ALBERT

Description: In this study, we assessed the burial fluxes and source appointment of different forms of carbon in core sediments collected from culture areas in the Sanggou Bay, and preliminarily analyzed the reasons for the greater proportion of inorganic carbon burial fluxes (BF TIC ). The average content of total carbon (TC) in the Sanggou Bay was 2.14%. Total organic carbon (TOC) accounted for a small proportion in TC, more than 65% of which derived from terrigenous organic carbon ( C t ), and while the proportion of marine-derived organic carbon ( C a ) increased significantly since the beginning of large-scale aquaculture. Total inorganic carbon (TIC) accounted for 60%–75% of TC, an average of which was 60%, with a maximum up to 90% during flourishing periods (1880–1948) of small natural shellfish derived from seashells inorganic carbon (Shell-IC). The TC burial fluxes ranged from 31 g/(m 2 ·a) to 895 g/(m 2 ·a) with an average of 227 g/(m 2 ·a), which was dominated by TIC (about 70%). Shell-IC was the main source of TIC and even TC. As the main food of natural shellfish, biogenic silica (BSi) negatively correlated with BF TIC through affecting shellfish breeding. BF TIC of Sta. S1, influenced greatly by the Yellow Sea Coastal Current, had a certain response to Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in some specific periods.

Description: Seawater salinity is greatly influenced by tide, evaporation and rain falls. In this study, we investigated the growth and photosynthetic responses of zygote-derived Ulva fasciata Delile germlings to short-term (minutes) and prolonged (days) exposure to different salinity gradients, to evaluate the effect of salinity variation on the early stage of life history in this seaweed. The results showed that, the maximum net photosynthetic rates (NPRm) of U. fasciata germlings was observably decreased in desalted (25 and 15) and high (45) salinity seawater in short-term exposure tests (in minutes). However, after 30 min, the photosynthesis activity in medium salinity (25) was maintained at a relative high level (above 70%). After 8 d prolonged culture, the photosynthesis and mean relative growth rate ( RGR ) of germlings were all markedly lowered, whereas the malondialdehyde (MDA) contents increased as the salinity desalted from 34 to 15. The salinity decrease from 34 to 25 had no significant effect on the RGR , but obviously influenced the morphology of the germlings. High salinity level (45) significantly depressed the RGR and photosynthesis of U. fasciata germlings, while it notably increased the MDA contents. The results showed that the salinity elevation had more detrimental effects on Ulva fasciata germlings than salinity decrease did. The germlings grown at the salinity seawater levels from 25 to 34, performed preferable photosynthetic acclimation both in temporary and prolonged culture. Broad salinity tolerance from 25 to 34 in U. fasciata germlings may have partly evolved as a response to regular diurnal tides.

Description: Ammonia oxidation plays a significant role in the nitrogen cycle in marine sediments. Seasonal and spatial distribution of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and betaproteobacteria (β-AOB) in surface sediments from the East China Sea (ECS) were investigated using ammonia monooxygenase α subunit ( amoA ) gene. In order to characterize the community of AOA and β-AOB, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was carried out in this study, along with environmental parameters. The abundance of β-AOB amoA gene (2.17×10 6 –4.54×10 7 copy numbers per gram wet weight sediment) was always greater than that of AOA amoA gene (2.18×10 5 –9.89×10 6 copy numbers per gram wet weight sediment) in all sampling stations. The qPCR results were correlated with environmental parameters. AOA amoA gene copy numbers in April were positively related to temperature and nitrite concentration ( ρ 〈0.05). β-AOB amoA gene copy numbers in August correlated negatively with salinity ( ρ 〈0.01), and correlated positively with ammonium concentration ( ρ 〈0.05). With the increase of salinity, the amoA gene copy ratio of AOB to AOA had a tendency to decrease, which suggested β-AOB dominated in the area of high level ammonium and AOA preferred high salinity area.

Description: Si-Fe-Mn-oxyhydroxides dredged at the PACMANUS (Papua New Guinea–Australia–Canada–Manus) hydrothermal field, Eastern Manus Basin, have 87 Sr/ 86 Sr=0.708 079–0.708 581; εNd=5.149 833–6.534 826; 208 Pb/ 204 Pb=38.245–38.440; 207 Pb/ 204 Pb=15.503–15.560; 206 Pb/ 204 Pb=18.682–18.783. 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratios are relatively homogeneous and close to the value of the surrounding seawater (0.709 16). The content of Sr in the samples contributed by seawater was estimated to be 76.7%–83.1% of total amount. The mixing temperature of hydrothermal fluids and seawater were ranging from 53.2°C to 72.2°C and the hydrothermal activities were unstable when the samples precipitated. The eNd values of all the samples are positive, which differ from the values of ferromanganese nodules (crusts) with hydrogenic origin. Nd was mainly derived from substrate rocks leached by hydrothermal circulation and preserved the hydrothermal signature. Pb isotopic compositions of most samples show minor variability except Sample #9–2 that has relatively high values of Pb isotopes. The Pb may be derived from the Eastern Manus Basin rocks leached by the hydrothermal fluid. The slightly lower 208 Pb/ 204 Pb and 207 Pb/ 204 Pb values of the samples indicated that the hydrothermal circulation in PACMANUS was not entire and sufficient, or that hydrothermal circulation had transient changes in the past. Si-Fe-Mn-oxyhydroxides in the samples preserved the heterogeneities of local rocks.

Description: Based on the interpretation of high resolution 2D/3D seismic data, sedimentary filling characteristics and fullfilled time of the Central Canyon in different segments in the Qiongdongnan Basin of northwestern South China Sea have been studied. The research results indicate that the initial formation age of the Central Canyon is traced back to 11.6 Ma (T40), at which the canyon began to develop due to the scouring of turbidity currents from west to east. During the period of 11.6–8.2 Ma (T40–T31), strong downcutting by gravity flow occurred, which led to the formation of the canyon. The canyon fillings began to form since 8.2 Ma (T31) and were dominated by turbidite deposits, which constituted of lateral migration and vertical superposition of turbidity channels during the time of 8.2–5.5 Ma. The interbeds of turbidity currents deposits and mass transport deposits (MTDs) were developed in the period of 5.5–3.8 Ma (T30–T28). After then, the canyon fillings were primarily made up of large scale MTDs, interrupted by small scale turbidity channels and thin pelagic mudstones. The Central Canyon can be divided into three types according to the main controlling factors, geomorphology-controlled, fault-controlled and intrusion-modified canyons. Among them, the geomorphology-controlled canyon is developed at the Ledong, Lingshui, Songnan and western Baodao Depressions, situated in a confined basin center between the northern slope and the South Uplift Belt along the Central Depression Belt. The fault-controlled canyon is developed mainly along the deep-seated faults in the Changchang Depression and eastern Baodao Depression. Intrusion-modified canyon is only occurred in the Songnan Low Uplift, which is still mainly controlled by geomorphology, the intrusion just modified seabed morphology. The full-filled time of the Central Canyon differs from west to east, displaying a tendency of being successively late eastward. The geomorphology-controlled canyon was completely filled before 3.8 Ma (T28), but that in intrusion-modified canyon was delayed to 2.4 Ma (T27) because of the uplifted southern canyon wall. To the Changchang Depression, the complete filling time was successively late eastward, and the canyon in eastern Changchang Depression is still not fully filled up to today. Difference in full-filled time in the Central Canyon is mainly governed by multiple sediment supplies and regional tectonic activities. Due to sufficient supply of turbidity currents and MTDs from west and north respectively, western segment of the Central Canyon is entirely filled up earlier. Owing to slower sediment supply rate, together with differential subsidence by deep-seated faults, the full-filled time of the canyon is put off eastwards gradually.

Description: During 1995–2011, annual production of winter-spring cohort of Ommastrephes bartramii for Chinese squidjigging fishery has greatly fluctuated, which is closely related to the environmental conditions on the spawning and fishing grounds. To better understand how squid recruitment and abundance were influenced by ocean environmental conditions, biological and physical environmental variables including sea surface temperature (SST), SST anomaly (SSTA), chlorophyll a (Chl a ) concentration and the Kuroshio Current were examined during years with the highest (1999), intermediate (2005), and lowest (2009) catches. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) of the squid-jigging vessels was used as an indicator of squid abundance. The results indicated that high SST and Chl a concentration on the spawning ground in 1999 resulted in favorable incubation and feeding conditions for squid recruitment. Whereas the suitable spawning zone (SSZ) in 2009 shifted southward and coincided with low SST and Chl a concentration, resulting in a reduction in the squid recruitment. The small difference of SSZ area in the three years suggested the SSZ provided limited influences on the variability in squid recruitment. Furthermore, high squid abundance in 1999 and 2005 was associated with warm SSTA on the fishing ground. While the cool SSTA on the fishing ground in 2009 contributed to adverse habitat for the squid, leading to extremely low abundance. It was inferred that strengthened intensity of the Kuroshio force generally yielded favorable environmental conditions for O. bartramii . Future research are suggested to focus on the fundamental research on the early life stage of O. bartramii and mechanism of how the ocean-climate variability affects the squid abundance and spatial distribution by coupling physical model with squid biological process to explore transport path and abundance distribution.

Description: In the present paper, iodine (I), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) contents in three ferromanganese crusts from the Pacific Ocean are measured by spectrophotometric method and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometers (ICP-AES) to investigate the contents and distribution of iodine in ferromanganese crusts. The results show that iodine contents in three crusts vary between 27.1 and 836 mg/kg, with an average of 172 mg/kg, and the profile of iodine in the three crusts all exhibits a two-stage distribution zone: a young non-phosphatized zone and an old phosphatized zone that is rich in I, P and Ca. The iodine content ratios of old to young zone in MP5D44, CXD62–1 and CXD08–1 are 2.3, 3.4 and 13.7, respectively. The boundary depths of two-stage zone in MP5D44, CXD62–1 and CXD08–1 locate at 4.0 cm, 2.5 cm and 3.75 cm, respectively, and the time of iodine mutation in three crusts ranges from 17–37 Ma derived from 129 I dating and Co empirical formula, which is consistent with the times of Cenozoic phosphatization events. The present study shows that the intensity of phosphatization is the main responsible for the distribution pattern of iodine in the crusts on the basis of the correlation analysis. Consequently, iodine is a sensitive indicator for phosphatization.

Description: Based on the field data obtained during summer cruises in 2006, the overall perspective of chemical and hydrographic characteristics of the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (YSCWM) are discussed through the cross-YSCWM transect profiles and horizontal distributions of hydrological and chemical variables, with emphasis on the differences between the northern Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (NYSCWM) and the southern Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass (SYSCWM). The results show that YSCWM is characterized by low temperature (〈10°C) and dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration, high salinity (〉32.0) and nutrient concentrations. Compared to the SYSCWM, the NYSCWM possesses lower values of temperature, salinity and nutrient concentrations but higher values of DO. Also its smaller variation ranges of variables (except for temperature) demonstrate that NYSCWM is more uniform than that of SYSCWM. In addition, thermocline is more intensive in the SYSCWM than that of NYSCWM. Furthermore, DO and Chl a maxima appear at the depth of 30 m in the SYSCWM, while these phenomena are not obvious in the NYSCWM.

Description: The measurement of atmospheric water vapor (WV) content and variability is important for meteorological and climatological research. A technique for the remote sensing of atmospheric WV content using ground-based Global Positioning System (GPS) has become available, which can routinely achieve accuracies for integrated WV content of 1–2 kg/m 2 . Some experimental work has shown that the accuracy of WV measurements from a moving platform is comparable to that of (static) land-based receivers. Extending this technique into the marine environment on a moving platform would be greatly beneficial for many aspects of meteorological research, such as the calibration of satellite data, investigation of the air-sea interface, as well as forecasting and climatological studies. In this study, kinematic precise point positioning has been developed to investigate WV in the Arctic Ocean (80°–87°N) and annual variations are obtained for 2008 and 2012 that are identical to those related to the enhanced greenhouse effect.

Description: Seasonal and inter-annual variability of hydrological parameters and its impact on chlorophyll distribution was studied from January 2009 to December 2011 at four coastal stations along the southwest Bay of Bengal. Statistical analysis (principal component analysis (PCA), two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis) showed the significant impact of hydrological parameters on chlorophyll distribution in the study area. The ranges of different parameters recorded were 23.8–33.8°C (SST), 4.00–36.00 (salinity), 7.0–9.2 (pH), 4.41–8.32 mg/L (dissolved oxygen), 0.04–2.45 μmol/L (nitrite), 0.33–16.10 μmol/L (nitrate), 0.02–2.51 μmol/L (ammonia), 0.04–3.32 μmol/L (inorganic phosphate), 10.09–85.28 μmol/L (reactive silicate) and 0.04–13.8 μg/L (chlorophyll). PCA analysis carried out for different seasons found variations in the relationship between physico-chemical parameters and chlorophyll in which nitrate and chlorophyll were positively loaded at PC1 (principal component 1) during spring inter-monsoon and at PC2 (principal component 2) during other seasons. Likewise correlation analysis also showed significant positive relationship between chlorophyll and nutrients especially with nitrate ( r =0.734). Distribution of hydrobiological parameters between stations and distances was significantly varying as evidenced from the ANOVA results. The study found that the spatial and temporal distribution of chlorophyll was highly dependent on the availability of nutrients especially, nitrate in the southwest Bay of Bengal coastal waters.

Description: Glycogen, a polymer of glucose, is an important means of storing energy. It is degraded by glycogen phosphorylase (GPH) and hexokinase (HK), glycogen phosphorylase, and hexokinase cDNAs ( Ca - GPH and Ca - HK , respectively), which encode the primary enzymes involved in glycogen use, cloned and characterized and used to investigate the regulation of glycogen metabolism at the mRNA level in Crassostrea angulata . Their expression profiles were examined in different tissues and during different reproductive stages. Full-length cDNA of GPH was 3 078 bp in length with a 2 607 bp open reading frame (ORF) predicted to encode a protein of 868 amino acids (aa). The full-length HK cDNA was 3 088 bp long, with an ORF of 1 433 bp, predicted to encode a protein of 505 aa. Expression levels of both genes were found to be significantly higher in the gonads and adductor muscle than in the mantle, gill, and visceral mass. They were especially high in the adductor muscle, which suggested that these oysters can use glycogen to produce a readily available supply of glucose to support adductor muscle activity. The regulation of both genes was also found to be correlated with glycogen content via qRT-PCR and in situ hybridization and was dependent upon the stage of the reproductive cycle (initiation, maturation, ripeness). In this way, it appears that the expression of Ca - GPH and Ca - HK is driven by the reproductive cycle of the oyster, reflecting the central role played by glycogen in energy use and gametogenic development in C. angulata . It is here suggested that Ca - GPH and Ca - HK can be used as useful molecular markers for identifying the stages of glycogen metabolism and reproduction in C. angulata .

