Yellow Sea Thermal Structure

There exists a need in the oceanography community to be able to produce climatologies of remote or poorly sampled shallow water areas through remote sensing techniques. Our goal was to construct a three-dimensional thermal structure of the Yellow Sea based primarily upon sea surface temperature data. The ability to do this successfully could lead the way to applying these techniques elsewhere using remotely sensed SST. The shallow water and dynamic conditions of the Yellow Sea made it an ideal study area. The large MOODS observational data set for the area provided us with 15,000 observations from 1929 to 1991. For the winter months we used regression techniques on the predominantly well-mixed, vertically isothermal profiles with excellent results. For the summer we applied a Feature Model which extracted physically significant depths and gradients from the observations. These modeled data were statistically compared with mixed results indicating little link between SST and mixed-layer depth but good correlation between SST and thermocline gradient. We believe interannual variability and significant sampling errors in our data contributed to our mixed results. Overall, we feel our approach is robust and has potential for further applications providing data quality issues are addressed.

The climatological water mass features, the seasonal variabilities of the thermohaline structure, and the linkage between fluxes (momentum, heat, and moisture) of the East China and Yellow Seas have been investigated. The long term mean surface heat balance corresponds to a heat gain of 15 W/m2 in the Yellow Sea shelf (YS), a heat loss of around 30 W/m2 in the East China Sea shelf (ECS) and Cheju bifurcation zone (CB), and around 65 W/m2 in the Taiwan Warm Current region (TWC) and Kuroshio Current region (KC). The surface fresh water balance, i.e., evaporation minus precipitation, ranges from -1.8 to -4.0 cm/ month for the five subareas. The four seasons for the stud area are divided based on the relative heat storage, which do not follow the usual atmospheric seasons. The entire water column of the ECS, YS and CB undergoes a seasonal thermal cycle with maximum values of temperature during summer and maximum mixed layer depths during winter. Only the surface waters of TWC and KC exhibit a seasonal thermal cycle. Two patterns exist in the surface salinity and Yangtze River run-off, out of phase in the East China Sea and in phase in the Yellow Sea.

Deep learning (DL), mainly composed of deep and complex neural networks such as recurrent network and convolutional network, is an emerging research branch in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning. DL revolution has a far-reaching impact on all scientific disciplines and every corner of our lives. With continuing technological advances, marine science is entering into the big data era with the exponential growth of information. DL is an effective means of harnessing the power of big data. Combined with unprecedented data from cameras, acoustic recorders, satellite remote sensing, and large model outputs, DL enables scientists to solve complex problems in biology, ecosystems, climate, energy, as well as physical and chemical interactions. Although DL has made great strides, it is still only beginning to emerge in many fields of marine science, especially towards representative applications and best practices for the automatic analysis of marine organisms and marine environments. DL in nowadays' marine science mainly leverages cutting-edge techniques of deep neural networks and massive data which collected by in-situ optical or acoustic imaging sensors for underwater applications, such as plankton classification and coral reef detection. This research topic aims to expand the applications of marine science to cover all aspects of detection, classification, segmentation, localization, and density estimation of marine objects, organisms, and phenomena.

A major task for physical oceanographers is to determine the movement of oceanic water from observations. This book introduces the P-vector inverse method, with a two-step determination of the velocity from hydrographic data. The book provide insights into the basics of the P-vector inverse method and the features of the inverted global and regional ocean circulations. Upper undergraduate and graduate students as well as oceanographers, marine biologists and other environmental scientists will find this book a valuable tool for their studies.

The climatological water mass features, the seasonal variabilities of the thermohaline structure, and the linkage between fluxes (momentum, heat, and moisture) of the East China and Yellow Seas have been investigated. The long term mean surface heat balance corresponds to a heat gain of 15 W/m2 in the Yellow Sea shelf (YS), a heat loss of around 30 W/m2 in the East China Sea shelf (ECS) and Cheju bifurcation zone (CB), and around 65 W/m2 in the Taiwan Warm Current region (TWC) and Kuroshio Current region (KC). The surface fresh water balance, i.e., evaporation minus precipitation, ranges from -1.8 to -4.0 cm/ month for the five subareas. The four seasons for the stud area are divided based on the relative heat storage, which do not follow the usual atmospheric seasons. The entire water column of the ECS, YS and CB undergoes a seasonal thermal cycle with maximum values of temperature during summer and maximum mixed layer depths during winter. Only the surface waters of TWC and KC exhibit a seasonal thermal cycle. Two patterns exist in the surface salinity and Yangtze River run-off, out of phase in the East China Sea and in phase in the Yellow Sea.

This volume presents a collection of original, multidisciplinary papers written by leading scientists from the various countries of the Pacific rim. The major topics covered are the origins of life in the marine environment; the changing distribution of biological parameters; hydrophysical and hydrochemical processes; and the exploitation of ocean resources and the ensuing consequences. The material is divided into five parts. The Introduction (Part I) gives a comprehensive overview of the research activities of the IOC and related organisations. The following four parts of the book comprise a number of survey papers which deal with specific aspects of marine science in the Pacific Ocean. For researchers and decision makers interested in marine and environmental science with an emphasis on the Pacific Ocean.