Material Exchange between the East China Sea and the Kuroshio Current

The water exchange rate between the continental shelf water of the East China Sea and the Kuroshio Current waters is estimated to be about 22000 士9000 km3/yr or 0.7 士0.3 Sverdrups which is about 25 times the value of the major river runoffs in the region. The implication is that the chemistry of the continental shelf water is mostly influenced by the Kuroshio water inputs. Inputs of dissolved particle-reactive trace elements into the continental shelf water from the major rivers and the upwelled subsurface Kuroshio water are efficiently sequestered by suspended particles and subsequently removed to the bottom sediments. The Okinawa Trough sediments are important sites for receiving the dispersed fine suspended particles and associated particlereactive trace elements from the continental shelf.