Effects of environmental variations on the abundance of western winter-spring cohort of neon flying squid(Ommastrephes bartramii) in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

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 infuenced 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 oil 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.

Long baroclinic Rossby waves with periods of about 500 d near 20°N in the northwest Pacific Ocean

On the basis of maps of sea level anomalies data set from October 1992 to January 2004, pronounced low frequency variations with periods of about 500 d are detected in the area near 20°N from 160°W to 130°E. A linear two-layer model is employed to explain the mechanism. It is found that the first-mode long baroclinic Rossby waves at 20°N in the northwest Pacific propagate westward in the form of free waves at a speed of about 10.3 cm/s. This confirms that the observed low frequency variabilities appear as baroclinic Rossby waves. It further shows that these low frequency variabilities around 20°N in the northwest Pacific can potentially be predicted with a lead up to 900 d.

Regional disparities of phytoplankton in relation to different water masses in the Northwest Pacific Ocean during the spring and summer of 2017

The West Pacific Ocean is considered as the provenance center of global marine life and has the highest species diversity of numerous marine taxa.The phytoplankton,as the primary producer at the base of the food chain,effects on climate change,fish resources as well as the entire ecosystem.However,there are few large-scale surveys covering several currents with different hydrographic characteristics.This study aimed to explore the relationships between the spatio-temporal variation in phytoplankton community structure and different water masses.A total of 630 water samples and 90 net samples of phytoplankton were collected at 45 stations in the Northwest Pacific Ocean(21.0°–42.0°N,118.0°–156.0°E)during spring and summer 2017.A total of 281 phytoplankton taxa(>5μm)belonging to 61 genera were identified in the study area.The distribution pattern of the phytoplankton community differed significantly both spatially and temporally.The average abundances of phytoplankton in spring and summer were 797.07×10~2 cells/L and 84.94×10~2 cells/L,respectively.Whether in spring or summer,the maximum abundance always appeared in the northern transition region affected by the Oyashio Current,where nutrients were abundant and diatoms dominated the phytoplankton community;whereas the phytoplankton abundance was very low in the oligotrophic Kuroshio region,and the proportion of dinoflagellates in total abundance increased significantly.The horizontal distribution of phytoplankton abundance increased from low to high latitudes,which was consistent with the trend of nutrient distributions,but contrary to that of water temperature and salinity.In the northern area affected by the Oyashio Current,the phytoplankton abundance was mainly concentrated in the upper 30 m of water column,while the maximum abundance often occurred at depths of 50–75 m in the south-central area affected by the Kuroshio Current.Pearson correlation and redundancy analysis(RDA)showed that phytoplankton abundance was significant negatively correlated with temperature and salinity,but positively correlated with nutrient concentration.The phytoplankton community structure was mainly determined by nutrient availability,especially the N:P ratio.

The first record of Ophioleila elegans (Echinodermata:Ophiuroidea) from a deep-sea seamount in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The rare ophiuroid species, Ophioleila elegans, was collected by the submersible Jiaolongfrom 1 660 m depth on the Caiwei Guyot located in the Magellan Seamount Chain in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. This is the first published record of this species since the types were described from similar habitat off Hawaii. We provide more detailed morphologic characteristics of arm skeleton and a phylogenetic analysis based on CO 1 sequences. Both morphology and phylogeny results suggest that the genus Ophioleila is more closely related to Ophiactids than Hemieuryalids.

The effect of sea surface temperature increase on the potential habitat of Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

In the Northwest Pacific Ocean, the squid jigging fisheries from China, Japan and other countries and regions have targeted the west winter-spring cohort of neon flying squid（Ommastrephes bartramii） from August to November since the 1970 s. This squid is a short-lived ecological opportunist with a life-span of about one year,and its population is labile and recruitment variability is driven by the environment or climate change. This variability provides a challenge for ones to forecast the key habitats affected by climate change. The catch data of O. bartramii from Chinese squid jigging fishery and the satellite-derived sea surface temperature（SST） data are used in the Northwest Pacific Ocean from August to November of 1998 to 2004, the SST preferences of O.bartramii corresponding to high values of catch per fishing day（CPUE） are determined and monthly potential habitats are predicted using a histogram analysis of the SST data. The possible changes in the potential habitats of O. bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean are estimated under four climate change scenarios based on the Fourth Assessment Report（AR4） of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, i.e., 0.5, 1, 2 and 4°C increases in the SST because of the climate change. The results reveal an obvious poleward shift of the potential habitats of O. bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

Impacts of climatic and marine environmental variations on the spatial distribution of Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

Ommastrephes bartramii is an ecologically dependent species and has great commercial values among the AsiaPacific countries. This squid widely inhabits the North Pacific, one of the most dynamic marine environments in the world, subjecting to multi-scale climatic events such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation（PDO）. Commercial fishery data from the Chinese squid-jigging fleets during 1995-2011 are used to evaluate the influences of climatic and oceanic environmental variations on the spatial distribution of O. bartramii. Significant interannual and seasonal variability are observed in the longitudinal and latitudinal gravity centers（LONG and LATG） of fishing ground of O. bartramii. The LATG mainly occurred in the waters with the suitable ranges of environmental variables estimated by the generalized additive model. The apparent north-south spatial shift in the annual LATG appeares to be associated with the PDO phenomenon and is closely related to the sea surface temperature（SST）and sea surface height（SSH） on the fishing ground, whereas the mixed layer depth（MLD） might contribute limited impacts to the distribution pattern of O. bartramii. The warm PDO regimes tend to yield cold SST and low SSH, resulting in a southward shift of LATG, while the cold PDO phases provid warm SST and elevated SSH,resulting in a northward shift of LATG. A regression model is developed to help understand and predict the fishing ground distributions of O. bartramii and improve the fishery management.

