Impacts of Coastal SST Variability on the East Asian Summer Monsoon

The impacts of the seasonal and interannual SST variability in the East Asia coastal regions （EACRSST） on the East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） have been examined using a regional climate model （PδRCM9） in this paper. The simulation results show that the correlation between the EACRSST and the EASM is strengthened after the mid-1970s and also the variability of the EACRSST forcing becomes much more important to the EASM interannual variability after the mid-1970s. The impacts of the EACRSST on the summer precipitation over each sub-region in the EASM region become weak gradually from south to north, and the temporal evolution features of the summer precipitation differences over North and Northeast China agree well with those of the index of EASM （IEASM） differences. The mechanism analyses show that different EACRSST forcings result in the differences of sensible and latent heat flux exchanges at the air-sea interface, which alter the heating rate of the atmosphere. The heating rate differences induce low level air temperature differences over East Asia, resulting in the differences of the land-sea thermal contrast （LSTC） which lead to 850 hPa geopotential height changes. When the 850 hPa geopotential height increases over the East Asian continent and decreases over the coast of East China and the adjacent oceans during the weakening period of weakens consequently. On the contrary, the EASM enhances during the strengthening period of the LSTC.

Mapping sea surface velocities in the Changjiang coastal zone with advanced synthetic aperture radar

Range Doppler velocities derived from the Envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar（ASAR） wide swath images are analyzed and assessed against the numerically simulated surface current fields derived from the finite volume coastal ocean model（FVCOM） for the Changjiang Estuary. Comparisons with the FVCOM simulations show that the European Space Agency（ESA） Envisat ASAR based Doppler shift anomaly retrievals have the capability to capture quantitative information of the surface currents in the Changjiang Estuary. The uncertainty analysis of the ASAR range Doppler velocity estimates are discussed with regard to the azimuthal and range bias corrections, radar incidence angles, inaccuracy in the wind field corrections and the presence of rain cells.The corrected range Doppler velocities for the Changjiang Estuary area are highly valuable as they exhibit quantitative expressions related to the multiscale upper layer dynamics and surface current variability around the East China Sea, including the Changjiang Estuary.

A Coastal Ocean Model of Semi-Implicit Finite Volume Unstructured Grid

A two-dimensional coastal ocean model based on unstructured C-grid is built, in which the momentum equation is discretized on the faces of each cell, and the continuity equation is discretized on the cell. The model is discretized by semi-implicit finite volume method, in that the free surface is semi-implicit and the bottom friction is implicit, thereby removing stability limitations associated with the surface gravity wave and friction. The remaining terms in the momentum equations are discretized explicitly by integral finite volume method and second-order Adams-Bashforth method. Tidal flow in the polar quadrant with known analytic solution is employed to test the proposed model. Finally, the performance of the present model to simulate tidal flow in a geometrically complex domain is examined by simulation of tidal currents in the Pearl River Estuary.

Statistical Downscaling of IPCC Sea Surface Wind and Wind Energy Predictions for U.S. East Coastal Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea

A multivariate statistical downscaling method is developed to produce regional, high-resolution, coastal surface wind fields based on the IPCC global model predictions for the U.S. east coastal ocean, the Gulf of Mexico(GOM), and the Caribbean Sea. The statistical relationship is built upon linear regressions between the empirical orthogonal function(EOF) spaces of a cross- calibrated, multi-platform, multi-instrument ocean surface wind velocity dataset(predictand) and the global NCEP wind reanalysis(predictor) over a 10 year period from 2000 to 2009. The statistical relationship is validated before applications and its effectiveness is confirmed by the good agreement between downscaled wind fields based on the NCEP reanalysis and in-situ surface wind measured at 16 National Data Buoy Center(NDBC) buoys in the U.S. east coastal ocean and the GOM during 1992–1999. The predictand-predictor relationship is applied to IPCC GFDL model output(2.0?×2.5?) of downscaled coastal wind at 0.25?×0.25? resolution. The temporal and spatial variability of future predicted wind speeds and wind energy potential over the study region are further quantified. It is shown that wind speed and power would significantly be reduced in the high CO_2 climate scenario offshore of the mid-Atlantic and northeast U.S., with the speed falling to one quarter of its original value.