Description: A quantitative study on the community structure and biodiversity of free-living marine nematodes and their relationship with environmental factors in the northern South China Sea were carried out based on the samples collected at five stations in the deep sea (from 313 to 1 600 m) and one station in shallow waters (87 m) during the cruise in September, 2010. Results showed that the abundance of marine nematodes ranged from 224 to 1 996 ind./(10 cm 2 ). A total of 69 free-living marine nematode genera, belonging to 26 families and three orders, were identified. The most dominant genera were Sabatieria , Linhystera , Aegialoalaimus and Daptonema according to SIMPER analysis. Results of CLUSTER analysis revealed four types of marine nematode community (or station groups) in the sampling area. In terms of trophic structure, non-selective deposit feeders (1B) and selective deposit feeders (1A) were the dominant trophic types with highest genera numbers and abundances, which implied that organic detritus was the main food source of marine nematodes in the northern South China Sea. The percentage of male nematode was low, ranging from 2.22% to 17.81%, while those of juvenile individuals ranged from 36.99% to 82.09%. For genera level diversity of marine nematodes, Shannon-Wiener diversity indices ( H ’) ranged from 3.76 to 4.57 and had highly significant negative correlation with water depth. In general, diversity indices H’ at the five stations in deep sea (over 200 m) were lower than that at the station in shallow waters (87 m). BIOENV analysis showed that the most important environmental factor controlling marine nematode communities was water depth.

Description: The coupling of upper ocean-benthic carbon dynamics in the ice-free western Arctic Ocean (the Chukchi Sea and the Canada Basin) was evaluated during the late July-early September 2003 using natural stable ( 13 C) and radioactive ( 238 U- 234 Th) isotope tracers. POC export flux estimated from 234 Th/ 238 U disequilibria and dissolved CO 2 concentration ([CO 2 (aq)]) pointed out that the strengthened biological pump in the Chukchi Shelf have significantly lowered [CO 2 (aq)] and altered the magnitude of isotopic ( 12 C/ 13 C) fractionation during carbon fixation in the surface ocean. Further, δ 13 C signatures of surface sediments ( δ 13 C sed ) are positively correlated to those of weighted δ 13 C POC in upper ocean ( δ 13 C sed =13.64+1.56× δ 13 C POC , r 2 =0.73, p 〈0.01), suggesting that the POC isotopic signals from upper ocean have been recorded in the sediments, partly due to the rapid export of particles as evidenced by low residence times of the highly particle-reactive 234 Th from the upper water column. It is suggested that there probably exists an upper ocean-benthic coupling of carbon dynamics, which likely assures the sedimentary δ 13 C record an indicator of paleo-CO 2 in the western Arctic Ocean.

Description: Spreading rate is a primary factor of mantle melting and tectonic behavior of the global mid-ocean ridges. The spreading rate of the Gakkel ridge decreases gradually from west to east. However, the Gakkel ridge can be divided into four thick-and-thin zones with varying crustal thicknesses along ridge axis. This phenomenon indicates that mantle melting of the Gakkel ridge is not a simple function of spreading rate. Mantle temperature, water content, mantle composition, and other factors are important in crustal accretion processes. Based on gravity-derived crustal thickness and wet melting model, we estimate that the mantle potential temperatures of the four zones are 1 270, 1 220, 1 280, and 1 280°C (assuming that mantle water content equals to global average value), with corresponding mantle water contents of 210, 0, 340, and 280 mg/kg (assuming that mantle potential temperature is 1 260°C), respectivly. The western thinned crust zone is best modeled with low mantle temperature, whereas the other zones are mainly controlled by the enhanced conduction caused by the slower spreading rate. Along the Gakkel ridge, the crustal thickness is consistent with rock samples types. Predominated serpentinized peridotite and basalt are found in the area with crustal thickness 〈1.5 km and 〉2.5 km, respectively. The rock samples are including from basalt to peridotite in the area with crustal thickness between 1.5 and 2.5 km. Based on this consistency, the traditional magmatic accretion zone accounted for only 44% and amagmatic accretion accounted for 29% of the Gakkel ridge. The amagmatic accretion is a significant characteristic of the ultra-slow spreading ridge.

Description: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has a significant influence on marine biological processes and primary productivity; however, the existing ocean color satellite sensors seldom contain UV bands. A look-up table of wavelength-integrated UV irradiance (280–400 nm) on the sea surface is established using the coupled ocean atmosphere radiative transfer (COART) model. On the basis of the look-up table, the distributions of the UV irradiance at middle and low latitudes are inversed by using the satellite-derived atmospheric products from the Aqua satellite, including aerosol optical thickness at 550 nm, ozone content, liquid water path, and the total precipitable water. The validation results show that the mean relative difference of the 10 d rolling averaged UV irradiance between the satellite retrieval and field observations is 8.20% at the time of satellite passing and 13.95% for the daily dose of UV. The monthly-averaged UV irradiance and daily dose of UV retrieved by satellite data show a good correlation with the in situ data, with mean relative differences of 6.87% and 8.43%, respectively. The sensitivity analysis of satellite inputs is conducted. The liquid water path representing the condition of cloud has the highest effect on the retrieval of the UV irradiance, while ozone and aerosol have relatively lesser effect. The influence of the total precipitable water is not significant. On the basis of the satellite-derived UV irradiance on the sea surface, a preliminary simple estimation of ultraviolet radiation’s effects on the global marine primary productivity is presented, and the results reveal that ultraviolet radiation has a non-negligible effect on the estimation of the marine primary productivity.

Description: The present study reports on population structure analysis of the marbled crab Pachygrapsus marmoratus (Fabricius, 1787) from the Tunisian coast, an appropriate location to study biogeographical processes because of the presence of a well-known discontinuous biogeographic area (the Siculo-Tunisian Strait). Patterns of morphological and genetic variation of this highly dispersive and continuously distributed decapod species were assessed among its geographically close populations which cover almost the entire Tunisian coastline. A total of 386 specimens from nine sites were collected and examined for morphometric variability at 14 morphometric traits. The results of multivariate analyses of linear morphometric traits showed the existence of sexual dimorphism in this species by PERMANOVA (Permutational multivariate analysis of variance). In addition, both CDA (Canonical discriminant analysis) and NPMANOVA (Non parametric MANOVA test) analyses revealed statistically significant differences among the studied locations for both sexes. Overall, the outcome of CDA analysis showed that over 87% of individuals could be assigned correctly to three regional groups in both sexes (North, Center and South). Specifically, SIMPER (Similarity Percentages) analysis showed that carapace length, carapace width and merus length were major contributors to the morphometric separation between populations. The pattern of phenotypic variation suggested by morphometric analyses was found to be highly discordant with that suggested by the analysis of a mitochondrial marker (cytochrome oxidase I, COI). Indeed, the results inferred from restriction fragment analysis of the COI in 180 crabs, suggested high genetic homogeneity. Very low levels of haplotype diversity ( h ) were found in almost all the studied populations, associated with non significant genetic distances for nearly all population comparisons. Explanations to these morphometric and mtDNA patterns as well as the discrepancy between them are discussed.

Description: A new off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy (ICOS) is coupled to Weiss equilibrator for continuous high-resolution dissolved methane measurement in the surface ocean. The time constant for the equilibrator in freshwater at room temperature is determined via dis-equilibration and re-equilibration experiments. The constant for methane is about 40 min. The system is calibrated using a standard gas of 3.980×10 −6 , and the precision of the ICOS for methane is 0.07%. This system is equipped onboard to measure the spatial distribution in methane concentrations of South Yellow Sea (SYS) along the cruise track from Shanghai to Qingdao. Result shows that the methane concentration varies from 2.79 to 36.36 nmol/L, reveals a significant pattern of methane source in SYS, and a distinct decreasing trend from south to north. The peak value occurs at the coast area outside mouth of the Changjiang River, likely to be affected by the Changjiang diluted water mass dissolving a large amount of rich in methane. Moreover, all the surface waters are oversaturated, air-to-sea fluxes range from 98.59 to 5 485.35 μmol/(m 2 ·d) (average value (1 169.74±1 398.46) μmol/(m 2 ·d)), indicating a source region for methane to the atmosphere.

Description: Pacific whiteleg shrimp ( Litopenaeus vannamei ) is an economically relevant shrimp species in many Asian countries. The specific objective of the current research was to assess microsatellite markers in screening the fast-growth of domesticated L. vannamei stocks to establish a founder population for breeding-selection plans. The postlarvae produced by the reproduction of second generation broodstock were cultured in the same conditions throughout a five months growing period. Ninety juvenile shrimp were selected from the slow-, medium- and the fast-growth groups, and ten microsatellite markers were used to investigate their genetic diversity, and to understand the improvement of a breeding-selection scheme. Ten polymorphic loci (markers) (M1-M10) were produced at ten loci in this sample, among them Primer M8 was the highest polymorphic locus and M7 was the lowest one. A specific locus was found in the fast-growth group using Primer M5. The longest genetic distance (0.481) was determined between the fast- and medium-growth groups and the shortest (0.098) was between the slow- and medium-growth groups; therefore, the largest genetic identity (0.946) was observed between the slow- and medium-growth groups and the smallest (0.667) was observed between the medium- and fast-growth groups. The Unweighted Paired Group with Arithmetic Average (UPGMA) dendrogram based on Nei’s genetic distances provided two different groups; the first consist of the slow- and medium-growth groups and the second the fast-growth group. Selection response and realized heritability for growth were 11.55% and 31.26%, respectively. Therefore, this set of microsatellite markers would provide a useful tool in shrimp breeding schemes.

Description: The Bering Sea is an area of high biological productivity, with large populations of sea-birds, demersal and pelagic fishes, so it seemed desirable to assess the bioaccumulation of trace metals in the marine organisms from this area. However, few data on trace metal concentrations are available for the benthopelagic organisms from the Bering Sea till now. Ten specimens of benthos (including 120 biological samples) were collected in the western Bering Sea in August 2008 during the 3rd Chinese National Arctic Research Expeditions, and the concentration of Cd, Cu, Cr and Zn determined using atomic absorption spectrometry. Zn, Cr and Cd concentrations in muscle tissues of the crab species were much higher than those from fish and cephalopod species, and the highest concentration of Cu was observed in the muscle tissues of Cylichna nucleoli . The results showed a similar hierarchy for Zn, Cr, Cd and Cu concentrations among different tissues as follows: hepatopancreas〉muscle tissue〉gonad. Bioconcentration factors indicated that benthic organisms had high accumulation abilities for Zn and Cu.

Description: The process of mass movements and their consequent turbidity currents in large submarine canyons has been widely reported, however, little attention was paid to that in small canyons. In this paper, we document mass movements in small submarine canyons in the northeast of Baiyun deepwater area, north of the South China Sea (SCS), and their strong effects on the evolution of the canyons based on geophysical data. Submarine canyons in the study area arrange closely below the shelf break zone which was at the depth of–500 m. Within submarine canyons, seabed surface was covered with amounts of failure scars resulted from past small-sized landslides. A complex process of mass transportation in the canyons is indicated by three directions of mass movements. Recent mass movement deposits in the canyons exhibit translucent reflections or parallel reflections which represent the brittle deformation and the plastic deformation, respectively. The area of most landslides in the canyons is less than 3 km 2 . The trigger mechanisms for mass movements in the study area are gravitational overloading, slope angle and weak properties of soil. Geophysical data indicate that the genesis of submarine canyons is the erosion of mass movements and consequent turbidity currents. The significant effects of mass movements on canyon are incision and sediment transportation at the erosion phases and fillings supply at the fill phases. This research will be helpful for the geological risk assessments and understanding the sediment transportation in the northern margin of the SCS.

Description: Fifty-seven bacteria were isolated from Southern Ocean (Indian sector) water samples which were collected from different latitude and longitude of the ocean. All the isolates were able to grow at 4°C, 20°C, 37°C and tolerable NaCl concentration up to 13.5% (w/v). 29 out of 57 isolates were identified using 16S rDNA amplification and the sequences were submitted to National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). All the isolates were classified by using Ribosomal Database Project (RDP) and found that isolates belongs to Proteobacteria and Bacteriodes. The average G+C content was 56.4%. The isolates were screened for the presence of extracellular enzymes, viz . amylase, catalase, urease, esterase, lipase and protease. The disc diffusion method is used to screen antibiotic production by the isolates against four pathogenic bacteria, viz. Salmonella typhimurium (NCIM 2501), Staphylococcus aureus (NCIM 2122), Bacillus subtilis (NCIM 2193), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (NCIM 2036). Nine out of 29 were found to be antibiotic producer.

Description: Temperature is an important environmental factor that affects the growth and survival of Octopus vulgaris , the common octopus. To understand the protective mechanism that O. vulgaris exhibits under heat stress, we used rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) to obtain full-length sequences of three heat stress response related genes: (1) the heat shock protein 70 (OvHSP70), (2) the heat shock transcription factor (OvHSF), and (3) the heat shock factor-binding protein (OvHSBP) of O. vulgaris . The OvHSP70, OvHSF, and OvHSBP proteins contained 2 222 bp, 2 264 bp, 841 bp that encoded for 635, 458 and 90 amino acids, respectively. The results of multiple sequence alignment showed that the amino acid sequences of OvHSP70 were highly conserved with respect to other species. Similarly, the DNA binding domain, the trimerization domain of OvHSF, and the coiled coil region of OvHSBP also had highly conserved regions. The real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results indicated that OvHSP70 was temperature-dependent and time-dependent, showing a positive response to heat stress. On exposure to 28°C and to 30°C, the mRNA expression levels of OvHSF and OvHSBP were higher than those in the control group at 24°C. The mRNA expression of OvHSBP significantly increased with heat treatment at 26°C, while the mRNA expression of OvHSF decreased. The experimental results indicated that the expression of OvHSP70, OvHSF and OvHSBP were all sensitive to heat stress, which suggests that these three genes may play an important role for O. vulgaris in responding to environmental stress. Thus, this study sets a theoretical foundation for further in-depth studies on the molecular protective mechanisms of the heat response in O. vulgaris .

