Seasonal Dynamics of Surface Dissolved Organic Matter in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca: Implications for Biogeochemical Province Delineation of Marginal Seas

Abstract

Physical, chemical, and biological forces interact in the ocean, in which the large diversity of biogeochemical characteristics and underlying dynamics are difficult to be recognized. Recently, the concept of biogeochemical provinces has been put forward to simplify this complexity of ecosystem through identifying distinct environmental conditions (Longhurst, 2007;Reygondeau et al., 2013;Sayre et al., 2017). The province delineations have contributed to the investigations of multiple biogeochemical processes (e.g., nitrification and biotic population) over broad oceanic regions (Angel et al., 2007;Shiozaki et al., 2016), thereby being a potentially valuable tool for assessing oceanic dissolved organic matter (DOM) dynamics, which is highly stressed under the scenario of global change.