Suspended sediment concentration mapping based on the MODIS satellite imagery in the East China inland, estuarine, and coastal waters

The purpose of this research is to improve the retrieval accuracy for the suspended sediment concentration(SSC) from in situ and satellite remote sensing measurements in turbid East China estuarine and coastal waters. For this aim, three important tasks are formulated and solved: 1) an estimation of remote-sensing reflectance spectra R_(rs)(λ) after atmospheric correction; 2) an estimation of R_(rs)(λ) from the radiometric signals above the air-water surface; and 3) an estimation of SSC from R_(rs)(λ). Six different models for radiometric R_(rs)(λ) determination and 28 models for SSC versus R_(rs)(λ) are analyzed based on the field observations made in the Changjiang River estuary and its adjacent coastal area. The SSC images based on the above-mentioned analysis are generated for the area.

Journal of Ocean University of China(Oceanic and Coastal Sea Research) Article Index to Vol.10, 2011

Article Index to Vol.10, 2011 Number I A FVCOM-Based Unstructured Grid Wave, Current, Sediment Transport Model, I. Model Description and Validation WU Lunyu, CHEN Changsheng, GUO Peifang, SHI Maochong, QI Jianhua, and GE Jianzhong

Numerical study of current fields near the Changjiang Estuary and impact of Quick-EnKF assimilation

A 30-d current numerical simulation is running for the Yangshan Port,the Changjiang Estuary,the Hangzhou Bay and their adjacent seas using a finite volume coastal ocean model （FVCOM）,with Changjiang River runoff and wind effect being considered.At the open boundary,this model is driven by the water level obtained from prediction including eight main partial tides.After the harmonic analysis,the cotidal chart and the iso-amplitude line as well as the current ellipse distribution map are displayed to illustrate the propagation property of a tidal wave.Horizontal velocity of both the U and V components coincides with the actual measurement,which shows that the model result is credible to describe the hydrodynamic pattern in this sea area.On this basis,real-time current data from high-frequency radar is assimilated with the implementation of quick ensemble Kalman filter,which takes the variation tendency of the state vector to compute the analysis field,instead of integrating the field for N （the number of ensemble） times as it used to in the standard EnKF,aiming at raising the efficiency of computation,reducing the error of prediction and at the same time,improving the forecast effect.

Observation and modeling of tide- and wind-induced surface currents in Galway Bay

A high-frequency radar system has been deployed in Galway Bay, a semi-enclosed bay on the west coast of Ireland. The system provides surface currents with fine spatial resolution every hour. Prior to its use for model validation, the accuracy of the radar data was verified through comparison with measurements from acoustic Doppler current profilers （ADCPs） and a good correlation between time series of surface current speeds and directions obtained from radar data and ADCP data. Since Galway Bay is located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, it is subject to relatively windy conditions, and surface currents are therefore strongly wind-driven. With a view to assimilating the radar data for forecasting purposes, a three-dimensional numerical model of Galway Bay, the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code （EFDC）, was developed based on a terrain-following vertical （sigma） coordinate system. This study shows that the performance and accuracy of the numerical model, particularly with regard to tide- and wind-induced surface currents, are sensitive to the vertical layer structure. Results of five models with different layer structures are presented and compared with radar measurements. A variable vertical structure with thin layers at the bottom and the surface and thicker layers in the middle of the water column was found to be the optimal layer structure for reproduction of tideand wind-induced surface currents. This structure ensures that wind shear can properly propagate from the surface layer to the sub-surface layers, thereby ensuring that wind forcing is not overdamped by tidal forcing. The vertical layer structure affects not only the velocities at the surface layer but also the velocities further down in the water column.

Advances in coastal ocean boundary layer detection technology and equipment in China

Accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the atmospheric environment and its evolution within the coastal ocean boundary layer are necessary for understanding the sources,chemical mechanisms,and transport processes of air pollution in land,sea,and atmosphere.We present an overview of coastal ocean boundary layer detection technology and equipment in China and summarize the progress and main achievements in recent years.China has developed a series of coastal ocean boundary layer detection technologies,including Light Detection and Ranging(LIDAR),turbulent exchange analyzer,air-sea flux analyzer,stereoscopic remote sensing of air pollutants,and oceanic aerosol detection equipment to address the technical bottleneck caused by harsh environmental conditions in coastal ocean regions.Advances in these technologies and equipment have provided scientific assistance for addressing air pollution issues and understanding land-sea-atmosphere interactions over coastal ocean regions in China.In the future,routine atmospheric observations should cover the coastal ocean boundary layer of China.