Description: The aim of this study was to investigate nitrogen and phosphorus released in the process of the decomposition of giant jellyfish in the laboratory and found the evidence to verify the influence of nutrients released by the decomposition of jellyfish on the ecosystem in the field. The release of nitrogen and phosphorus from the decomposition of Nemopilema nomurai was examined in a series of experiments under different incubation conditions such as different pH values, salinity values, temperatures and nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. The results showed that the complete decomposition of Nemopilema nomurai generally took about 4–8 d. The release of nitrogen and phosphorus from the decomposition of Nemopilema nomurai could be divided into two stages: the early stage and the later stage, although the efflux rate of nitrogen was one order more than phosphorus. In the early stage of the decomposition of Nemopilema nomurai , the concentrations of dissolved nitrogen, dissolved phosphorus, total nitrogen and total phosphorus in seawater increased rapidly, and the concentration of nitrogen could reach the highest level in the whole degradation process. In the later stage of the decomposition, the concentrations of dissolved nitrogen and total nitrogen declined slowly, while the concentration of phosphorus in water could reach a maximum in the degradation process. High pH, low salinity, high temperature and N/P will promote the release of nitrogen; low pH is unfavorable to the release of nitrogen but favorable to the release of phosphorus. In addition, we found the concentrations of ammonium and phosphate in the bottom water were higher than those in the surface water during the period of jellyfish bloom in the Jiaozhou Bay, proving that nutrients released by the decomposition of jellyfish have significant influence on nitrogen and phosphorus in the field. For the whole Yellow Sea, nutrients released by jellyfish carcasses may reach up to (2.63±2.98)×10 7 mol/d of dissolved nitrogen (DN) and (0.74±0.84)×10 6 mol/d of dissolved phosphorus (DP) during the period of jellyfish bloom. The values are comparable to riverine inputs in a day, but much higher than sediment–water exchange flux in the Yellow Sea. The great amounts of nutrients must have significant influence on the nutrients balance of the Yellow Sea during the period of jellyfish dead and decomposition. Both the experimental data and field observations proved that the decomposition of jellyfish may release a great amount of nutrient to the surrounding environment during the period of jellyfish decomposition.

Description: Catalase (CAT) and selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (Se-GPx) play a vital role in protecting organisms against various oxidative stresses by eliminating H 2 O 2 . The objective of this paper is to evaluate the roles of these antioxidant molecules in the ridgetail white prawn Exopalaemon carinicauda in response to low salinity stress. A complementary DNA (cDNA) containing the complete coding sequence of CAT was cloned from the hepatopancreas using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and rapid amplification of cDNA ends. The full-length cDNA of CAT (2 649 bp) contains a 5′-untranslated region (UTR) of 78 bp, a 3′-UTR of 1 017 bp, with a poly (A) tail, and an open reading frame of 1 554 bp encoding a 517-amino-acid polypeptide with predicted molecular mass of 58.46 kDa and estimated isoelectric point of 6.64. This CAT sequence contained the proximal active site signature ( 60 FDRERIPERVVHAKGAG 76 ), proximal heme-ligand signature sequence ( 350 RLFSYPDTH 358 ) and three catalytic amino acid residues (His 71 , Asn 144 and Tyr 354 ). Sequence comparison showed that the CAT deduced amino acid sequence of E. carinicauda shared 68%-92% of identities with those of other species. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that CAT mRNA was widely expressed in the hepatopancreas (highest), hemocyte, eyestalk, heart, gill, muscle, ovary and stomach. Under low salinity stress, CAT and GPx mRNA expression levels both in the gill and hepatopancreas increased significantly at the first 48 h and 6 h respectively, indicating a tissue- and time-dependent antioxidant response in E. carinicauda . All these results indicate that E. carinicauda CAT is a member of the CAT family and might be involved in the acute response against low salinity stress.

Description: Sea surface temperature (SST) proxies including B/Ca, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, U/Ca and δ 18 O were analyzed in the skeleton of a Porites coral collected from the Zhujiang River (Pearl River) Estuary (ZRE). These geochemical proxies are influenced by river runoff and this area of the northern South China Sea is strongly affected by seasonal freshwater floods. We assessed the robustness of each SST proxy through comparison with the local instrumental SST. Coral Sr/Ca shows the highest correlation with SST variations ( r 2 =0.59), suggesting Sr/Ca is the most robust SST proxy. In contrast, coral δ 18 O ( r 2 =0.46), B/Ca ( r 2 =0.43) and U/Ca ( r 2 =0.41) ratios were only moderately correlated with SST variations, suggesting that they are disturbed by some other factors in addition to SST. The poor correlation ( r 2 =0.27) between SST and Mg/Ca indicates that Mg/Ca in coral skeletons is not a simple function of SST variations. This may ultimately limit the use of Mg/Ca as a coral paleothermometer.

Description: The southern Changjiang River Estuary has attracted considerable attention from marine scientists because it is a highly biologically active area and is biogeochemically significant. Moreover, land-ocean interactions strongly impact the estuary, and harmful algal blooms (HABs) frequently occur in the area. In October 2010 and May 2011, water samples of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) were collected from the southern Changjiang River Estuary. Parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) was used to assess the samples’ CDOM composition using excitation-emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy. Four components were identified: three were humic-like (C1, C2 and C3) and one was protein-like (C4). Analysis based on spatial and seasonal distributions, as well as relationships with salinity, Chl a and apparent oxygen utilization (AOU), revealed that terrestrial inputs had the most significant effect on the three humic-like Components C1, C2 and C3 in autumn. In spring, microbial processes and phytoplankton blooms were also important factors that impacted the three components. The protein-like Component C4 had autochthonous and allochthonous origins and likely represented a biologically labile component. CDOM in the southern Changjiang River Estuary was mostly affected by terrestrial inputs. Microbial processes and phytoplankton blooms were also important sources of CDOM, especially in spring. The fluorescence intensities of the four components were significantly higher in spring than in autumn. On average, C1, C2, C3, C4 and the total fluorescence intensity (TFI) in the surface, middle and bottom layers increased by 123%–242%, 105%–195%, 167%–665%, 483%–567% and 184%–245% in spring than in autumn, respectively. This finding corresponded with a Chl a concentration that was 16–20 times higher in spring than in autumn and an AOU that was two to four times lower in spring than in autumn. The humification index (HIX) was lower in spring that in autumn, and the fluorescence index (FI) was higher in spring than in autumn. This result indicated that the CDOM was labile and the biological activity was intense in spring.

Description: The ovary is an excellent system for studying stem cell renewal and differentiation, which is under the control of ovarian somatic cells. In order to understand oogenesis in the Fugu rubripes ( Temmincket Schlegel ) as a marine fish model of aquaculture importance, we established cell lines called TSOC1 and TSOC2 from a juvenile ovary of this organism. TSOC1 is composed of spindle epithelial-like cells, while the other is cobblestone-like cells. Therefore, TSOC1 and TSOC2 appear to consist of ovarian somatic cells. Growth requirement condition was investigated including temperature, concentration of FBS and pH. Significant fluorescent signals were observed after TSOC1 and TSOC2 cells were transfected with pEGFP-N3 vector, indicating its potential utility for genetic manipulation such as gene function studies. It is shown that these cell lines are effective for infection by the turbot reddish body iridovirus and flounder lymphosystis disease virus as evidenced by the appearance of cytopathic effect and virus propagation in the virus-infected cells, and most convincingly, the observation of viral particles by electron microscopy, demonstrating that TSOC1 and TSOC2 are suitable to study interactions between virus and host cells. It is believed that TSOC1 and TSOC2 will be useful tools to study sex-related events and interactions between primordial germ cells and oogonia cells during oogenesis. Therefore, establishment of ovary cell lines from the Fugu rubripes seems to be significant for those research areas.

Description: Surface sediments from the Changjiang River (Yangtze River) Estuary, Hangzhou Bay, and their adjacent waters were analyzed for their grain size distribution, organic carbon (OC) concentration, and stable carbon isotope composition ( δ 13 C). Based on this analysis, about 36 surface sediment samples were selected from various environments and separated into sand (〉0.250 mm, 0.125–0.250 mm, 0.063–0.125 mm) and silt (0.025–0.063 mm) fractions by wet-sieving fractionation methods, and further into silt- (0.004–0.025 mm) and clay-sized (〈0.004 mm) fractions by centrifugal fractionation. Sediments of six grain size categories were analyzed for their OC and δ 13 C contents to explore the grain size composition and transport paths of sedimentary OC in the study area. From fine to coarse fractions, the OC content was 1.18%, 0.51%, 0.46%, 0.42%, 0.99%, and 0.48%, respectively, while the δ 13 C was–21.64‰,–22.03‰,–22.52‰,–22.46‰,–22.36‰, and–22.28‰, respectively. In each size category, the OC contribution was 42.96%, 26.06%, 9.82%, 5.75%, 7.09%, and 8.33%, respectively. The OC content in clay and fine silt fractions (〈0.025 mm) was about 69.02%. High OC concentrations were mainly found in offshore modern sediments in the northeast of the Changjiang River Estuary, in modern sediments in the lower estuary of the Changjiang River and Hangzhou Bay, and in Cyclonic Eddy modern sediments to the southwest of the Cheju Island. Integrating the distribution of terrestrial OC content of each grain size category with the δ 13 C of the bulk sediment indicated that the terrestrial organic material in the Changjiang River Estuary was transported seaward and dispersed to the Cyclonic Eddy modern sediments to the southwest of the Cheju Island via two pathways: one was a result of the Changjiang River Diluted Water (CDW) northeastward extending branch driven by the North Jiangsu Coastal Current and the Yellow Sea Coastal Current, while the other one was the result of the CDW southward extending branch driven by the Taiwan Warm Current.

Description: The living coccolithophores (LCs) are an important class of calcified taxa of phytoplankton functional groups, and major producers of marine biogenic inorganic carbon, playing an important role in the marine carbon cycle. In this study, we report the two-demensional abundance, composition of LCs and its correlation with the environmental parameters in spring and autumn, in order to understand the ecological role of LCs in the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea. In spring, totally 9 taxa belonging to coccolithophyceae were identified using a polarized microscope at the 1 000× magnification. The dominant species were Emiliania huxleyi , Gephyrocapsa oceanica , Helicosphaera carteri , and Calcidiscus leptoporus . The abundance of coccosphores and coccoliths ranged 0–7.72 cells/mL, and 0–216.09 coccoliths/mL, with the average values of 0.21 cells/mL, and 11.36 coccoliths/mL, respectively. The Emiliania huxleyi distribution was similar to Gephyrocapsa oceanica . The highest abundance of coccoliths was observed in the east of Shandong Peninsula in northern Yellow Sea, whereas Helicosphaera carteri distributed more widely. Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica were the two predominant species in LCs with higher abundances. The distribution of LCs was similar to that of coccoliths. In autumn, 14 taxa belonging to coccolithophyceae were identified with dominant species as Emiliania huxleyi , Gephyrocapsa oceanica , Helicosphaera carteri , Calcidiscus leptoporus and Oolithotus fragilis . The abundance of coccosphores and coccoliths ranged 0–24.69 cells/mL, and 0–507.15 coccoliths/mL, with the average values of 1.47 cells/mL, and 55.89 coccoliths/mL, respectively. The highest abundance of coccoliths was located in Qingdao coastal waters and south of the survey area. The distribution of LCs was similar to the coccoliths; in addition, LCs presented large abundance in the east of the central Yellow Sea area.

Description: Multivariate AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index (M-AMBI) was designed to indicate the ecological status of European coastal areas. Based upon samples collected from 2009 to 2012 in the Bohai Bay, we have tested the response of variations of M-AMBI, using biomass (M-BAMBI) in the calculations, with different transformations of the raw data. The results showed that the ecological quality of most areas in the study indicated by M-AMBI was from moderate to bad status with the worse status in the coastal areas, especially around the estuaries, harbors and outfalls, and better status in the offshore areas except the area close to oil platforms or disposal sites. Despite large variations in nature of the input data, all variations of M-AMBI gave similar spatial and temporal distribution patterns of the ecological status within the bay, and showed high correlation between them. The agreement of new ecological status obtained from all M-AMBI variations, which were calculated according to linear regression, was almost perfect. The benthic quality, assessed using different input data, could be related to human pressures in the bay, such as water discharges, land reclamation, dredged sediment and drilling cuts disposal sites. It seems that M-BAMBI were more effective than M-NABMI (M-AMBI calculated using abundance data) in indicating human pressures of the Bay. Finally, indices calculated with more severe transformations, such as presence/absence data, could not indicate the higher density of human pressures in the coastal areas of the north part of our study area, but those calculated using mild transformation (i.e., square root) did.

Description: As a potential oil and gas reservoir, reef complexes have been a research focus from petroleum geologists for a long time. There are favorable conditions for the development of reef complexes in the South China Sea; however, their internal structures, evolution and distribution are still poorly understood. Based on 2D and 3D seismic data, the internal structures and evolution patterns of the reef complexes on the carbonate platform margin in the deep water areas over the western South China Sea were studied in detail. The result shows that two types of reef complexes, i.e., fault controlling platform margin reef complexes and ramp reef complexes have been developed in the study area. The reef complexes have independent or continuous mound or lenticular seismic reflections, with three internal structures (i.e., aggrading, prograding and retrograding structures). There are different growth rates during the evolution of the reef complexes, resulting in the formation of catch-up reefs, keep-up reefs and quick step reefs. The study also reveals that different platform margin reef complexes have different internal structures and distributions, because of the different platform types. These results may be applied to the exploration and prediction of carbonate platform margin reef complexes in other areas that are similar to the study area.

Description: In order to discuss the content distributions and fluxes of heavy metals in suspended matters during a tidal cycle in the turbidity maximum around the Changjiang (Yangtze) Estuary, the contents of heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Cd, Co and Ni) have been analyzed. During a tidal cycle, the average contents of heavy metals are in the order of Zn〉Ni〉Pb〉Co≫Cd. The average contents in ebb tide are generally higher than that in flood tide. However, at the inshore Sta. 11, influenced by the contamination from the nearby waste treatment plant, the average contents of Zn and Ni in flood tide are higher than those in ebb tide and at the offshore Sta. 10, the content of Cd in flood tide higher than that in ebb tide due to marine-derived materials. The five heavy metals, mainly terrigenous, are transported towards east-northeast, and settle down with suspended matters in the area between Sta. 11 and Sta. 10. Influenced by marine-derived materials, the flux value of Cd does not alter significantly with obviously changing in flux direction towards northwest. The source of heavy metals, the salinity of water and the concentration of suspended matters are the main factors controlling the content distributions of heavy metals during a tidal cycle. There is a positive correlation between the contents of heavy metals (Zn, Pb, Co and Ni) and the salinity of water, while the opposite correlation between the contents and the concentrations of suspended matters. Because of marine-derived materials, the content of Cd is not correlated with the concentration of suspended matters and the salinity of water.

Description: The deepwater of the northwestern South China Sea is located in the central to southern parts of the Qiongdongnan Basin (QDN Basin), which is a key site for hydrocarbon exploration in recent years. In this study, the authors did a comprehensive analysis of gravity-magnetic data, extensive 3D seismic survey, cores and cuttings, paleontology and geochemical indexes, proposed the mechanism of natural gas origin, identified different oil and gas systems, and established the model of hydrocarbon accumulations in the deep-water region. Our basin tectonic simulation indicates that the evolution of QDN Basin was controlled by multiple-phased tectonic movements, such as Indochina-Eurasian Plate collision, Tibetan Uplift, Red River faulting and the expansion of the South China Sea which is characterized by Paleogene rifting, Neogene depression, and Eocene intensive faulting and lacustrine deposits. The drilling results show that this region is dominated by marineterrestrial transitional and neritic-bathyal facies from the early Oligocene. The Yacheng Formation of the early Oligocene is rich in organic matter and a main gas-source rock. According to the geological-geochemical data from the latest drilling wells, Lingshui, Baodao, Changchang Sags have good hydrocarbon-generating potentials, where two plays from the Paleogene and Neogene reservoirs were developed. Those reservoirs occur in central canyon structural-lithologic trap zone, Changchang marginal trap zone and southern fault terrace of Baodao Sag. Among them, the central canyon trap zone has a great potential for exploration because the various reservoirforming elements are well developed, i.e., good coal-measure source rocks, sufficient reservoirs from the Neogene turbidity sandstone and submarine fan, faults connecting source rock and reservoirs, effective vertical migration, late stage aggregation and favorable structural–lithological composite trapping. These study results provide an important scientific basis for hydrocarbon exploration in this region, evidenced by the recent discovery of the significant commercial LS-A gas field in the central canyon of the Lingshui Sag.

