Journal of Marine Science: Research & Development
Open Access

Research Article

The Summer Distribution of Dissolved Inorganic Iodine along 18N in the South China Sea

Long A^1*, Dang A^1,2, Xiao H¹ and Yu X^1,3

¹State Key Laboratory of Tropic Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 164 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou 510301, P.R China

²South China Sea Branch of the State Oceanic Administration, 353 Middle Xingang Road, Guangzhou, 510301, P.R China

³University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100039, P.R China

*Corresponding Author:

Long A
State Key Laboratory of Tropic Oceanography
South China Sea Institute of Oceanology
Chinese Academy of Sciences
164 West Xingang Road
Guangzhou 510301, P.R China
Tel: +86-020-89023164
Fax: +86-020-89023164
E-mail: longam@scsio.ac.cn

Received date: August 25, 2015; Accepted date: October 26, 2015; Published date: October 31, 2015

Citation: Long A, Dang A, Xiao H, Yu X (2015) The Summer Distribution of Dissolved Inorganic Iodine along 18°N in the South China Sea. J Marine Sci Res Dev 5:169. doi:10.4172/2155-9910.1000169

Copyright: © 2015 Long A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Dissolved inorganic iodine (iodate and iodide) in seawater samples collected in the northern South China Sea (SCS) were investigated using differential pulse polarography and cathodic stripping square wave voltammetry, respectively. High concentration of iodide was observed in the surface layer in agreement with those previously reported for tropical waters. Iodine speciation and macro-nutrients were strongly coupled as observed in other tropical oceans. The vertical distributions of iodine and macro-nutrients can be classified into three biogeochemical regimes: (1) in the upper 50 m of the water column, low iodate was observed as nutrients were depleted and photosynthesis was low in summer. In contrast, substantial amount of iodide produced by high phytoplankton productivity and intense bacterial action in winter and spring was saved till summer; (2) in the water column between 50 m and the Tropical Water at around 150 m, the amount of iodide oxidation varied proportionally with nitrification, leading to rapid increase of nitrate and iodate with depth; (3) below the Tropical Water, iodate and nitrate are regenerated mainly due to re-mineralization of organic matter sinking from the euphotic zone. The distribution of dissolved inorganic iodine and hydrographic parameters (salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and macro-nutrients) were influenced by the downwelling of the mesoscale warm eddy.

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