Processes of coastal ecosystem carbon sequestration and approaches for increasing carbon sink

The oceans are the largest carbon pools on Earth, and play the role of a "buffer" in climate change. Blue carbon, the carbon(mainly organic carbon) captured by marine ecosystems, is one of the important mechanisms of marine carbon storage.Blue carbon was initially recognized only in the form of visible coastal plant carbon sequestration. In fact, microorganisms(phytoplankton, bacteria, archaea, viruses, and protozoa), which did not receive much attention in the past, account for more than 90% of the total marine biomass and are the main contributors to blue carbon. Chinese coastal seas, equivalent to 1/3 of China's total land area, have a huge carbon sink potential needing urgently research and development. In this paper, we focus on the processes and mechanisms of coastal ocean's carbon sequestration and the approaches for increasing that sequestration. We discuss the structures of coastal ecosystems, the processes of carbon cycle, and the mechanisms of carbon sequestration. Using the evolution of coastal ocean's carbon sinks in sedimentary records over geologic times, we also discuss the possible effects of natural processes and anthropogenic activities on marine carbon sinks. Finally, we discuss the prospect of using carbon sequestration engineering for increasing coastal ocean's carbon storage capacity.

A GPU accelerated finite volume coastal ocean model

With the unstructured grid, the Finite Volume Coastal Ocean Model（FVCOM） is converted from its original FORTRAN code to a Compute Unified Device Architecture（CUDA） C code, and optimized on the Graphic Processor Unit（GPU）. The proposed GPU-FVCOM is tested against analytical solutions for two standard cases in a rectangular basin, a tide induced flow and a wind induced circulation. It is then applied to the Ningbo＇s coastal water area to simulate the tidal motion and analyze the flow field and the vertical tide velocity structure. The simulation results agree with the measured data quite well. The accelerated performance of the proposed 3-D model reaches 30 times of that of a single thread program, and the GPU-FVCOM implemented on a Tesla k20 device is faster than on a workstation with 20 CPU cores, which shows that the GPU-FVCOM is efficient for solving large scale sea area and high resolution engineering problems.

Evaluation of SIFOM-FVCOM system for high-fidelity simulation of small-scale coastal ocean flows

This paper evaluates the SIFOM-FVCOM system recently developed by the authors to simulate multiphysics coastal ocean flow phenomena, especially those at small scales. First, its formulation for buoyancy is examined with regard to solution accu- racy and computational efficiency. Then, the system is used to track particles in circulations in the Jamaica Bay, demonstrating that large-scale patterns of trajectories of fluid particles are sensitive to small-scales flows from which they are released. Finally, a simulation is presented to illustrate the SIFOM-FVCOM system＇s capability, which is beyond the reach of other existing models, to directly and simultaneously model large-scale storm surges as well as small-scale flow structures around bridge piers within the Hudson River during the Hurricane Sandy.

Coupling hydrodynamic models with GIS for storm surge simulation： application to the Yangtze Estuary and the Hangzhou Bay, China

Storm surge is one of the most serious oceanic disasters. Accurate and timely numerical prediction is one of the primary measures for disaster control. Traditional storm surge models lack of accuracy and time effects. To overcome the disadvantages, in this paper, an analytical cyclone model was first added into the Finite-Volume Coastal Ocean Model （FVCOM） consisting of high resolution, flooding and drying capabilities for 3D storm surge modeling. Then, we integrated MarineTools Pro into a geographic information system （GIS） to supplement the storm surge model. This provided end users with a friendly modeling platform and easy access to geographically referenced data that was required for the model input and output. A temporal GIS tracking analysis module was developed to create a visual path from storm surge numerical results. It was able to track the movement of a storm in space and time. MarineTools Pro＇ capabilities could assist the comprehensive understanding of complex storm events in data visualization, spatial query, and analysis of simulative results in an objective and accurate manner. The tools developed in this study further supported the idea that the coupled system could enhance productivity by providing an efficient operating environ- ment for accurate inversion or storm surge prediction. Finally, this coupled system was used to reconstruct the storm surge generated by Typhoon Agnes （No. 8114） and simulated typhoon induced-wind field and water elevations of Yangtze Estuary and Hangzhou Bay. The simulated results show good correlation with actual surveyed data. The simple operating interface of the coupled system is very convenient for users, who want to learn the usage of the storm surge model, especially for first-time users, which can save their modeling time greatly.