cold as 16 ☌ with a salinity lower than 30 still occupied the southwestern East China Sea. Here we use shipboard data in 2008 in two transects, one in the southwestern East China Sea and one in the southern Taiwan Strait, to show that as late as April in 2008 the CDW was still clearly identifiable when the winter monsoon had weakened.
The La Niña of 2007/2008 was particularly strong, so was the southward flow of the cold, nutrient-rich Changjiang (Yangtze River) Diluted Water (CDW) when the winter monsoon started to blow in the fall.
