Responses of the Sea Surface Temperature and Suspended Matter Concentration to ENSO Events in the Bohai Sea

The sea surface temperature(SST)and sea surface suspended matter concentration data in the Bohai Sea were collected by multiple NOAA satellites from 1985 to 2018.The background calibration method was used to correct the systematic errors caused by the long-term observations through multiple NOAA satellites in this paper.Then,we studied the long-term variations of the sea surface temperature(SST)and sea surface suspended matter concentration(SSC)and their response to ENSO events in the Bohai Sea.Our results show that the SST and SSC of the Bohai Sea have been increasing since 1985,with an average rate of 0.04℃per year for SST,which is higher than the global average.The average increasing rate of SSC was 0.51 mg L^(-1)yr^(-1),which may be mainly due to the enhancement of winter monsoon in the Bohai.In winter,the SST and SSC of the Bohai Sea were higher in El Niño years than in La Niña years.In El Niño years,the ocean circulations were the main factor affecting the variation in SST.The robust circulation system caused by the strong winter monsoon enhances the water exchange between the cold water of the Bohai Sea and the warm water of the Yellow Sea,resulting in a higher SST in La Niña years.In summer,the SSTs of the Bohai Sea were lower in El Niño years than those in the La Niña years because of the decrease of the SST in the Western Pacific Ocean,the weakening of the subtropical high in the western Pacific,and its eastward shift caused by the El Niño events.

Oil Spill Risk Assessment of Offshore Pipeline in the Bohai Sea Under the Perspective of Ecological Protection

In recent decades,the exploration and development of marine oil and gas resources have increased significantly to meet the increasing energy demand of mankind.The Bohai Sea is a semi-closed continental sea that has a weak water exchange capacity and high ecological fragility.However,at present,more than 200 oil platforms have been built in the Bohai Sea,with more than 270 offshore oil pipelines having a length exceeding 1600 km.The oil spill pollution of offshore platforms has a great impact on the marine environment and ecosystems.Therefore,a comprehensive assessment of its risks is of great practical significance.This paper systematically constructs a comprehensive oil spill risk assessment model that combines the oil spill risk probability model and the ocean hydrodynamic model.This paper uses the Bohai Sea offshore pipeline as an example to assess its oil spill risk.The high-risk-value areas of the Bohai Sea offshore pipeline are mainly distributed at the bottom of Liaodong Bay,the bottom of Bohai Bay,near the Caofeidian area,and the northern part of the Yellow River Estuary.

Satellite-observed significant improvement in nearshore transparency of the Bohai Sea during pollution control

The Bohai Sea(BS)is the unique semi-closed inland sea of China,characterized by degraded water quality due to significant terrestrial pollution input.In order to improve its water quality,a dedicated action named“Uphill Battles for Integrated Bohai Sea Management”(UBIBSM,2018–2020)was implemented by the Chinese government.To evaluate the action effectiveness toward water quality improvement,variability of the satelliteobserved water transparency(Secchi disk depth,Z_(SD))was explored,with special emphasis on the nearshore waters(within 20 km from the coastline)prone to terrestrial influence.(1)Compared to the status before the action began(2011–2017),majority(87.3%)of the nearshore waters turned clear during the action implementation period(2018–2020),characterized by the elevated Z_(SD)by 11.6%±12.1%.(2)Nevertheless,the improvement was not spatially uniform,with higher Z_(SD)improvement in provinces of Hebei,Liaoning,and Shandong(13.2%±16.5%,13.2%±11.6%,10.8%±10.2%,respectively)followed by Tianjin(6.2%±4.7%).(3)Bayesian trend analysis found the abrupt Z_(SD)improvement in April 2018,which coincided with the initiation of UBIBSM,implying the water quality response to pollution control.More importantly,the independent statistics of land-based pollutant discharge also indicated that the significant reduction of terrestrial pollutant input during the UBIBSM action was the main driver of observed Z_(SD)improvement.(4)Compared with previous pollution control actions in the BS,UBIBSM was found to be the most successful one during the past 20 years,in terms of transparency improvement over nearshore waters.The presented results proved the UBIBSM-achieved remarkable water quality improvement,taking the advantage of long-term consistent and objective data record from satellite ocean color observation.

