Abstract
Observations from two Bio‐Argo floats deployed in the northern and central South China Sea (SCS) show distinct seasonal patterns of vertical chlorophyll distribution. There is a permanent subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) located between 60 and 80 m throughout the year and a weak seasonality of surface chlorophyll in the central SCS. In the northern SCS, the SCM shoals to the upper mixed layer in winter and surface phytoplankton shows a clear winter bloom pattern. The mechanism driving the spatial and seasonal differences in phytoplankton dynamics in the euphotic zone remains unclear. Here a coupled physical‐biological model is developed and applied to the northern and central SCS. With model and satellite data, we show that the contrasting patterns in chlorophyll are induced by the spatial variability in winter mixing dynamics. In the northern SCS, the buoyancy flux‐induced mixing plays a dominant role in controlling the seasonal variability of vertical nutrient transport and phytoplankton production, which leads to the peak of surface chlorophyll and the significant shoaling of the SCM in winter. In the central SCS, the intensity of the buoyancy flux is reduced and both buoyancy flux‐ and wind‐induced mixing control the winter mixing dynamics. However, the combination of these two mixing processes is weaker than in the northern SCS and the vertical nutrient transport is limited to the layer above the SCM, resulting in the reduced seasonality of surface chlorophyll and the relatively stable SCM all year round in the central SCS.