Description: Chinese Haiyang-2(HY-2) satellite is the first Chinese marine dynamic environment satellite. The dual-frequency (Ku and C band) radar altimeter onboard HY-2 has been working effective to provide operational significant wave height (SWH) for more than three years (October 1, 2011 to present).We validated along-track Ku-band SWH data of HY-2 satellite against National Data Buoy Center (NDBC) in-situ measurements over a time period of three years from October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2014, the root mean square error (RMSE) and mean bias of HY-2 SWH is 0.38 m and (–0.13±0.35) m, respectively. We also did cross validation against Jason-2 altimeter SWH data,the RMSE and the mean bias is 0.36m and (–0.22±0.28) m, respectively. In order to compare the statistical results between HY-2 and Jason-2 satellite SWH data, we validated the Jason-2 satellite radar altimeter along-track Ku-band SWH data against NDBC measurements using the same method. The results demonstrate the validation method in this study is scientific and the RMSE and mean bias of Jason-2 SWH data is 0.26 m and (0.00±0.26) m, respectively. We also validated both HY-2 and Jason-2 SWH data every month, the mean bias of Jason-2 SWH data almost equaled to zero all the time, while the mean bias of HY-2 SWH data was no less than –0.31m before April 2013 and dropped to zero after that time. These results indicate that the statistical results for HY-2 altimeter SWH are reliable and HY-2 altimeter along-track SWH data were steady and of high quality in the last three years. The results also indicate that HY-2 SWH data have greatly been improved and have the same accuracy with Jason-2 SWH data after April, 2013. SWH data provided by HY-2 satellite radar altimeter are useful and acceptable for ocean operational applications.

Description: As the spatio-temporal variability of the Kuroshio is highly influenced by mesoscale eddies, representing its seasonal variability characteristics requires sufficiently long term observations to reduce the uncertainties. Geostrophic velocity data estimated from hydrographic observation from 1987 to 2010 and the shipboard ADCP velocity data from 1993 to 2008 at the PN Section in the central East China Sea are collected to view the seasonal variability objectively. From both types of observation, it is found that the seasonal climatology mean of the Kuroshio Current exhibits significant difference in three areas, which are located at the Kuroshio Current core and its two flanks in a shallow layer less than 300 m, with the weakest northeast current at the core in autumn, the strongest counter current on the right flank in spring, and the strongest northeast current on the left flank in autumn, respectively. The seasonal variance of the Kuroshio Current also exhibits significant difference on the offshore side of the Kuroshio, with larger variance in spring and summer while smaller variance in autumn and winter. For the current parallel to the PN Section, the ratio of the seasonal variability component to the intraseasonal variability component is relatively smaller than that for the current perpendicular to the PN Section. Further analyses indicate that the seasonal variability at the PN Section is tightly linked to the upstream and downstream current variability.

Description: Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) measurements of sea ice thickness including undeformed ice and ridged ice were carried out in the central north Canadian Archipelago in spring 2010. Results have shown a significant spatial heterogeneity of sea ice thickness across the shelf. The undeformed multi-year fast ice of (2.05±0.09) m thick was investigated southern inshore zone of Borden island located at middle of the observational section, which was the observed maximum thickness in the field work. The less thick sea ice was sampled across a flaw lead with the thicknesses of (1.05±0.11) m for the pack ice and (1.24±0.13) m for the fast ice. At the northernmost spot of the section, the undeformed multi-year pack ice was (1.54±0.22) m thick with a ridged ice of 2.5 to 3 m, comparing to the multi-year fast ice with the thickness of (1.67±0.16) m at the southernmost station in the Prince Gustaf Adolf Sea.

Description: In this paper, interannual variations of the ocean dynamic height over the tropical Pacific are diagnosed using three-dimensional temperature and salinity fields from Argo profiles, with a focus on the effects of interannually varying salinity on the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) evolutions. The diagnostic analyses clearly demonstrate a significant and large role that the salinity field plays in modulating the sea surface dynamic height (SSDH) in the western tropical Pacific. In particular, the contribution of the interannually varying salinity to the interannual variations in SSDH approximately equals to that of the interannually varying temperature. Over the western equatorial Pacific, the salinity variability was responsible for a 30% to 40% reduction in SSDH anomaly in opposition to the thermal build up in SSDH anomaly, providing an important contribution to modulating the seasonal-to-interannual evolution of the tropical Pacific Ocean and affecting the developing of ENSO events.

Description: This paper presents a local tsunami simulation, including the initial displacement field model of tsunami source and tsunami wave propagation model. We deduced the tsunami wave equation; applied the matching of interior and exterior solutions method and water mass method to determine the initial displacement field in different bottom topography. Tsunami wave propagation model was based on the Boussinesq equation. Difference format was based on the ADI method which discretized in alternating direction in the form of implicit scheme. The open boundary of ADI had been revised considering the influence of wave propagation in the equation of motion. The local tsunami mathematical model was used in the simulation of 2011 Japan tsunami, and the results and the observation data match well.

Description: With the observational wind data and the Zebiak-Cane model, the impact of Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) as external forcing on El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) predictability is studied. The observational data are analyzed with Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) and then used to extract MJO signals, which are added into the model to get a new model. After the Conditional Nonlinear Optimal Perturbation (CNOP) method has been used, the initial errors which can evolve into maximum prediction error, model errors and their join errors are gained and then the Niño 3 indices and spatial structures of three kinds of errors are investigated. The results mainly show that the observational MJO has little impact on the maximum prediction error of ENSO events and the initial error affects much greater than model error caused by MJO forcing. These demonstrate that the initial error might be the main error source that produces uncertainty in ENSO prediction, which could provide a theoretical foundation for the adaptive data assimilation of the ENSO forecast and contribute to the ENSO target observation.

Description: By introducing a source term into the Laplace equation, a two-dimensional fully nonlinear time-domain numerical wave flume (NWF) is developed to investigate the resonance induced by the interaction between waves and multiple objects with narrow gaps. In the numerical model, the fully nonlinear kinematic and dynamic boundary conditions are satisfied on the instantaneous free surface and the constant artificial damping is employed in the gaps to approximate the viscous dissipation due to vortex motion and flow separation. The computational domain is discretized using a higher-order boundary element method (HOBEM). The proposed model is firstly validated against the published experimental data and numerical results of the wave height in the narrow gap between two boxes, the wave heights in the two gaps of three boxes, and wave loads on the boxes. Then, the extensive numerical experiments are performed to study the influences of the number of the boxes and the gap spacing on the resonant frequency, reflected and transmitted wave heights and wave loads on the boxes.

Description: During the summer of 2012, the fifth CHINARE Arctic Expedition was carried out, and a submersible mooring system was deployed in M5 station located at (69°30.155'N,169°00.654'W) and recovered 50d later. A set of temperature, salinity and current profile records was acquired. The characteristics of these observations are analyzed in this paper. Some main results are achieved as below. (1) Temperature generally decreases while salinity generally increases with increasing depth. The average values of all records are 2.98°C and 32.21 psu. (2) Salinity and temperature are well negatively correlated, and the correlation coefficient between them is–0.84. However, they did not always vary synchronously. Their co-variation featured different characters during different significant periods. (3) The average velocity for the whole water column is 141 mm/s with directional angle of 347.1°. The statistical distribution curve of velocity record number gets narrower with increasing depth. More than 85% of the recorded velocities are northward, and the mean magnitudes of dominated northward velocities are 100–150 mm/s. (4) Rotary spectrum analysis shows that motions with low frequency take a majority of energy in all layers. The most significant energy peaks for all layers are around 0.012 cph (about 3.5 d period), while the tidal motion in mooring area is nonsignificant. (5) Velocities in all layers feature similar and synchronous temporal variations, except for the slight decrease in magnitude and leftward twist from top to bottom. The directions of velocity correspond well to those of surface wind. The average northward volume transport per square meter is 0.1–0.2 m 3 /s under southerly wind, but about –0.2 m 3 /s during northerly wind burst.

Description: Large eddy simulation (LES) is used to investigate contrasting dynamic characteristics of shear turbulence (ST) and Langmuir circulation (LC) in the surface mixed layer (SML). ST is usually induced by wind forcing in SML. LC can be driven by wave-current interaction that includes the roles of wind, wave and vortex forcing. The LES results show that LC suppresses the horizontal velocity and greatly modifies the downwind velocity profile, but increases the vertical velocity. The strong downwelling jets of LC accelerate and increase the downward transport of energy as compared to ST. The vertical eddy viscosity K m of L is much larger than that of ST. Strong mixing induced by LC has two locations. They are located in the 2 δ s –3 δ s (Stokes depth scale) and the lower layer of the SML, respectively. Its value and position change periodically with time. In contrast, maximum K m induced by ST is located in the middle depth of the SML. The turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) generated by LC is larger than that by ST. The differences in vertical distributions of TKE and K m are evident. Therefore, the parameterization of LC cannot be solely based on TKE. For deep SML, the convection of large-scale eddies in LC plays a main role in downward transport of energy and LC can induce stronger velocity shear ( S 2 ) near the SML base. In addition, the large-scale eddies and S 2 induced by LC is changing all the time, which needs to be fully considered in the parameterization of LC.

Description: The diel vertical migration (DVM) of zooplankton and the influence of upwelling on zooplankton biomass were examined using water column data of current velocity and mean volume backscattering strength (MVBS) collected by moored acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) deployed in the southeastern Chukchi Sea during the 5th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE) in summer 2012, combined with the satellite observational data such as sea surface temperature (SST), wind, and chlorophyll a (Chl a ). Hourly acoustic data were continuously collected for 49-d in the mooring site. Spectral analysis indicated that there were different migrating patterns of zooplankton, even though precisely classifying the zooplankton taxa was not available. The prevailing 24-h cycle corresponded to the normal DVM with zooplankton swimming upwards at sunrise and returning to deep waters at sunset. There was a clear DVM in the upper 17 m of the water column during the period with distinct day-night cycles, and no active DVM throughout the water column when the sun above the horizon (polar day), suggesting that light intensity was the trigger for DVM. Also there was a second migrating pattern with 12-h cycle. The upwelling event occurring in the northwest of Alaskan coastal area had important influence on zooplankton biomass at the mooring site. During the upwelling, the SST close to the mooring site dropped significantly from maximal 6.35°C to minimal 1.31°C within five days. Simultaneously, there was a rapid increase in the MVBS and Chl a level, suggesting the aggregation of zooplankton related to upwelling.

Description: The Bering Sea shelf and Chukchi Sea shelf are believed to hold enormous oil and gas reserves which have attracted a lot of geophysical surveys. For the interpretation of acoustic geophysical survey results, sediment sound velocity is one of the main parameters. On seven sediment cores collected from the Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea during the 5th Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition, sound velocity measurements were made at 35, 50, 100, 135, 150, 174, 200, and 250 kHz using eight separate pairs of ultrasonic transducers. The measured sound velocities range from 1 425.1 m/s to 1 606.4 m/s and are dispersive with the degrees of dispersion from 2.2% to 4.0% over a frequency range of 35–250 kHz. After the sound velocity measurements, the measurements of selected geotechnical properties and the Scanning Electron Microscopic observation of microstructure were also made on the sediment cores. The results show that the seafloor sediments are composed of silty sand, sandy silt, coarse silt, clayey silt, sand-silt-clay and silty clay. Aggregate and diatom debris is found in the seafloor sediments. Through comparative analysis of microphotographs and geotechnical properties, it is assumed that the large pore spaces between aggregates and the intraparticulate porosity of diatom debris increase the porosity of the seafloor sediments, and affect other geotechnical properties. The correlation analysis of sound velocity and geotechnical properties shows that the correlation of sound velocity with porosity and wet bulk density is extreme significant, while the correlation of sound velocity with clay content, mean grain size and organic content is not significant. The regression equations between porosity, wet bulk density and sound velocity based on best-fit polynomial are given.

Description: Understanding of the temporal variation of oceanic heat content (OHC) is of fundamental importance to the prediction of climate change and associated global meteorological phenomena. However, OHC characteristics in the Pacific and Indian oceans are not well understood. Based on in situ ocean temperature and salinity profiles mainly from the Argo program, we estimated the upper layer (0–750 m) OHC in the Indo-Pacific Ocean (40°S–40°N, 30°E–80°W). Spatial and temporal variability of OHC and its likely physical mechanisms are also analyzed. Climatic distributions of upper-layer OHC in the Indian and Pacific oceans have a similar saddle pattern in the subtropics, and the highest OHC value was in the northern Arabian Sea. However, OHC variabilities in the two oceans were different. OHC in the Pacific has an east-west see-saw pattern, which does not appear in the Indian Ocean. In the Indian Ocean, the largest change was around 10°S. The most interesting phenomenon is that, there was a long-term shift of OHC in the Indo-Pacific Ocean during 2001–2012. Such variation coincided with modulation of subsurface temperature/salinity. During 2001–2007, there was subsurface cooling (freshening) nearly the entire upper 400 m layer in the western Pacific and warming (salting) in the eastern Pacific. During 2008–2012, the thermocline deepened in the western Pacific but shoaled in the east. In the Indian Ocean, there was only cooling (upper 150 m only) and freshening (almost the entire upper 400 m) during 2001–2007. The thermocline deepened during 2008–2012 in the Indian Ocean. Such change appeared from the equator to off the equator and even to the subtropics (about 20°N/S) in the two oceans. This long-term change of subsurface temperature/salinity may have been caused by change of the wind field over the two oceans during 2001–2012, in turn modifying OHC.

Description: In this study, we construct one 2-dimensional tidal simulation, using an unstructured Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model (FVCOM). In the 2-D model, we simulated the tidal turbines through adding additional bottom drag in the element where the tidal turbines reside. The additional bottom drag was calculated from the relationship of the bottom friction dissipation and the rated rotor efficiency of the tidal energy turbine. This study analyzed the effect of the tidal energy turbine to the hydrodynamic environment, and calculated the amount of the extractable tidal energy resource at the Guishan Hangmen Channel, considering the rotor wake effect.