Recent tectonic stress field and major earthquakes of the Bohai Sea basin

渤海位于北华北新生代裂陷盆地的东部，是一个晚第四纪形成的内陆海盆．渤海盆地活动断裂发育，地震活动强烈，交会于渤海中部的NE向营口潍坊断裂带北段、庙西北一黄河口一临邑断裂带及NW向北京一蓬莱断裂带是主要的活动构造带，将海区分成4个次级新构造区，成为现代应力场作用的构造基础．综合研究38个震源机制解和75个井区应力场等资料，以及构造应力场二维数值模拟计算结果表明，渤海及其邻区现代构造应力场的压应力方向为NE60°～90°，张应力为SN—NW30°；以水平和近水平应力作用为主；不同构造区主应力方向存在一定的差异．现今渤海地区地壳发育以NNE-NE和NW-WNW走向的共轭剪切破裂为特征，是控制地震活动的主要构造．

Spatial distribution of dissolved Pb,Hg,Cd,Cu and As in the Bohai Sea

Characteristics of the spatial distribution of selected dissolved heavy metals were analyzed during large scale surveys from August t2 to 25, 2003 in the Bohai Sea. Dissolved Pb was the only element with average concentrations higher than the grade-one sea water quality standard of China. The spatial distribution of dissolved Pb in surface water was similar to those of Cd, Cu and As, where the isopleths generally indicated decreasing values from the bays to the central areas. Only for Hg did the high concentrations not only appear in Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay and Laizhou Bay, but also in the Central Area, viz. not only in inshore but also in offshore areas. Vertical distributions of dissolved Pb, Cd, Cu and As were largely uniform, while that of dissolved Hg increased with depth. We infer that the input of pollutants from land was the main influencing factor for the detected distribution patterns of dissolved heavy metals, followed by the dynamics of sea water, release from bottom sediments and biochemical processes. Comparing with historical data, average concentrations of dissolved heavy metals appear to decline in recent years.

Preliminary study on seasonal succession and development pathway of phytoplankton community in the Bohai Sea

Phytoplankton species composition and species succession were determined in 1998-1999 based on 2 nestle investigation cruises in the Bohai Sea and two monthly monitoring stations at Penglai and Changdao for 15 months. The seasonal succession and pathway of phytoplankton community in the Bohai Sea were discussed complementarily with history data. The main process of Phytoplankton community development in the Bohai Sea was controlled by temperature and nutrient replenishes. There were two cell abundance peaks in an annual variation, the main peak in April and the secondary peak in September. In winter, the cell abundance was low due to the low temperature, the phytoplankton community was mainly made up of small-celled diataoms. In spring, the phytoplankton community was developed very quickly by small-celled diatom in suitable conditions of temperature and nutrients. In summer, the cell abundance decreased and big-celled diatoms became predominated. In autumn, because of the replenish of nutrient, big-celled diatoms and dinoflagellates formed another cell abundance peak. during the annual variation of phytoplankton community in the Bohai Sea, species succession was the main process of community development, the species sequence just occur at special areas and special periods. The evolution of phytoplankton community in the Bohai Sea accords with the hypothesis of Margalef's phytoplankton community of four stages. But the size feature is contrary to the hypothesis, which may be caused by nutrient replenish in autumn in Bohai Sea and the top to down control.

RAPD analysis of wild stock of penaeid shrimp (Penaeus chinensis )in Chinese coastal waters of the Huanghai Sea and coastal waters of the Bohai Sea

Genetic diversity of 32 individuals of P. chinensis in the Chinese coastal waters of the Huanghai and Bobal Seas was detected by RAPD technique. Twenty decamer primers of OPI were used for DNA amplification for each individual. The results showed that: Seventeen primers obtained reproducible fingerprints, and the bands were clear. Thirty--nine of 106 loci detected were polymorphic, amounting to 36. 8 %. Mean genetic distance was 0. 094 1 0. 020 6; 68 markers (63. 2 % of the total) showed stable homogeneity in all of the 32 individuals.

Nutrients concentration and changes in decade-scale in the central Bohai Sea

The nutrients contents and distributions are discussed briefly, based on the data obtained in 1998～1999. Besides explanation of the results,a 20 a time series data of nutrients and biological parameters for central Bohai Sea are reviewed. It is found that both concentration and relative content of nutrients have been changed dramatically. The increase of nitrogen and decrease of phosphate and silicate led to the dramatically increase of N/P ratio and the decrease of Si/N ratio. The situation of nitrogen limiting in central Bohai Sea is gradually changing to that of relative lack of phosphate and silicate. The decrease of the Huanghe River input to the Bohai Sea may be responsible for this change. These in turn may limit the growth of diatom and thus promote the development of pyrrophyta if other conditions (e.g. temperature and hydrodynamics) are suitable. We conclude that this may be the major inducement factor of pyrrophyta red tide in the Bohai Sea.

