Abstract
Water discharge and milrient concentrations were investigated in eight, rivers and a power plant drainage in order to reveal the nutrient, loadings through rivers into Funka Bay. The river water discharge changed seasonally with a remarkable peak in April. The volume-weighted mean concentrations for all rivers of nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and silicate were 24μM, 2.9μM, 0.30μM, and 270μM, respectively. Annual nutrient loadings of dissolved inorganic nitrogen, phosphate and silicate were 57x109mol 0.63×106mol, and 570×106mol, respectively. The river waters had higher DIN:DIP ratios than surface waters in Funka Bay, indicating that the former was highly enriched in nitrogen compared with phosphorus. The contributions of riverine nutrient, loadings to primary production in Funka Bay were only 1% when total annual production was considered. In terms of newproduction, however, riverine nutrient, loadings seem to support a significant part. (10%) of summer new production in Funka Bay.