Description: When waves propagate from deep water to shallow water, wave heights and steepness increase and then waves roll back and break. This phenomenon is called surf. Currently, the present statistical calculation model of surf was derived mainly from the wave energy conservation equation and the linear wave dispersion relation, but it cannot reflect accurately the process which is a rapid increasing in wave height near the broken point. So, the concept of a surf breaking critical zone is presented. And the nearshore is divided as deep water zone, shallow water zone, surf breaking critical zone and after breaking zone. Besides, the calculation formula for the height of the surf breaking critical zone has founded based on flume experiments, thereby a new statistical calculation model on the surf has been established. Using the new model, the calculation error of wave height maximum is reduced from 17.62% to 6.43%.

Description: Evaporation duct is an abnormal refractive phenomenon in the marine atmosphere boundary layer. It has been generally accepted that the evaporation duct prominently affects the performance of the electronic equipment over the sea because of its wide distribution and frequent occurrence. It has become a research focus of the navies all over the world. At present, the diagnostic models of the evaporation duct are all based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory, with only differences in the flux and character scale calculations in the surface layer. These models are applicable to the stationary and uniform open sea areas without considering the alongshore effect. This paper introduces the nonlinear factor α v and the gust wind item w g into the Babin model, and thus extends the evaporation duct diagnostic model to the offshore area under extremely low wind speed. In addition, an evaporation duct prediction model is designed and coupled with the fifth generation mesoscale model (MM5). The tower observational data and radar data at the Pingtan island of Fujian Province on May 25–26, 2002 were used to validate the forecast results. The outputs of the prediction model agree with the observations from 0 to 48 h. The relative error of the predicted evaporation duct height is 19.3% and the prediction results are consistent with the radar detection.

Description: Eight microsatellite markers were used to analyze genetic diversity, level of inbreeding, and effective population size of spawner and recaptured populations of Chinese shrimp ( Fenneropenaeus chinensis ) during stock enhancement in the Bohai Bay in 2013. A total of 254 and 238 alleles were identified in the spawner and recaptured populations, respectively, and the numbers of alleles ( N a ) were 8–63 and 6–60, respectively. The numbers of effective alleles ( N e ) were 2.52–21.60 and 2.67–20.72, respectively. The polymorphism information content ranged from 0.529 to 0.952. The observed heterozygosity ( H o ) values (0.638–0.910 and 0.712–0.927) were lower than the expected heterozygosity ( H e ) values (0.603–0.954 and 0.625–0.952), which indicated that the two populations possessed a rich genetic diversity. In 16 tests (2 populations×8 loci), 13 tests deviated from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. F is values were positive at seven loci and the inbreeding coefficients ( F ) of the two populations estimated by trioML were 13.234% and 11.603%, suggesting that there was a relatively high degree of inbreeding. A certain level of inbreeding depression had occurred in the Chinese shrimp population. F st values ranged from 0 to 0.059, with a mean of 0.028, displaying a low level of genetic differentiation in the two populations. Effective population sizes (3 060.2 and 3 842.8) were higher than the minimum number suggested for retaining the evolutionary potential to adapt to new environmental conditions. For enhancement activity in 2014, the ideal number of captured shrimp spawners should have ranged from 7 686 to 19 214 to maintain genetic diversity and effective population size. Further strategies to adjust the balance of economic cost, fishing effort and ideal number of shrimp spawners to maintain a satisfactory effective population size for ensuring the sustainability of Chinese shrimp are proposed.

Description: The accurate measurement of gene expression via quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) heavily relies on the choice of valid reference gene(s) for data normalization. Resting cyst is the dormant stage in the life cycle of dinoflagellate, which plays crucial roles in HAB-forming dinoflagellate ecology. However, only limited investigations have been conducted on the reference gene selection in dinoflagellates. Gap remained in our knowledge about appropriate HKGs for normalizing gene expression in different life stages, which laid obstacles for the application of qRT-PCR to the HAB-forming group. In this study, six candidate reference genes, 18S ribosomal RNA ( 18S ), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase ( GAPDH ), α -tubulin ( TUA ), β -tubulin ( TUB ), actin ( ACT ) and cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COX1), were evaluated for their expression stability with qRT-PCR and three statistical algorithms (GeNorm, NormFinder, and BestKeeper) for the cosmopolitan, harmful algal bloom-forming dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea . Expression patterns were observed across 18 biological samples, including cells at resting stages (resting cysts), different growth stages, in darkness, exposed to abscisic acid (ABA) and exposed to temperature stress. The results indicated that TUA , 18S and GAPDH were relatively stable across all tested scenarios. While the best-recommended reference genes differed across experimental groups, the pairs of ACT and TUA , 18S and GAPDH were the most reliable for cells at different growth stages and darkness treatment. The combination of TUA and TUB was the best choice for normalization in resting cysts and in ABA treatment, respectively. The pair of ACT and COX1 was suitable for temperature treatments. This study was the first to investigate the stable internal reference genes in dinoflagellates at different stages of life cycle, particularly in resting cysts. Our results provided useful information for selection of reference genes in dinoflagellates regarding quantification of gene expression at different experimental scenarios, which will facilitate more accurate and widespread use of qRT-PCR in gene analysis of dinoflagellates and help to design primers targeting orthologous genes in other algal species.

Description: Since the concept of “fishing down marine food webs” was first proposed in 1998, mean trophic level of fisheries landings (MTL) has become one of the most widely used indicators to assess the impacts of fishing on the integrity of marine ecosystem and guide the policy development by many management agencies. Recent studies suggest that understanding underlying causes for changes in MTL is vital for an appropriate use of MTL as an indicator of fishery sustainability. Based on the landing data compiled by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and trophic information of relevant species in Fishbase, we evaluated MTL trends in 14 FAO fishing areas and analyzed catches of upper and lower trophic level groups under different trends of MTL and found that both the cases of a recovered MTL trend and a generally increasing MTL trend could be accompanied by decreasing catches of lower trophic level species. Further, community structure and exploitation history should be considered in using MTL after excluding species with trophic levels lower than 3.25 to distinguish “fishingthrough” from “fishing-down”. We conclude that MTL used as an indicator to measure fishery sustainability can benefit from a full consideration of both upper and lower trophic level species and masking effects of community structure and exploitation history.

Description: Vast declines in Zostera marina seagrass beds demand effective methods of rehabilitation. In this study, we developed a practical method by reducing salinity to induce seed germination followed with recovering salinity to facilitate seedling production of Z. marina . The results showed that Z. marina seeds collected from natural seawater (salinity 30) were induced to germinate at reduced salinities. Percent germination ( GR ) was higher and mean-time-to-germinate ( MTG ) was shorter at lower salinities. The highest GR and shortest MTG occurred at salinity 0 (deionized freshwater). After germination in freshwater, seeds could develop into seedlings at salinities 5–30 and continue the growth. Viability or development of germinated seeds was not significantly different during the 40 d of post-germination incubation at salinities 5–15 after 1–20 d of germination in freshwater. However, during the process of translating germinated seeds from salinity 0 and 5 to salinity 30, reducing the gradients of post-germination acclimation facilitated more seeds forming seedlings in less time. On average, after 60 d of static incubation, including 20 d in freshwater for germination followed with immediate shift to salinity 5 and increasing to salinity 30 at increment of 5 every two days until cultivation at constant salinity 30, 33% of Z. marina seeds produced healthy seedlings. The results indicate that the salinity-manipulation based method of artificial germination and seedling production is practical and effective in supporting rehabilitation of Z. marina bed.

Description: Phytoplanktonic ecological provinces of the Yellow Sea (31.20°–39.23°N, 121.00°–125.16°E) is derived in terms of species composition and hydrological factors (temperature and salinity). 173 samples were collected from 40 stations from April 28 to May 18, 2014, and a total of 185 phytoplanktonic algal species belonging to 81 genera of 7 phyla were identified by Utermöhl method. Phytoplankton abundance in surface waters is concentrated in the west coast of Korean Peninsula and Korea Bay, and communities in those areas are mainly composed of diatoms and cyanobacteria with dominant species of Cylindrotheca closterium , Synechocystis pevalekii , Chroomonas acuta , Paralia sulcata , Thalassiosira pacifica and Karenia mikimotoi , etc. The first ten dominant species of the investigation area are analyzed by multidimensional scaling (MDS) and cluster analysis, then the Yellow Sea is divided into five provinces from Province I (P-I) to Province V (P-V). P-I includes the coastal areas near southern Liaodong Peninsula, with phytoplankton abundance of 35 420×10 3 –36 163×10 3 cells/L and an average of 35 791×10 3 cells/L, and 99.84% of biomass is contributed by cyanobacteria. P-II is from Shandong Peninsula to Subei coastal area. Phytoplankton abundance is in a range of 2×103–48×103 cells/L with an average of 24×103 cells/L, and 63.69% of biomass is contributed by diatoms. P-III represents the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Diluted Water. Phytoplankton abundance is 10×10 3 –37×10 3 cells/L with an average of 24×10 3 cells/L, and 73.14% of biomass is contributed by diatoms. P-IV represents the area affected by the Yellow Sea Warm Current. Phytoplankton abundance ranges from 6×10 3 to 82×10 3 cells/L with an average of 28×10 3 cells/L, and 64.17% of biomass is contributed by diatoms. P-V represents the cold water mass of northern Yellow Sea. Phytoplankton abundance is in a range of 41×10 3 –8 912×10 3 cells/L with an average of 1 763×10 3 cells/L, and 89.96% of biomass is contributed by diatoms. Overall, structures of phytoplankton community in spring are quite heterogeneous in different provinces. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) result illustrates the relationship between dominant species and environmental factors, and demonstrates that the main environmental factors that affect phytoplankton distribution are nitrate, temperature and salinity.

Description: The field experiment is conducted from April 16, 2005 to July 20, 2005 at Wenchang area east of Hainan Island (19°35'N, 112°E) of China. Internal wave packets are observed frequently with thermistor chains during the experiment. Meanwhile, internal waves are also detected from a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image on June 19, 2005 and several other moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) images near a mooring position. The distance between the positive and negative peaks induced by the internal wave can be obtained from satellite images. Combined with remote sensing images and in situ data, a new method to inverse the amplitude of the internal wave is proposed based on a corrected nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation. Two relationships are given between the peak-to-peak distance and the characteristic wavelength of the internal wave for different nonlinear and dispersion coefficients. Based on the satellite images, the amplitude inversion of the internal waves are carried out with the NLS equation as well as the KdV equation. The calculated amplitudes of the NLS equation are close to the observation amplitude which promise the NLS equation a reliable method.

Description: Based on the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) products, we study the mean properties and variations of the Southern Hemisphere subpolar gyres (SHSGs) in this paper. The results show that the gyre strengths in the SODA estimates are (55.9±9.8)×10 6 m 3 /s for the Weddell Gyre (WG), (37.0±6.4)×10 6 m 3 /s for the Ross Gyre (RG), and (27.5±8.2)×10 6 m 3 /s for the Australian-Antarctic Gyre (AG), respectively. There exists distinct connectivity between the adjacent gyres and then forms an oceanic super gyre structure in the southern subpolar oceans. And the interior exchanges are about (8.0±3.2)×10 6 m 3 /s at around 70°E and (4.3±3.1)×10 6 m 3 /s at around 140°E. The most pronounced variation for all three SHSGs occurs on the seasonal time scale, with generally stronger (weaker) SHSGs during austral winter (summer). And the seasonal changes of the gyre structures show that the eastern boundary of the WG and AG extends considerably further east during winter and the interior exchange in the super gyre structure increases accordingly. The WG and RG also show significant semi-annual changes. The correlation analyses confirm that the variations of the gyre strengths are strongly correlated with the changes in the local wind forcing on the semi-annual and seasonal time scales.

Description: In order to investigate the correlation between a sound velocity and sediment bulk properties and explore the influence of frequency dependence of the sound velocity on the prediction of the sediment properties by the sound velocity, a compressional wave velocity is measured at frequencies of 25–250 kHz on marine sediment samples collected from the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea in laboratory, together with the geotechnical parameters of sediments. The results indicate that the sound velocity ranges from 1.232 to 1.721 km/s for the collected sediment samples with a significant dispersion within the series measuring frequency. Poorly sorted sediments are highly dispersive nearly with a positive linear relationship. The porosity shows a better negative logarithmic correlation with the sound velocity compared with other geotechnical parameters. Generally, the sound velocity increases with the increasing of the average particle size, sand content, wet and dry bulk densities, and decreasing of the clay content, and water content. An important point should be demonstrated that the higher correlation can be obtained when the measuring frequency is low within the frequency ranges from 25 to 250 kHz since the inhomogeneity of sediment properties has a more remarkably influence on the laboratory sound velocity measurement at the high frequency.

Description: A method to estimate the thickness of the sea ice of the Bohai Sea is proposed using geostationary ocean color imager (GOCI) data and then applied to the dynamic monitoring of the sea ice thickness in the Bohai Sea during the winter of 2014 to 2015. First of all, a model is given between the GOCI shortwave broadband albedo and the reflectance of each band with high temporal resolution GOCI data. Then, the relationship model between the sea ice thickness and the GOCI shortwave broadband albedo is established and applied to the thickness extraction of the sea ice in the Bohai Sea. Finally, the sea ice thickness extraction method is tested by the results based on the MODIS data, thermodynamic empirical models (Lebedev and Zubov), and the in situ ice thickness data. The test results not only indicated that the sea ice thickness retrieval method based on the GOCI data was a good correlation ( r 2 〉0.86) with the sea ice thickness retrieved by the MODIS and thermodynamic empirical models, but also that the RMS is only 6.82 cm different from the thickness of the sea ice based on the GOCI and in situ data.

Description: The statistical features of the evaporation duct over the global ocean were comprehensively investigated with reanalysis data sets from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. These data sets have time and spatial resolutions of 1 h and 0.313°×0.312°, respectively. The efficiency of the analysis was evaluated by processing weather buoy data from the Pacific Ocean and measuring propagation loss in the Yellow Sea of China. The distribution features of evaporation duct height (EDH) and the related meteorological factors for different seas were analyzed. The global EDH is generally high and demonstrates a latitudinal distribution for oceans at low latitudes. The average EDH is approximately 11 m over oceans beside the equator with a latitude of less than 20°. The reasons for the formation of the global EDH features were also analyzed for different sea areas.

Description: On the basis of a potential theory and Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, an analytical solution for oblique wave scattering by a semi-infinite elastic plate with finite draft floating on a step topography is developed using matched eigenfunction expansions. Different from previous studies, the effects of a wave incident angle, a plate draft, three different plate edge conditions (free, simply supported and built-in) and a sea-bottom topography are all taken into account. Moreover, the plate edge conditions are directly incorporated into linear algebraic equations for determining unknown expansion coefficients in velocity potentials, which leads to a simple and efficient solving procedure. Numerical results show that the convergence of the present solution is good, and an energy conservation relation is well satisfied. Also, the present predictions are in good agreement with known results for special cases. The effects of the wave incident angle, the plate draft, the plate edge conditions and the sea-bottom topography on various hydrodynamic quantities are analyzed. Some useful results are presented for engineering designs.