The estimate of sea ice resources quantity in the Bohai Sea based on NOAA/AVHRR data

The research on sea ice resources is the academic base of sea ice exploitation in the Bohai Sea. According to the ice-water spectrum differences and the correlation between ice thickness and albedo, this paper comes up with a sea ice thickness inversion model based on the NOAA/AVHRR data. And then a sea ice resources quantity （SIQ） time series of Bohai Sea is established from 1987 to 2009. The results indicate that the average error of inversion sea ice thickness is below 30%. The maximum sea ice resources quantity is about 6×109 m3 and the minimum is 1.3×109 m3. And a preliminary analysis has been made on the errors of the estimate of sea ice resources quantity （SIQ）.

Joint land-sea seismic survey and research on the deep structures of the Bohai Sea areas

This paper presents the survey and research work of two land-sea profiles in the Bohai Sea, China, carried out in 2010-2011, including the seismic sources on land and in the sea, the ocean bottom seismographs （OBS） and their recovery, the coupling of OBS and the environment noise in sea area, the data quality of OBSs, and the result of data analysis. We focused on the investigation of crustal structures revealed by the two NE／EW-trending joint land-sea profiles. In combination with the Pn-velocity distribution and gravity- magnetic inversion results in the North China Craton, we propose that the undulation of the Moho interface in the Bohai and surrounding areas is not strong, and the lithospheric thinning is mainly caused by the thinning of its mantle part. The research result indicates that obvious lateral variations of Moho depth and seismic velocity appear nearby all the large-scale faults in Bohai Sea, and there is evidence of underplating and reforming of the lower crust by mantle material in the Bohai area. However, geophysical evidence does not appear to support the ＂mantle plume＂ or ＂delamination＂ model for the North China Craton destruction. The crustal structure of the Bohai Sea revealed ＂a relatively normal crust and obviously thinned mantle lid＂, local velocity anomalies and instability phenomena in the crust. These features may represent a combined effect of North China-Yangtze collision at an early stage and the remote action of Pacific plate subduction at a late stage.

A coupled ice-ocean model for the Bohai SeaⅡ.Case study

The coupled ice- ocean model for the Bohai Sea is used for simulating the freezing, melting, and variation of ice cover and the heat bal- ance at the sea- ice, air- ice, and air- sea interfaces of the Bohai Sea during the entire winter in 1998￣1999 and 2000￣2001. The cou- pled model is forced by real time numerical weather prediction fields. The results show that the thermodynamic effects of atmosphere and ocean are very important for the evolvement of ice in the Bohai Sea, especially in the period of ice freezing and melting. Ocean heat flux plays a key role in the thermodynamic coupling. The simulation also presents the different thermodynamic features in the ice covered region and the marginal ice zone. Ice thickness, heat budget at the interface, and surface sea temperature, etc. between the two representative points are discussed.

Distributions of dimethylsulfide in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea of China

Dimethylsulfide(DMS) measurements in the surface seawater of China eastern coastline were conducted during March 9—10, 1993 in Bohai Sea along the cruise from Dalian to Tianjin and during September 24—25, 1994 in Yellow Sea along the cruise from Shanghai to Qingdao. On the cruise in Bohai Sea DMS concentrations varied from 0.11 to 2.63 nmol/L with an average of 1.31 nmol/L, while DMS flux was estimated to be 0.85 μmol/(m 2·d) with the range of 0.04—3.12 μmol/(m 2·d). On the cruise in Yellow Sea DMS concentrations varied from 0.95 to 7.48 nmol/L with an average of 2.89 nmol/L, and DMS flux was estimated to be 7.94 μmol/(m 2·d) with the range of 0.11—18.88 μmol/(m 2·d). Variations in DMS concentrations along the latitude in Yellow Sea were observed larger than those along the longitude in Bohai Sea. DMS concentrations and fluxes had a similar spatial trend both in Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea with the correlation coefficients of 0.75 and 0.64, respectively.

