Fig. 1

Distributions of sea surface salinity and Chl a in the Pearl River Estuary and its adjacent shelf in summer 2006. There are 233 sampling stations in a), and 92 in b). The black dots are the sampling stations, and the black contour in b) is the isoline for 32‰. The map is clockwise rotated about 14°, following maps are the same."

Fig. 2

Distributions of sea surface Aqua/MODIS Chl a during the summer cruise in 2006: a) 8-day merged Chl a; b) Chl a after interpolating"

Fig. 3

Climatology distributions of monthly mean Chl a retried by Aqua/MODIS in 2002-2016: a) Jun, b) Jul, c) Aug and d) Sep. The black box E(W) is used for calculating the AHCHL east (west) of the estuary; the black ellipse indicates the east Guangdong upwelling zone"

Tab. 1

Climatological monthly coverage area with Chl a>0.8 mg·m-3 on the shelf of NSCS (×104 km2)"

Fig. 4

Distribution of Jun-Sep mean AHCHL on the shelf of the NSCS from 2002 to 2016. The dashed line is the linear fitted result of the AHCHL outside the PRE in 2002-2016"

Fig. 5

Distributions of AHCHL on the shelf of the NSCS from June to September: a) east of the estuary; b) west of the estuary"

Fig. 6

Climatological distribution of monthly mean sea surface wind vectors on the shelf of the NSCS and Pearl River discharge"

Fig. 7

Correlation between May-Sep mean river discharge and Jun-Sep mean AHCHL"

Fig. 8

Correlation between monthly river discharge and monthly AHCHL: without (a-d) and with (e-h) one month lag"

Fig. 9

Distributions of monthly mean sea surface Chl a and wind vector retrieved by Aqua/MODIS and CCMP in 2004: a) Jun, b) Jul, c) Aug and d) Sep"

Fig. 10

Distributions of monthly mean sea surface Chl a and wind vector retrieved by Aqua/MODIS and CCMP in 2008: a) Jun, b) Jul, c) Aug and d) Sep"

Fig. 11

Distribution of Jun-Sep mean wind vector and May-Sep mean river discharge in 2004, 2008 and 2002-2016"