Description: Nearshore wind speeds retrieved by WindSat are validated by a comparison with the moored buoy observations near the U.S. west and east coasts. A 30 min and 25 km collection window is used for the WindSat wind data and buoy measurements from January 2004 to December 2014. Comparisons show that the overall root-mean-square error is better than 1.44 m/s near the U.S. coasts, and the result for the east coast is better than that for the west coast. The retrieval accuracy of the descending portions is slightly better than that of the ascending portions. Most buoy-to-buoy variations are not significantly correlated with the coastal topography, the longitude and the distance from the shore or satellite-buoy separation distance. In addition, comparisons between a polarimetric microwave radiometer and a microwave scatterometer are accomplished with the nearshore buoy observations from 2007 to 2008. The WindSat-derived winds tend to be lower than the buoy observations near the U.S. coasts. In contrast, the QuikSCAT-derived winds tend to be higher than the buoy observations. Overall, the retrieval accuracy of WindSat is slightly better than that of QuikSCAT, and these satellite-derived winds are sufficiently accurate for scientific studies.

Description: Associations between the autumn Arctic sea ice concentration (SIC) and Asian winter temperature are discussed using the singular value decomposition analysis. Results show that in recent 33 years reduced autumn Arctic sea ice is accompanied by Asian winter temperature decrease except in the Tibetan plateau and the Arctic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean coast. The autumn SIC reduction excites two geopotential height centers in Eurasia and the north Arctic Ocean, which are persistent from autumn to winter. The negative center is in Barents Sea/Kara Sea. The positive center is located in Mongolia. The anomalous winds are associated with geopotential height centers, providing favorable clod air for the Asian winter temperature decreasing in recent 33 years. This relationship indicates a potential long-term outlook for the Asian winter temperature decrease as the decline of the autumn sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is expected to continue as climate warms.

Description: A new climatology of cyclones in the Southern Ocean is generated by applying an automated cyclone detection and tracking algorithm (developed by Hodges at the Reading University) for an improved and relatively high-resolution European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts atmospheric reanalysis during 1979–2013. A validation shows that identified cyclone tracks are in good agreement with a available analyzed cyclone product. The climatological characteristics of the Southern Ocean cyclones are then analyzed, including track, number, density, intensity, deepening rate and explosive events. An analysis shows that the number of cyclones in the Southern Ocean has increased for 1979–2013, but only statistically significant in summer. Coincident with the circumpolar trough, a single high-density band of cyclones is observed in 55°–67°S, and cyclone density has generally increased in north of this band for 1979–2013, except summer. The intensity of up to 70% cyclones in the Southern Ocean is less than 980 hPa, and only a few cyclones with pressure less than 920 hPa are detected for 1979–2013. Further analysis shows that a high frequency of explosive cyclones is located in the band of 45°–55°S, and the Atlantic Ocean sector has much higher frequent occurrence of the explosive cyclones than that in the Pacific Ocean sector. Additionally, the relationship between cyclone activities in the Southern Ocean and the Southern Annular Mode is discussed.

Description: Level ice thickness distribution pattern in the Bohai Sea in the winter of 2009–2010 was investigated in this paper using MODIS night-time thermal infrared imagery. The cloud cover in the imagery was masked out manually. Level ice thickness was calculated using MODIS ice surface temperature and an ice surface heat balance equation. Weather forcing data was from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analyses. The retrieved ice thickness agreed reasonable well with in situ observations from two off-shore oil platforms. The overall bias and the root mean square error of the MODIS ice thickness are–1.4 cm and 3.9 cm, respectively. The MODIS results under cold conditions (air temperature 〈–10°C) also agree with the estimated ice growth from Lebedev and Zubov models. The MODIS ice thickness is sensitive to the changes of the sea ice and air temperature, in particular when the sea ice is relatively thin. It is less sensitive to the wind speed. Our method is feasible for the Bohai Sea operational ice thickness analyses during cold freezing seasons.

Description: Beach morphodynamic classifications have achieved extensive acceptance in foreign coastal geomorphological studies. Three beaches located in different zones of a headland-bay coast are classified according to a dimensionless fall parameter, a relative tide range parameter and a dimensionless embayment scaling parameter. Synchronous data, including wave, tide, sediment and beach morphology, are respectively collected from the tangential beach, the transitional beach and the shadow beach of the Shuidong Bay during each spring tide for 16 successive months. The research results indicate that (1) the beach in the tangential zone falls between two major categories which are low tide terrace beaches with rips and barred beaches; the beach in the transitional zone exhibits two main types which are low tide bar/rip beaches and barred dissipative beaches; and the beach in the shadow zone mainly mirrors dissipative states with presence or absence of bars; and (2) the sequential changes and differences of beach states in different coastal zones reflect spatial and temporal variabilities of the headland-bay coast, totally meeting the actual measured beach morphology changes, showing that studies on wave-dominated, meso-macrotidal beaches need to consider the influences of the tides. Meanwhile, the research mainly provides a framework about beach state studies, due to different beach states with different erosion patterns, which requires the need to strengthen the researches in this respect, in order to further enrich theoretical basis for a beach topography evolution, beach morphodynamic processes and beach erosion prevention in China.

Description: Each reflection return of a bridge over water is displayed as wide stripe in a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image, which lead to difficulties in a parameter inversion. Therefore, a method of bridge parameter inversion is proposed for high-resolution full polarimetric SAR (PolSAR). First, the single, double and triple-bounce returns from each component of the bridge are distinguished by the polarization scattering features. Then the reasons which lead to the backscatter echoes of the bridge over water being displayed as stripes are analyzed, using a principle of microwave reflection, as well as an extraction method for each reflection return, and a parameter retrieval method is obtained. Finally, the parameters of the bridge, including the height (top and bottom surfaces of the sea bridge), width, thickness, span, and height of the bridge tower, are retrieved using full polarimetric AIRSAR data. When a comparison of the measured data is completed, the results indicate that the proposed method can invert the parameters with a high accuracy, and that the inversion error of the bridge height (bottom surface) is only 1.3%. Moreover, the results also show that for the high-resolution SAR, the C and L-band images have the same ability in regards to parameter retrieval.

Description: The structure of the annual-mean shallow meridional overturning circulation (SMOC) in the South China Sea (SCS) and the related water movement are investigated, using simple ocean data assimilation (SODA) outputs. The distinct clockwise SMOC is present above 400 m in the SCS on the climatologically annual-mean scale, which consists of downwelling in the northern SCS, a southward subsurface branch supplying upwelling at around 10°N and a northward surface flow, with a strength of about 1×10 6 m 3 /s. The formation mechanisms of its branches are studied separately. The zonal component of the annual-mean wind stress is predominantly westward and causes northward Ekman transport above 50 m. The annual-mean Ekman transport across 18°N is about 1.2×10 6 m 3 /s. An annual-mean subduction rate is calculated by estimating the net volume flux entering the thermocline from the mixed layer in a Lagrangian framework. An annual subduction rate of about 0.66×10 6 m 3 /s is obtained between 17° and 20°N, of which 87% is due to vertical pumping and 13% is due to lateral induction. The subduction rate implies that the subdution contributes significantly to the downwelling branch. The pathways of traced parcels released at the base of the February mixed layer show that after subduction water moves southward to as far as 11°N within the western boundary current before returning northward. The velocity field at the base of mixed layer and a meridional velocity section in winter also confirm that the southward flow in the subsurface layer is mainly by strong western boundary currents. Significant upwelling mainly occurs off the Vietnam coast in the southern SCS. An upper bound for the annual-mean net upwelling rate between 10° and 15°N is 0.7×10 6 m 3 /s, of which a large portion is contributed by summer upwelling, with both the alongshore component of the southwest wind and its offshore increase causing great upwelling.

Description: High spatial resolution sea surface temperature (SST) data from 1993 to 2013 are used to detect the position of the Kuroshio Extension sea surface temperature front (KEF) from 141°E to 158°E, and the seasonal, monthly and interannual-to-decadal variations of the KEF position are investigated. The latitudinal position of the KEF varies with longitudes: the westernmost part of the KEF from 141°E to 144°E is relatively stable, whereas the easternmost part from 153°E to 158°E exhibits the largest amplitude of its north-south displacement. In the light of the magnitudes of the standard deviations at longitudes, then the KEF is divided into three sections: western part of the KEF (KEFw, 141°–144°E), central part of the KEF (KEFc, 144°–153°E) and eastern part of the KEF (KEFe, 153°–158°E). Further analysis reveals that the KEFw position is dominated by the decadal variability, while the KEFc and KEFe positions change significantly both on interannual and decadal time scales. In addition, the KEFw position is well correlated with the KEF path length. The possible mode leading to the decadal oscillation of the KEFw is further discussed. The KEFw position exhibits significant connections with the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO) index and the north Pacific gyre oscillation (NPGO) index with a time lag of 40 and 33 months, respectively.

Description: The interannual variability of salinity and associated ocean dynamics in the equatorial Indian Ocean is analyzed using observations and numerical simulations by the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) model. The results show that salinity anomalies in the upper ocean are asymmetrically associated with the Indian Ocean dipole (IOD) events, with stronger response during their positive phases. Further investigations reveal that zonal currents along the equator, the Wyrtki jets, dominate the salinity transport. During the positive IOD events, the Wyrtki jets have stronger westward anomalies. The positive skewness of the IOD explains that the amplitude of the anomalous Wyrtki jets is stronger in the positive IOD events than that in the negative events.

Description: Located at the northwest continental slope of the South China Sea, the Qiongdongnan Basin bears valley-shaped bathymetry deepening toward east. It is separated from the Yinggehai Basin through NW-trending Indo-China-Red River shear zone, and connected with NW subsea basin through the Xisha Trough. Along with the rapid progress of the deepwater exploration, large amounts of high resolution geophysical and geological data were accumulated. Scientific researches about deepwater basins kept revealing brand new tectonic and sedimentary discoveries. In order to summarize the structural features and main controlling factors of the deepwater Qiongdongnan Basin, a series of researches on basin architecture, fault activities, tectonic deformation and evolution were carried out. In reference to analogue modeling experiments, a tectonic situation and a basin formation mechanism were discussed. The researches indicate that: the northern boundary of the Qiongdongnan Basin is strongly controlled by No. 2 fault. The overlapping control of two stress fields from the east and the west made the central depression zone extremely thinned. Combined with the changed stress field, the segmentation of a preexisting weakness zone made the sags in the east experiencing different rifting histories from the west ones. The NE-trending west segment of the Qiongdongnan Basin experienced strong rifting during Eocene, while the roughly EW-trending sags in the east segment show strong rifting during late Eocene and early Oligocene. Local structures such as NW-trending basal fault and inherited uplifts controlled the lateral segmentation. So first order factors such as regional stress field and preexisting weakness zone controlled the basin zonation, while the second order factors determined the segmentation from east to west.

Description: The Huanghe River Delta is one of the world's large rivers, the Huanghe River Delta paleoenvironmental evolution in the Huanghe River has been a hot issue since the Last Glacial. Based on the core time series established by combining AMS 14 C dating of Core DYZK1 sediments in submerged of Huanghe River Delta and acoustic sequence on sub-bottom profile, phytolith analyses are carried out on 96 sediment samples. The grain size parameters, magnetic susceptibility are combined with the vertical changes of biostratum to reconstruct the paleo-sedimentary and climatic conditions in the Huanghe River Delta. The study results show that there is a significant vertical change law in the index parameters, and that sedimentary environment of Huanghe River Delta experienced an evolutionary process of fluvial facies-sealand transition facies-tidal flat facies-neritic faciesdelta facies since 26.0 ka B. P.. The phytolith analyses results are as following. Firstly, The phytoliths are divided into lanceolate, smooth-elongated, spiny-elongated, rondel, long rectangular, bulliform and other types. In different sedimental environment, the phytolith content changes regularly, indicating that the phytolith assembles in the same sedimentary environment has a certain degree of stability. Secondly, The lanceolate, smooth-elongated and spiny-elongated categories of phytoliths have greater contents in the tidal flat facies and delta deposition, while have a smaller contents in the neritic facies and fluvial facies environment. Thirdly, Through comparative analysis of variation coefficient, the content of major phytolith categories in the sediment has a greater change amplitude in the sealand transition facies and fluvial facies deposition, while being more stable in the tidalflat facies and delta facies deposition.

Description: Diapycnal mixing (DM) in the upper 600 m of the Pacific Ocean was estimated based on the huge amount of the observations from Global Temperature-Salinity Profile Programme (GTSPP), using the strain version of the finescale parameterization. It is found that DM in each season exhibits similar distribution pattern, but differs in details. The intensification of DM is related to bottom roughness, surface near-inertial energy, and proximity to the equator. The intensified DM caused by rough topography shows in the profiles near the Mendocino fracture zone in the northeast Pacific, and the heightened DM caused by wind-generated near-inertial energy appears in the westerly region of the Southern Ocean. As compared to previous estimates, the DM estimate in this work has better spatial coverage and finer resolution, and more importantly it contains the seasonal variability. Furthermore, the resulting DM dataset is gridded, rendering it suitable for modeling applications.

Description: Temperature ( T ) and salinity ( S ) profiles from conductivity-temperature-depth data collected during the Northern South China Sea Open Cruise from August 16 to September 13, 2008 are assimilated using Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF). An adaptive observational error strategy is used to prevent filter from diverging. In the meantime, aiming at the limited improvement in some sites caused by the T and S biases in the model, a T-S constraint scheme is adopted to improve the assimilation performance, where T and S are separately updated at these locations. Validation is performed by comparing assimilated outputs with independent in situ data (satellite remote sensing sea level anomaly (SLA), the OSCAR velocity product and shipboard ADCP). The results show that the new EnKF assimilation scheme can significantly reduce the root mean square error (RMSE) of oceanic T and S compared with the control run and traditional EnKF. The system can also improve the simulation of circulations and SLA.

Description: Using the occurrence characteristics of bubble plumes in the South China Sea as a reference, this paper continues to study the seismic responses produced by bubble plumes in the cold seepage active region. To make the plume modelling scheme more reasonable, we modified the original modelling scheme and reconstructed a plume water body model based on the variation of its radius as bubbles rise in seawater. The plume seismic records of shot gathers were obtained by forward simulation. The seismic records of single shot show obvious characteristics of a scattering wave field and the periodic characteristics of the model. Seismic records of shot gathers were processed using prestack depth migration. The boundary of its imaging section has a good convergence effect. The migration sections can be imaged distinctly with higher accuracy. The aforementioned studies once again laid a foundation for the further study of the seismic responses produced by plumes. They also gradually probed a more suitable seismic data processing method for plumes and provided a theoretical guidance for the identification of plumes.

