Detection of low Salinity Water in the Northern East China Sea During Summer using Ocean Color Remote Sensing

In the summer of 1998-2001, a huge flood occurred in the Yangtze River in the eastern China. Low salinity water less than 28 psu from the river was detected around the southwestern part of the Jeju Island, which is located in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. We studied how to detect low salinity water from the Yangtze River, that cause a terrible damage to the Korean fisheries. We established a relationships between low salinity at surface, turbid water from the Yangtze River and digital ocean color remotely sensed data of SeaWiFS sensor in the northern East China Sea, in the summer of 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001. The salinity charts of the northern East China Sea were created by regeneration of the satellite ocean color data using the empirical formula from the relationships between in situ low salinity, in situ measured turbid water with transparency and SeaWiFS ocean color data (normalized water leaving radiance of 490 nm/555 nm).