Thedistributionofthesuspendedsedimentconcentration(SSC)intheBohaiSea,YellowSeaandEastChinaSea(BYECS)isstudiedbasedontheobservedturbiditydataandmodelsimulationresults.Theobservedturbidityresultsshowthat(i)thehighestSSCisfoundinthecoastalareaswhileintheoutershelfseaareasturbidwaterismuchmoredifficulttoobserve,(ii)thesurfacelayerSSCismuchlowerthanthebottomlayerSSCand(iii)thewinterSSCishigherthanthesummerSSC.TheRegionalOceanModelingSystem(ROMS)isusedtosimulatetheSSCdistributionintheBYECS.AcomparisonbetweenthemodeledSSCandtheobservedSSCintheBYECSshowsthatthemodeledSSCcanreproducetheprincipalfeaturesoftheSSCdistributionintheBYECS.Thedynamicmechanismsofthesedimenterosionandtransportprocessesarestudiedbasedonthemodeledresults.ThehorizontaldistributionoftheSSCintheBYECSismainlydeterminedbythecurrent-waveinducedbottomstressandthefine-grainsedimentdistribution.Thecurrent-inducedbottomstressismuchhigherthanthewave-inducedbottomstress,whichmeansthetidalcurrentsplayamoresignificantroleinthesedimentresuspensionthanthewindwaves.TheverticalmixingstrengthisstudiedbasedonthemixedlayerdepthandtheturbulentkineticenergydistributionintheBYECS.Thestrongwintertimeverticalmixing,whichismainlycausedbythestrongwindstressandsurfacecooling,leadstohighsurfacelayerSSCinwinter.HighsurfacelayerSSCinsummerisrestrictedinthecoastalareas.