Heavy metals in surficial sediments of the central Bohai Sea:their distribution,speciation and sources

The semi-enclosed Bohai Sea has received large amount of pollutants from surrounding rivers and sewage channels along the densely populated and industrializing Bohai coasts,as well as the offshore oil exploration in the sea.The concentrations of heavy metals copper,cobalt,nickel,zinc,lead,chromium and cadmium in 25 surface sediment samples from the central Bohai Sea are obtained by ICP-MS analysis.The speciation of these heavy metals is extracted and their distribution,fractionation,pollution status and sources are presented.High concentrations of copper,cobalt,nickel,zinc and chromium are found in the sediments off the coastal area of the Bohai Bay and the central Bohai Sea mud,while high concentrations of cadmium and lead are found in the sediments in the whole study area.The residual fraction is the dominant form of copper,cobalt,nickel,zinc and chromium in the surface sediments,while cadmium and lead have large proportions in the nonresidual fractions.The ecological risk assessment shows that the sediments in the study area are unpolluted with respect to the heavy metals of cobalt,nickel and chromium and unpolluted to moderately polluted with respect to copper,zinc,cadmium and lead.Cobalt,nickel and chromium mainly have natural origin and their concentrations significantly vary with the composition of the sediments.The contents of copper,zinc,lead and especially cadmium in sediments are suggested to be influenced by pollutants of human activities.The heavy metals in the surface sediments at most sampling stations are mainly come from the Huanghe River; the heavy metals in the sediments in the northernmost part of the study area are significantly affected by the sediment from the Luanhe River; while in the Bohai Bay and the central region they were affected by the sediment from the Haihe River and aerosol deposition.

Carbon distribution and fluxes of 16 rivers discharging into the Bohai Sea in summer

Riverine carbon input is closely related to the inshore aquatic environment, the marine carbon pool and climate change. Samples were synchronously obtained from 16 rivers discharging into the Bohai Sea （China） in 1-5 July 2005. The dissolved organic carbon （DOC） concentrations of the 16 rivers were mainly controlled by anthropogenic activities. The particulate organic carbon （POC） of the Haihe, Luanhe, Ziyaxinhe, Chaobaixinhe, Xiaoqinghe, Xiaolinghe, Duliujianhe, Jiyunhe, and Majiahe Rivers mainly originated from pollutants discharged by human, while that of the Huanghe River （Yellow River）, Daliaohe, Shuangtaizihe, Tuhaihe, Dalinghe, Daqinghe, and Liuguhe Rivers were generated mainly by soil erosion. Higher dissolved inorganic carbon （DIC） concentrations in the 16 rivers were detected, which were influenced by the large amounts of carbonate and industrial pollution. The estimated DOC, POC and DIC fluxes from the 16 rivers discharging into the Bohai Sea in summer, 2005 were 0.91×10^5, 1.23×10^5 and 6.31×10^5t, respectively.

Nitrogen forms and decomposition of organic carbon in the southern Bohai Sea core sediments

Study on form characteristics of nitrogen in marine sediments is the primary method to research its biogeochemical cycling and nitrogen form characteristics in core sediments can reflect the process and results of early diagenesis in a certain degree. In this paper, Sequential extraction process in natural grain size was used for studying the existent forms of nitrogen in five core sediments of the southern Bohai Sea for the first time. Nitrogen was divided into two parts - transferable and fixed based on whether it could be extracted by the reagent. Distributions and early diagenesis of transferable nitrogen forms in the southern Bohai Sea were researched integratedly. Results indicate that IEF - N and OSF-N are predominant forms in transferable part in the studied core sediments. Contents of different nitrogen forms vary differently with depth, and have different diagenesis process. Decomposition constant of organic nitrogen (ON) and OC are about 15.51 -× 10^(-3)a^(-3)and 4.79× 10^(-3)a^(-1) respectively, and the decomposition content of biogenic elements C, N, P, Si has the sequence N>P>CSi. OC/TN (simplified as C/N in the following) ratio is much lower than OC/ON, which indicates that sediment preserves plenty of inorganic nitrogen (IN) and/or fixed nitrogen, and the decrease of OC/ON ratio with depth is due to ON reservation in sediments. Generally, transferable nitrogen accounts for more proportion of TN in the surface layer than in the deep layer of core sediments, whereas, some stable forms of nitrogen can activate and become transferable under appropriate environment, which induces the proportion of transferable nitrogen in TN in the deep layer to be almost the same as that in the surface layer.

