What processes control the net currents through shallow straits? A review with application to the Bohai Strait, China

• We review the processes controlling the net flow through shallow straits.
• We examine the effects of tide, wind and long wave on the flushing of Bohai Sea.
• Far-field long wave originating in the East China Sea is important to Bohai Strait.
• The influence of river runoff (e.g. Yellow River) on the flushing is negligible.

We review the key processes controlling the net water circulation in shallow straits. The circulation is mainly barotropic, driven by the difference in mean sea level and tides on either side of the strait, the wind, the meandering of the currents in the adjoining seas, the bathymetry including the shape and width of the mouths and the presence of narrows, shoals, sills, islands, and lateral embayments. As the oceanography forcing can be non-synchronised on either side of the strait, the resulting net currents through the strait may appear chaotic. We apply these findings to the net circulation through the Bohai Strait in China using local wind, remote-sensing data of currents and sea level, and a hydrodynamic model. The net currents through the Bohai Strait were episodic. They were largest during winter storms when the wind generated a cyclonic coastal current in the northern Yellow Sea that flowed across the width of the Bohai Strait. Like the Luzon Strait, this current meandered and a branch of the current intruded into the northern Bohai Strait along the deeper channel. The wind set-up in the Bohai Sea and the wind-driven longshore current in the southern Bohai Sea generated a seaward flow through the southern Bohai Strait, somewhat like in Irbe Strait. As with the straits of the Seto Inland Sea, stagnation occurred in some embayments. As in the Torres Strait, the islands in the southern Bohai Strait retarded the net flow and increased the width of the outflow zone. These flows were also modulated at very long periods (∼60 days) by long waves in the Yellow Sea, possibly generated by meandering of the Kuroshio Current that created an additional sea level slope through the strait. The transit time in the Bohai Strait was 60 and 10 days, respectively, during calm weather and winter storms. The residence time in the Bohai Sea was estimated to be about 1.68 years by the LOICZ model and 1.56 years by the hydrodynamic model, and the influence of the river runoff, including the Yellow River, was negligible.

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