Description: In the present study, an existing three-dimensional finite volume computational ocean model (FVCOM) was refined and configured including an algorithm for computing the power density and mean power density at Qiongzhou Strait of China. The refined model was validated with the measured tidal levels and tidal currents at different gauging stations. The model results are in reasonable agreement with the measured data. Based on the modeling results, we assess the resource of the tidal stream energy in the Qiongzhou Strait and discuss the temporal and the spatial distribution of the tidal current energy there. The conclusion is extracted: the higher power density occurs in the middle area of the strait, and lower at both sides. Characteristics of power density such as the maximum possibility speed, maximum power density during the spring tide period and the neap tide period, have the similar distribution. The southeast part and central area of the strait are of rich tidal current energy, where the maximum possibility speed can reach to 4.6 m/s, and the maximum power density of the spring tide period and the neap tide period can reach 5 996 and 467 W/m 2 separately in the surface layer The annual mean power density can reach 819 W/m 2 . Statistical length of accumulative time of the velocity exceeding 0.7 m/s is about 4 717 h at local point during a year. The total theoretical tidal current energy resource is approximately 189.55 MW and the available exploited energy on present technology condition is 249, 20.2 and 263 GW/a separately by using the methods FLUX, FARM and GC in the Qiongzhou Strait.

Description: Wave energy resource is a very important ocean renewable energy. A reliable assessment of wave energy resources must be performed before they can be exploited. Compared with wave model, altimeter can provide more accurate in-situ observations for ocean wave which can be as a novel method for wave energy assessment. The advantage of altimeter data is to provide accurate significant wave height observations for wave. In order to develop characteristic and advantage of altimeter data and apply altimeter data to wave energy assessment, in this study, we established an assessing method for wave energy in local sea area which is dedicated to altimeter data. This method includes three parts including data selection and processing, establishment of evaluation indexes system and criterion of regional division. Then a case study of northwest Pacific was performed to discuss specific application for this method. The results show that assessing method in this paper can assess reserves and temporal and spatial distribution effectively and provide scientific references for the siting of wave power plants and the design of wave energy convertors.

Description: Many interesting characteristics of sea ice drift depend on the atmospheric drag coefficient ( C a ) and oceanic drag coefficient ( C w ). Parameterizations of drag coefficients rather than constant values provide us a way to look insight into the dependence of these characteristics on sea ice conditions. In the present study, the parameterized ice drag coefficients are included into a free-drift sea ice dynamic model, and the wind factor α and the deflection angle θ between sea ice drift and wind velocity as well as the ratio of C a to C w are studied to investigate their dependence on the impact factors such as local drag coefficients, floe and ridge geometry. The results reveal that in an idealized steady ocean, C a / C w increases obviously with the increasing ice concentration for small ice floes in the marginal ice zone, while it remains at a steady level (0.2–0.25) for large floes in the central ice zone. The wind factor α increases rapidly at first and approaches a steady level of 0.018 when A is greater than 20%. And the deflection angle θ drops rapidly from an initial value of approximate 80° and decreases slowly as A is greater than 20% without a steady level like α . The values of these parameters agree well with the previously reported observations in Arctic. The ridging intensity is an important parameter to determine the dominant contribution of the ratio of skin friction drag coefficient (Cs’/Cs) and the ratio of ridge form drag coefficient ( C r ’/ C r ) to the value of C a / C w , α , and θ , because of the dominance of ridge form drag for large ridging intensity and skin friction for small ridging intensity among the total drag forces. Parameterization of sea ice drag coefficients has the potential to be embedded into ice dynamic models to better account for the variability of sea ice in the transient Arctic Ocean.

Description: Dumping area capacity is mainly affected by the hydrodynamic process (tidal sediment, storm surge and wave, etc.) as well as the size and depth of dumping area. Based on three-dimensional ocean circulation model known as FVCOM (Finite Volume Coast and Ocean Model) and the stochastic dynamic statistical analysis model, taking advantage of dumping ground topography evolution and dumping quantity, the author aims to discuss the influence of hydrodynamic processes and dumping activity so as to built a new model of ocean dumping area capacity. With the data of depth and dumped amount in the dumping area, the changes of bottom topographic which caused by tidal current under the natural condition based on the FVCOM hydrodynamic and sediment module, the author strive to analyze the statistical relation of the changes for dumping amount, tidal current and bottom topographic. Through real data to fit revision coefficient values, which will be regarded as topographic changes reference value affected by wave and storm surges. Thus taking this evaluation as the long-term changes in the dumping capacity. In the premise of setting up the threshold of bottom topographic changes, the dumping area capacity is calculated. Take Yangtze Estuary No. 1 dumping area as an example, As the water depth reduces by 0.5 m annually, the dumping area capacity is about 6.7 million m 3 /a, the model results are in reasonable agreement with the actual amount. Then the model is validated in Luoyuan Bay dumping area, Shengsishangchuan Mountain dumping area, Dongding dumping area, Dongshan dumping area, and Wenzhou Port dumping area, it is turns out the results are similar to that of the actual observations.

Description: Using remote sensing technology for water quality evaluation is an inevitable trend in marine environmental monitoring. However, fewer categories of water quality parameters can be monitored by remote sensing technology than the 35 specified in GB3097-1997 Marine Water Quality Standard. Therefore, we considered which parameters must be selected by remote sensing and how to model for water quality evaluation using the finite parameters. In this paper, focused on Leizhou Peninsula nearshore waters, we found N, P, COD, PH and DO to be the dominant parameters of water quality by analyzing measured data. Then, mathematical statistics was used to determine that the relationship among the five parameters was COD〉DO〉P〉N〉pH. Finally, five-parameter, fourparameter and three-parameter water quality evaluation models were established and compared. The results showed that COD, DO, P and N were the necessary parameters for remote sensing evaluation of the Leizhou Peninsula nearshore water quality, and the optimal comprehensive water quality evaluation model was the fourparameter model. This work may serve as a reference for monitoring the quality of other marine waters by remote sensing.

Description: This paper presents a bathymetry inversion method using single-frame fine-resolution optical remote sensing imagery based on ocean-wave refraction and shallow-water wave theory. First, the relationship among water depth, wavelength and wave radian frequency in shallow water was deduced based on shallow-water wave theory. Considering the complex wave distribution in the optical remote sensing imagery, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and spatial profile measurements were applied for measuring the wavelengths. Then, the wave radian frequency was calculated by analyzing the long-distance fluctuation in the wavelength, which solved a key problem in obtaining the wave radian frequency in a single-frame image. A case study was conducted for Sanya Bay of Hainan Island, China. Single-frame fine-resolution optical remote sensing imagery from QuickBird satellite was used to invert the bathymetry without external input parameters. The result of the digital elevation model (DEM) was evaluated against a sea chart with a scale of 1:25 000. The root-mean-square error of the inverted bathymetry was 1.07 m, and the relative error was 16.2%. Therefore, the proposed method has the advantages including no requirement for true depths and environmental parameters, and is feasible for mapping the bathymetry of shallow coastal water.

Description: The annual subduction rate in the South Indian Ocean was calculated by analyzing Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) outputs in the period of 1950–2008. The subduction rate census for potential density classes showed a peak corresponding to Indian Ocean subtropical mode water (IOSTMW) in the southwestern part of the South Indian Ocean subtropical gyre. The deeper mixed layer depth, the sharper mixed-layer fronts and the associated relatively faster circulation in the present climatology resulted in a larger lateral induction, which primarily dominants the IOSTMW subduction rate, while with only minor contribution from vertical pumping. Without loss of generality, through careful analysis of the water characteristics in the layer of minimum vertical temperature gradient (LMVTG), the authors suggest that the IOSTMW was identified as a thermostad, with a lateral minimum of low potential vorticity (PV, less than 200×10 –12 m –1 ·s –1 ) and a low d T ⁄dz (less than 1.5°C/(100 m)). The IOSTMW within the South Indian Ocean subtropical gyre distributed in the region approximately from 25° to 50° E and from 30° to 39°S. Additionally, the average characteristics (temperature, salinity, potential density) of the mode water were estimated about (16.38 ± 0.29)°C, (35.46 ± 0.04), (26.02 ± 0.04) σ θ over the past 60 years.

Description: The deep-water area of the northern South China Sea, which has active and complicated tectonics, is rich in natural gas and gas hydrate. While the tectonic characteristics is different obviously between the east and the west because of the special tectonic position and tectonic evolution process. In terms of submarine geomorphology, the eastern shelf-slope structure in Pearl River Mouth Basin is characterized by having wide sub-basins and narrow intervening highs, whereas the western (Qiongdongnan Basin) structure is characterized by narrow subbasins and wide uplift. As to the structural features, the deep-water sags in the east are all structurally halfgrabens, controlled by a series of south-dipping normal faults. While the west sags are mainly characterised by graben structures with faulting in both the south and north. With regards to the tectonic evolution, the east began neotectonic activity when the post-rifting stage had completed at the end of the Middle Miocene. In the Baiyun Sag, tectonic activity became strong and was characterised by rapid subsidence and obvious faulting. Whereas in the west, neotectonic activity began at the end of the Late Miocene with rapid deposition and weak fault activity.

