Hydrography-Physical Description of the Bohai Sea

The Bohai Sea used to be one of the most important fishing grounds in China. Recently, its ecological functions have declined rapidly due to the heavy anthropogenic activities which make ecological environment protection and restoration particularly topical in this region. Understanding the oceanographic conditions of the Bohai Sea is essential to evaluate the living environment (e.g. temperature and salinity) of planktons and transport fluxes of nutrients, sediments and contaminations. In this paper, we will analyze the published literature and data sets containing field observations, remote sensing reconstructions and numerical model results, and describe the principle features of the hydrodynamic system in the Bohai Sea, such as external forces, thermohaline patterns, tides, waves, currents and substance transport processes. The objective of this paper is to provide a general picture of the hydrography of the Bohai Sea; by this means the work may be beneficial for studies in other disciplines, too.