Assessment of structural stability in Bohai Sea area based on AHP-GDM model

The AHP-GDM model is used for the assessment of structural stability, with the Bohai Sea area as an exam- ple. In this model, the credit degree of each expert is calculated through the assessment matrix based on the similarity and diversity of vector. The comprehensive opinions of expert panel are quantitatively obtained by considering the effect ofcredit degree. According to the geological structural setting, the Bohai Sea is di- vided into twelve assessment zones of structural stability by non-uniform element method. The structural stability grade of each zone is obtained on the basis of the latest geophysical data, earthquake statistical data, and the information of fault activities, current stress field and crustal deformation. The results show that there are one relatively stable area, three relatively sub-stable areas, six relatively sub-unstable areas and two relatively unstable areas. The assessment results of non-uniform element method are very close with those of uniform grid method with size of 0.25 in longitude direction and 0.14 in latitude direction. However the workload of non-uniform element method is only 1 / 16 of the latter. Compared with traditional assessment methods of structural stability, a more objective and reliable assessment result can be obtained by combining non-uniform element method and AHP-GDM model.

Relation of ice conditions to climate change in the Bohai Sea of China

The ice conditions in the Bohai Sea and the northern Huanghai Sea greatly change from year to year with winter climate. Ice only covers below 15% of the the waters during the wannest win-ter, while it covers more than 80% during the coldest winter. Ice observation and data acquisition are outlined in the paper. The ice-covered area, the position of ice edge and the ice grades give indication of the ice conditions. The local climate of the waters can be expressed by using the air temperature of the stations of Dalian and Yingkou. The variation of the ice condition indexes with the monthly mean air temperature at Dalian from 1952 to 2000 is shown, as well. The local climate and ice conditions in the waters are affected by many factors,such as, evolution of the general atmospheric circulation and the solar activity. The delayed correlation between the ice conditions and lots of the affecting factors is analysed in the paper. The ice conditions are continuously mild since the 1990s, that is relative to the tendency of the global warming. The ice condition variation of the Bohai Sea is related to the El Nino event and the sunspot period. The seasonal evolution of the ice conditions is also described in the paper.

A model study on seasonal spatial-temporal variability of the Lagrangian Residual Circulations in the Bohai Sea

The spatial distribution and seasonal variation of the tide-induced Lagrangian Residual Circulations （LRC hereafter）, wind-driven LRC, and the coupling dynamic characteristics were simulated using ECOM, given the Hellerman and Rosenstein global monthly-mean wind stresses. The results showed that the tide-induced LRC of the harmonic constituent M2 bears an identical pattern in four seasons in the Bohai Sea： the surface one is weak with random directions; however, there exist a southeast current from the Bohai Strait to the Laizhou bay, and a weakly anticlockwise gyre in the south of the Bohai Strait for the bottom layer LRC. The magnitude of bottom layer tide-induced LRC is larger than the surface one, and moreover, it contributes significantly to the whole LRC in the Bohai Sea. Unlike the identical structure of the tide-induced LRC, the wind driven LRC varies seasonally under the prevailing monsoon. It forms a distinct gyre under the summer and winter monsoons in July and January respectively, but it seems weak and non-directional in April and September.

Freeliving marine nematodes as a pollution indicator of the Bohai Sea

A hierarchical diversity index—taxonomic distinctness index Δ +, which was first defined by Warwick and Clark in 1998, was employed to evaluate the pollution status of the Bohai Sea with freeliving marine nematodes. The result showed that the Bohai Bay and other coastal sampling sites might be affected by oil and gas production and other anthropogenic influences. In other words,anthropogenic disturbance was affecting this component of the benthos in these locations. And most offshore sampling sites in the middle of the Bohai Sea were clear and unpolluted.

Biomass of meiobenthic in the Bohai Sea, China

A grid of 22 stations, giving a broad geographic coverage of the Bohai Sea and the Bohai Strait was selected. Undisturbed sediments were collected from sampling stations during cruises in June 1997, in September/October 1998 and again in April/May 1999. Based on the results of Juario (1975), the average biomass, 0.404 g/(m2a) of meiofauna (including nematode, harpacticoida, bivalve larvae, polycheata and kinorhyncha) in the Bohai Sea is given and accounts for 4.5 percent of the macrofauna in the Bohai Sea. The horizontal distribution of the biomass of meiofauna showed that it was higher at the stations of middle east part of the Bohai Sea and the strait in 1998 and 1999 cruises and it decreased at the stations near to the strait mouth and increased at Station B1 in 1999 cruise. The annual average production in the Bohai Sea is 3.636 g/m2 calculated in term of the formula P = 9B. Compared with the biomass of other sea areas in the world, the biomass of the Bohai Sea is similar but slightly lower. The individual average dry weight of nematodes given by different authors is analyzed.