Temporal and spatial variations of oceanic fronts and their impact on transportation and deposition of fine-grained sediments in the East China Shelf Seas

Observed hydrologic datasets and HYCOM modelling data were used in this paper to evaluate the applicability and stability of the HYCOM temperature and salinity data to the temporal-spatial distribution of oceanic fronts and its impact on transportation and deposition of fine-grained sediments in the East China Shelf Seas. The results show that the distribution of thermal fronts or salinity fronts are similar on the surface and bottom in the Bohai, Yellow and East China Seas excluding the east of Okinawa Trough. However, the strength and coverage of the fronts on the bottom are larger than those on the surface. The location of thermal fronts depends on the basic structure of currents. Both the surface and bottom thermal fronts develop along the boundaries of water masses, suggesting that thermal current fronts are closely related to the current and water masses of the study area. However, the distribution of the salinity fronts is greatly influenced by water discharge, coastal currents and warm currents. In addition, the distribution of mud patches in the Eastern China Shelf Sea are closely related to the patterns of oceanic fronts, which means that the thermal and salinity fronts do play a critical role in the formation of mud deposits.