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The existing study was taken to represent the current information in order to develop a mass-balanced ecosystem model within the resettled maritime boundary area of the Bay of Bengal (BoB), Bangladesh from July 2016 to June 2017 through ECOPATH approach covering over 90 000 km〈sup〉2〈/sup〉. A total of 19 functional groups were considered representing all trophic levels in the foodweb where estimated trophic interactions between the groups were varied from 1 (primary producers and detritus) to 3.45 (sharks). The ecotrophic efficiency (EE) of most of the consumers was greater than 0.80; symbolizing a largely exploited ecosystem and high energy transfer from lower to higher trophic levels. Moreover, the gross efficiency (0.001 8) and transfer efficiency (11.12%) of the whole system symbolizes the “Developing Systems” with somewhat maturity currently. Ecosystem’s overhead (64.6) and ascendancy (35.4) also designate the ecosystem’s stability. Thus, this study determines that the resettled maritime area of BoB reserves significant backup strength to face stress situations having capacity to rapid restoration to the original states.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The response of glutathione S-transferase (GST) in 〈em〉Zostera marina〈/em〉 to temperature variation was analyzed at molecular level by cloning the microsomal GST gene and texting the microsomal GST expression regularity under different temperature. Specific speaking, express 〈em〉Zm〈/em〉GST in 〈em〉Escherichia coli〈/em〉, then purify the recombinant protein and make the thermal stability analysis. Therefore, the experiments were carried out to provide a theoretical basis for the further elaboration to the population degradation mechanisms of 〈em〉Z. marina〈/em〉. In conclusion, the thermostability and the response of 〈em〉Zm〈/em〉GST gene to temperature changes can determine its temperature tolerance range, and affect its resilience in turn.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉Hydrothermal precipitates associated with active vents in the eastern Manus Basin, an actively opening back-arc basin in the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea, are among the most Cu-rich on the modern seafloor. The volcanic rocks associated with this mineralization may be insufficiently enriched in Cu to account for the Cu content of the sulfides by simple leaching. The PACMANUS hydrothermal field lies in the eastern portion of the eastern Manus Basin. Mass balance modeling of the PACMANUS hydrothermal system indicates that simple leaching of a stationary reaction zone (0.144 km〈sup〉3〈/sup〉) by hydrothermal fluids cannot yield the Cu found in associated sulfide deposits because unacceptably high leaching, transportation and precipitation efficiencies are required to derive the Cu in sulfides by leaching processes. With 100% leaching, transport and precipitating efficiency, 0.166 km〈sup〉3〈/sup〉 of volcanic rocks would need to be leached to account for the Cu budget of hydrothermal sulfide deposits. The key requirement for forming metal-rich magmatic fluids is a large amount of metals available to enter the exsolved vapor phase. Magmas generated in the eastern Manus Basin inherently have high 〈em〉f〈/em〉O〈sub〉2〈/sub〉 because of metasomatism of the mantle source by oxidized materials from the subducted slab, leading to copper enrichment in the magma chamber. Moreover, the presence of Cu in gas-rich melt inclusi on bubbles in Pual Ridge andesite is evidence that degassing and partitioning of Cu into the magmatic volatile phase has occurred in the eastern Manus Basin. Numerical mass balance modeling indicates that approximately 0.236 Mt Cu was potentially transferred to the hydrothermal system per cubic kilometer magma. Magmatic degassing seems to play a more significant role than leaching.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The morphology of seven specimens of 〈em〉Chrysaora chinensis〈/em〉 (Scyphomedusae, Semaestomae) obtained from four sites off the coast of Peninsular Malaysia was examined. Morphological characteristics of 〈em〉C. chinensis〈/em〉 that encompasses structures such as the bell, tentacles, oral arms, stomach, manubrium, radial canals and gonads were described in detail. A total of 107 specimens that represented 〈em〉C. chinensis〈/em〉 populations of four coastal areas of Peninsular Malaysia (East-Central, East-North, West-Central, and West-North) were also analysed for shape variation using geometric morphometric analysis. Procrustes superimposition, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA) were applied to the images of gastrovascular pouches of 〈em〉C. chinensis〈/em〉 to extract the shape information. Independent contrasts were used for comparisons between shapes. There were no significant differences in shape variation between all the specimens based on the PCA results. However, CVA results showed shape variations between specimens taken from the four areas of Peninsular Malaysia, especially with higher magnitudes of Mahalanobis distances between the east and west coast areas, including between East-Central and East-North, but lower magnitudes were detected between the West-Central and West-North.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉Various population structures or spatial heterogeneities in population distribution have been an important source of model misspecification and have had an impact on estimation performance in fisheries stock assessment. In this study, we simulated the Indian Ocean albacore spatial heterogeneity in age-structure using Stock Synthesis according to the stage-dependent migration rate and region-dependent fishing mortality rate and generated the stock assessment data. Based on these data, we investigated the performances of different spatial configurations, selectivity curves and selections of CPUE (catch per unit effort) indices of the assessment models which were used to account for spatial heterogeneity. The results showed: (1) although the spatially explicit configurations, which exactly matched the operating model, provided unbiased and accurate estimates of relative spawning biomass, relative fishing mortality rate and maximum sustainable yield in all simulation scenarios, their performance may be very poor if there were mismatches between them and the operating model due to gaps in knowledge and data; (2) for spatially explicit assessment configuration, the correct boundary was required, but for non-spatially explicit assessment configuration, it seemed more important for analysts to partition the area to properly reflect the transition in field data and to effectively account for the impacts of ignoring the spatial structure by using the additional spatially referenced parameters; (3) although the areas-as-fleets methods and flexible time-varying selectivity curves could be used as better alternative approaches to account for spatial structure, these configurations could not completely eliminate the impacts of model misspecification and the quality of estimates of different quantities from the same assessment model may be inconsistent or the performance of the same assessment configuration may fluctuate significantly between simulation scenarios; (4) although the worst estimates could generally be avoided by using multiple CPUE indices, there were no best solutions to select or regenerate the CPUE indices to account for the impacts of the ignored spatial structure to obviously improve the quality of stock assessment. Compared with the results of assessment model configurations which are used to account for the spatial structure by different modelers, the performances of the configurations are always casespecific except for spatially explicit configurations which exactly match the operating model. In this sense, our study will not only provide some insights into the current Indian Ocean albacore stock assessment but also enrich existing knowledge regarding the performance of assessment configurations to account for spatial structure.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉With the decline of fish stocks, the proportions of economically important invertebrates like crustaceans and cephalopods have increased in the Bohai Sea. The community structure and trophic level of economically important invertebrates were analyzed using the bottom trawl survey data collected by the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute in the Bohai Sea in May and August of 1958–1959, 1982, 1992–1993, 2004, 2009 and 2015. A total of 37 species of economically important invertebrates, belonging to 5 orders, 24 families, were captured. The biomass densities of economically important invertebrates in the Bohai Sea displayed an overall downward trend from 1982 to 2015. 〈em〉Oratosquilla oratoria〈/em〉 and 〈em〉Loligo〈/em〉 spp. were the most dominant species in the past 30 years, the biomass proportion of 〈em〉O. oratoria〈/em〉 increased gradually in both May and August from 1982 to 2015. Moreover, biodiversity indices of economically important invertebrates in the Bohai Sea appeared to decline from 1982 to 2004 and then increased in 2015. Similarly, the mean trophic level of economically important invertebrates declined from 1982 to 2004 and increased slightly in 2015. Overall, although the proportions of invertebrates have increased, the biomass densities in the Bohai Sea have displayed an overall downward trend from 1982 to 2015. The increases in the biodiversity and trophic level of economically important invertebrates after the 2000s, possibly benefit from stock enhancement projects implemented by governments at different levels and national fishery management measures such as the “double-control” of the total number and engine power of fishing vessels and summer moratorium of fishing.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉This study examines the effects of Stokes drift on pollutant transport within the surf zone on a plane beach both numerically and experimentally. Firstly, the numerical model is described. The wave-induced current is modeled using the concept of the radiation stress. The wave propagation model is based on the wave energy conservation equation. And the advective diffusion model including the Stokes drift is used to describe the pollutant transport in the surf zone. Model validation was achieved in this case versus an analytical solution for an instantaneous point source in a uniform horizontal flow. This study also describes a laboratory experiment on dye release in the surf zone over a plane beach. We examined the final inclination angle required by a continuously released pollutant plume to reach the shoreline under both cases, and transport velocities in the alongshore and cross-shore directions were estimated by linearly fitting the location of a dye-patch front at different time. Results show that this dye patch moved shoreward with an approximate speed of 0.05 m/s (0.017 m/s) between 10 s and 40 s and 0.001 m/s (0.011 m/s) after 40 s for Case 1 (2). This model was then used to simulate pollutant transport in the surf zone on a plane beach as reproduced in the current experiment. Comparisons between our dye transport experiment and numerical results were then also conducted; the data showed that the numerical results including Stokes drift agreed more closely with experimental results than those without it. The data showed that the pollutant was generally transported obviously shoreward in addition to its expected drift along the shore. We also suggest that Stokes drift plays an important role in pollutant movement in the surf zone, especially shoreward.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉There are well-established chemical and turbidity anomalies in the plumes occurring vicinity of hydrothermal vents, which are used to indicate their existence and locations. We here develop a small, accurate multi-channel chemical sensor to detect such anomalies which can be used in deep-sea at depths of more than 4 000 m. The design allowed five all-solid-state electrodes to be mounted on it and each (apart from one reference electrode) could be changed according to chemicals to be measured. Two experiments were conducted using the chemical sensors. The first was a shallow-sea trial which included sample measurements and 〈em〉in situ〈/em〉 monitoring. pH, Eh, CO〈span〉 〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 〈sup〉2−〈/sup〉 〈/span〉 and SO〈span〉 〈sub〉4〈/sub〉 〈sup〉2−〈/sup〉 〈/span〉 electrodes were utilized to demonstrate that the chemical sensor was accurate and stable outside the laboratory. In the second experiment, the chemical sensor was integrated with pH, Eh, CO〈span〉 〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 〈sup〉2−〈/sup〉 〈/span〉 and H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S electrodes, and was used in 29 scans of the seabed along the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) to detect hydrothermal vents, from which 27 sets of valid data were obtained. Hydrothermal vents were identified by analyzing the chemical anomalies, the primary judging criteria were decreasing voltages of Eh and H〈sub〉2〈/sub〉S, matched by increasing voltages of pH and CO〈span〉 〈sub〉3〈/sub〉 〈sup〉2−〈/sup〉 〈/span〉. We proposed that simultaneous detection of changes in these parameters will indicate a hydrothermal vent. Amongst the 27 valid sets of data, five potential hydrothermal vents were targeted using the proposed method. We suggest that our sensors could be widely employed by marine scientists.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The Bohai Sea is extremely susceptible to storm surges induced by extratropical storms and tropical cyclones in nearly every season. In order to relieve the impacts of storm surge disasters on structures and human lives in coastal regions, it is very important to understand the occurring of the severe storm surges. The previous research is mostly restricted to a single type of storm surge caused by extratropical storm or tropical cyclone. In present paper, a coupled atmosphere-ocean model is developed to study the storm surges induced by two types of extreme weather conditions. Two special cases happened in the Bohai Sea are simulated successively. The wind intensity and minimum sea-level pressure derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model agree well with the observed data. The computed time series of water level obtained from the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) also are in good agreement with the tide gauge observations. The structures of the wind fields and average currents for two types of storm surges are analyzed and compared. The results of coupled model are compared with those from the uncoupled model. The case studies indicate that the wind field and structure of the ocean surface current have great differences between extratropical storm surge and typhoon storm surge. The magnitude of storm surge in the Bohai Sea is shown mainly determined by the ocean surface driving force, but greatly affected by the coastal geometry and bathymetry.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The Arctic sea ice cover has declined at an unprecedented pace since the late 20th century. As a result, the feedback of sea ice anomalies for atmospheric circulation has been increasingly evidenced. While climatic models almost consistently reproduced a decreasing trend of sea ice cover, the reported results show a large distribution. To evaluate the performance of models for simulating Arctic sea ice cover and its potential role in climate change, this study constructed a reasonable metric by synthesizing both linear trends and anomalies of sea ice. This study particularly focused on the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, where sea ice anomalies have the highest potential to affect the atmosphere. The investigated models can be grouped into three categories according to their normalized skill scores. The strong contrast among the multi-model ensemble means of different groups demonstrates the robustness and rationality of this method. Potential factors that account for the different performances of climate models are further explored. The results show that model performance depends more on the ozone datasets that are prescribed by the model rather than on the chemical representation of ozone.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉Better forecast of tropical cyclone (TC) can help to reduce risk and enhance management. The TC forecast depends on the scientific understanding of oceanic processes, air-sea interaction and finally, the atmospheric process. The TC Viyaru is taken as an example, which is formed at the end of 11 May 2013 and sustains up to 17 May 2013 during pre-monsoon season. Argo data are used to investigate ocean response processes by comparing pre- and post-conditions of the TC. Eight oceanic parameters including the sea surface temperature (SST), the sea surface salinity (SSS), and the barrier layer thickness (BLT), the 26°C isotherm depth in the ocean (〈em〉D〈/em〉〈sub〉26〈/sub〉), the isothermal layer depth (ILD), the mixed layer depth (MLD), the tropical cyclone heat potential (TCHP) and the effective oceanic layer for cyclogenesis (EOLC) are chosen to evaluate the pre- and post-conditions of the TC along the track of Viyaru. The values of the SST, 〈em〉D〈/em〉〈sub〉26〈/sub〉, BLT, TCHP and EOLC in the pre-cyclonic condition are higher than the post-cyclonic condition, while the SSS, ILD and MLD in the post-cyclonic condition are higher than the pre-cyclonic condition of the ocean due to strong cyclonic winds and subsurface upwelling. It is interesting that the strong intensity of the TC reduces less SST and vice versa. The satisfied real time Argo data is not available in the northern Bay of Bengal especially in the coastal region. A weather research and forecasting model is employed to hindcast the track of Viyaru, and the satellite data from the National Center Environmental Prediction are used to assess the hindcast.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉There were two severe coral bleaching events at Ko Khang Khao, the inner Gulf of Thailand, occurred during the prolonged period of the elevated sea surface temperature (SST) in 2010 and low salinity as well as turbidity due to heavy flooding in 2011. The bleaching index (〈em〉BI〈/em〉) and mortality index (〈em〉MI〈/em〉) are calculated to compare the susceptibilities of coral species in the two bleaching events. The BI and MI vary significantly among the study sites and bleaching events. The most susceptible corals during both bleaching events are 〈em〉Acropora millepora〈/em〉, 〈em〉Pocillopora damicornis〈/em〉 and 〈em〉Pavona decussate〈/em〉, while the most resistant species were 〈em〉Galaxea fascicularis, Fungia fungites, Pavona frondifera, Oulastrea crispate〈/em〉, and 〈em〉Symphyllia recta〈/em〉. The corals 〈em〉Favia favus, Goniopora columna, Platygyra pini, Symphyllia agaricia〈/em〉 were relatively more tolerant to high SST but they are relatively more susceptible to low salinity. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon that the dissociation stress of the symbiotic relationship between zooxanthellae and their cnidarian host results in the reduction in photosynthetic pigment concentration. Among stressors, both prolonged exposure of high SST and low salinity, above and below their thresholds, respectively. The long-term resilience of coral communities at Ko Khang Khao and other coral communities close to the mouth of large rivers may depend on the frequency and duration of the exposure on the elevated SST due to atmospheric heating and low salinity due to river flooding.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The Bohai Sea is a shallow semi-enclosed inner sea with an average depth of 18 m and is located at the west of the northern Yellow Sea. The climatological circulation pattern in summer of the Bohai Sea is studied by using a wave-tide-circulation coupled model. The simulated temperature and the circulation agree with the observation well. The result shows that the circulation pattern of the Bohai Sea is jointly influenced by the tidal residual current, wind and baroclinic current. There exists an obvious density current along the temperature front from the west part of the Liaodong Bay to the offshore area of the Huanghe Estuary. In the Liaodong Bay there exists a clockwise gyre in the area north to the 40°N. While in the area south to the 40°N the circulation shows a two-gyre structure, the flow from the offshore area of the Huanghe Estuary to the Liaodong Bay splits into two branches in the area between 39°N and 40°N. The west branch turns into north-west and forms an anti-clockwise gyre with the south-westward density current off the west of the Liaodong Bay. The east branch turns to the east and forms a clockwise gyre with the flow along the east coast of the Liaodong Bay. The forming mechanism of the circulation is also discussed in this paper.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉Satellite remote sensing of inland water body requires a high spatial resolution and a multiband narrow spectral resolution, which makes the fusion between panchromatic (PAN) and multi-spectral (MS) images particularly important. Taking the Daquekou section of the Qiantang River as an observation target, four conventional fusion methods widely accepted in satellite image processing, including pan sharpening (PS), principal component analysis (PCA), Gram-Schmidt (GS), and wavelet fusion (WF), are utilized to fuse MS and PAN images of GF-1. The results of subjective and objective evaluation methods application indicate that GS performs the best, followed by the PCA, the WF and the PS in the order of descending. The existence of a large area of the water body is a dominant factor impacting the fusion performance. Meanwhile, the ability of retaining spatial and spectral informations is an important factor affecting the fusion performance of different fusion methods. The fundamental difference of reflectivity information acquisition between water and land is the reason for the failure of conventional fusion methods for land observation such as the PS to be used in the presence of the large water body. It is suggested that the adoption of the conventional fusion methods in the observing water body as the main target should be taken with caution. The performances of the fusion methods need re-assessment when the large-scale water body is present in the remote sensing image or when the research aims for the water body observation.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉One of the problems experienced in marine geophysical exploration is that the layered features in the migration imaging profile are blurred and the seismic energy reflected is weaker in the middle or lower parts. In this study we model the seismic wavefield records in the undulating seafloor when there is both a slight change and significant change in seafloor topography to analyze its influence on the seismic reflection data and migration imaging profiles. We compare and analyze the wave field records collected at the same point on the original and modified velocity models, and the cross-bonding resulting migration imaging profiles. The results show that whether the seismic reflection data collection is performed along the direction of the survey line or against the direction of the survey line, slight changes in the seafloor topography have little effect on the wave field records and the migration profile, while significant changes in the seafloor topography have great effect on both the wave field records and migration profile.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉The undrained shear strength of shallow strata is a critical parameter for safety design in deep-water operations. 〈em〉In situ〈/em〉 piezocone penetration tests (CPTU) and laboratory experiments are performed at Site W18-19 in the Shenhu area, northern South China Sea, where China’s first marine hydrate exploitation operation is due to be located. The validation of the undrained shear strength prediction model based on CPTU parameters. Different laboratory tests, including pocket penetrometer, torvane, miniature vane and unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests, are employed to solve empirical cone coefficients by statistical and mathematical methods. Finally, an optimized model is proposed to describe the longitudinal distribution of undrained shear strength in calcareous clay strata in the Shenhu area. Research results reveal that average empirical cone coefficients based on total cone resistance, effective resistance, and excess-pore pressure are 13.8, 4.2 and 14.4, respectively. The undrained shear strength prediction model shows a good fit with the laboratory results only within specific intervals based on their compaction degree and gas-bearing conditions. The optimized prediction model in piecewise function format can be used to describe the longitudinal distribution of the undrained shear strength for calcareous clay within all depth intervals from the mud-line to the upper boundary of hydrate-bearing sediments (HBS). The optimized prediction result indicates that the effective cone resistance model is suitable for very soft to firm calcareous clays, the excess-pore pressure model can depict the undrained shear strength for firm to very stiff but gas-free clays, while the total cone resistance model is advantageous for evaluating the undrained shear strength for very stiff and gassy clays. The optimized model in piecewise function format can considerably improve the adaptability of empirical models for calcareous clay in the Shenhu area. These results are significant for safety evaluations of proposed hydrate exploitation projects.〈/p〉

Description: 〈h3〉Abstract〈/h3〉 〈p〉An integrated analysis of internal solitary wave (ISW) observations obtained from two moorings over the continental slope in the northern South China Sea (SCS) leads to an assessment of the vertical heat transport of the ISWs. The clusters of ISW packets are phase-locked to the fortnightly cycle of the semidiurnal tide. The ISWs appear during large semidiurnal tides, and there is a period of 5–6 d when no ISWs are observed. The effect of the ISWs on the continental slope heat budget is observed. The ISWs can modify a local temperature field in which the temperature in the upper layer can be changed by O (100) °C after the ISWs passed the mooring. Both ISWinduced diffusion and ISW-induced advection contribute to the temperature variation. The estimates imply an average vertical heat flux of 0.01 to 0.1 MW/m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 in the ISWs in the upper 500 m of the water column. The vertical heat transport ranges from 0.56 to 2.83 GJ/m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉 with a mean value of 1.63 GJ/m〈sup〉2〈/sup〉. The observations suggest that the vertical heat transport is proportional to the maximum vertical displacement.〈/p〉