Climate and hydrology Yellow Sea

brown sediment spills out yellow sea rivers in eastern china , korea. nutrients in sediment may responsible bloom of phytoplankton seen blue-green swirls.

the water temperature close freezing in northern part in winter, drift ice patches , continuous ice fields form , hinder navigation between november , march. water temperature , salinity homogeneous across depth. southern waters warmer @ 6–8 °c (43–46 °f). in spring , summer, upper layer warmed sun , diluted fresh water rivers, while deeper water remains cold , saline. deep water stagnates , moves south. commercial bottom-dwelling fishes found around mass of water, @ southern part. summer temperatures range between 22 , 28 °c (72 , 82 °f). average salinity relatively low, @ 30‰ in north 33–34‰ in south, dropping 26‰ or lower near river deltas. in southwest monsoon season (june august) increased rainfall , runoff further reduce salinity of upper sea layer. water transparency increases 10 meters (33 ft) in north 45 meters (148 ft) in south.

tides semidiurnal, i.e. rise twice day. amplitude varies between 0.9 , 3 meters (3.0 , 9.8 ft) @ coast of china. tides higher @ korean peninsula, typically ranging between 4 , 8 meters (13 , 26 ft) , reaching maximum in spring. tidal system rotates in counterclockwise direction. speed of tidal current less 1.6 km/h (0.99 mph) in middle of sea, may increase more 5.6 km/h (3.5 mph) near coasts. fastest tides reaching 20 km/h (12 mph) occur in myeongnyang strait between jindo island , korean peninsula.

the tide-related sea level variations result in land pass 2.9 km (1.8 mi) long , 10–40 meters (33–131 ft) wide opening approximately hour between jindo , modo islands. event occurs twice year, @ beginning of may , in middle of june. had long been celebrated in local festival called jindo sea parting festival , largely unknown world until 1975, when french ambassador pierre randi described phenomenon in french newspaper.