The particle fluxes in sediment traps from Niulang Guyot area in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The flux of settling particles in the ocean has been widely explored since 1980s due to its important role in biogenic elements cycling,especially in the transport of particulate organic carbon(POC)in the deep sea.However,research in the seamount area of the oligotrophic subtropical Northwest Pacific Ocean is lacking.In this work,two sediment traps were deployed at the foot and another two at the hillside of Niulang Guyot from August2017 to July 2018.The magnitude and composition of particle fluxes were measured.The main factors influencing the spatial variations of the fluxes were evaluated.Our results indicated a low particulate flux from Niulang Guyot area in the Northwest Pacific Ocean,reflecting low primary productivity of the oligotrophic ocean.The total mass flux(TMF)decreased from 2.57 g/(m^(2)·a)to 0.56 g/(m^(2)·a)with increasing depth from 600 m to 4850 m.A clear seasonal pattern of TMF was observed,with higher flux in summer than that in winter.The peak flux of 26.52 mg/(m^(2)·d)occurred in August at 600 m,while the lowest value of 0.07 mg/(m^(2)·d)was shown in February at 4850 m.The settling particles at the deep layers had similar biochemical composition,with calcium carbonate(CaCO_(3))accounting for up to 90%,followed by organic matter and opal,characteristics of Carbonate Ocean.The POC flux decreased more rapidly in the twilight layer because of faster decomposition,remineralization,and higher temperature.A small fraction of POC was transported into the deep ocean by biological pump.Particle fluxes were mainly controlled by the calcareous ballasts besides the primary productivity of the surface water.The advection may be another important factor affecting the flux in the seamount area.The combination of settled matters rich in foraminiferal tests with topography and currents may be the reason for regulating the local abundance of benthos on seamounts.Our results will fill in the knowledge gap of sedimentation flux,improve the understanding of ecosystem in Niulang Guyot area,and eventually provide data support for the optimization of regional ecological modeling.

Evaluation of NOAA/AVHRR Sea Surface Temperature at Full HRPT Resolution in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA)Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites(POES)High Resolution Picture Transmission(HRPT)data in the Northwest Pacific Ocean has been acquired through the SeaSpace ground station located at the Ocean University of China since October 2000,and these data have been processed by the TeraScan system.The sea surface temperature(SST)products in the Northwest Pacific Ocean derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVHRR)are evaluated.We compared the SST products with the buoy SSTs during the stable operational period of each satellite.There are a total of 33715 and 71819 matchups acquired for daytime and nighttime,respectively,between the NOAA/AVHRR SSTs and buoy SSTs.For each satellite,the biases and standard deviations at daytime are smaller than those at nighttime.The monthly biases at daytime generally oscillate around 0℃,except for NOAA-15.By contrast,the monthly biases at nighttime mostly oscillate around−0.5℃.Both daytime and nighttime biases exhibit seasonal oscillations for all satellites.The seasonal biases of the SST difference at daytime between each satellite and buoy are mostly within±0.25℃,except for the negative bias of−0.58℃in May for NOAA-18.The seasonal biases of the SST difference at nighttime are mostly around−0.5℃,and NOAA-16 has a lower bias,i.e.,−0.86℃,in April.These results indicate that the accuracy of the SST products is inconsistent for each satellite during different periods.It is suggested that the NOAA/AVHRR data should be reprocessed to provide highly accurate SST products.

Influence of environmental data of different sources on marine species habitat modeling:A case study for Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The quality of environmental data and its possible impact on the marine species habitat modelling are often overlooked while the sources for these data are increasing.This study selected sea surface temperature(SST)from two commonly used sources,the NOAA Ocean Watch and IRI/LDEO Climate Data Library,and then constructed habitat suitability index model to evaluate the influences of SST from the two sources on the outcomes of Ommastrephes bartramii habitat models for the months of July–October in the Northwest Pacific Ocean during 1996–2012.This study examined the differences in the amount of estimated unfavourable/favourable habitat area when the SST used for model building and inference were the same or different.Dynamics in suitable habitat area calculated from SST was insensitive to the two different SST products.In the fishing season of O.bartramii,the changes of magnitude and trend of monthly suitable habitat area in August and September were similar over time,whereas there were large differences for July and October.Importantly,there is a substantial lack of consistency in the O.bartramii habitat distribution based on SST of two sources.This study considered the sources of environmental data for habitat modelling and then inferred species habitat distribution whether by the same or different data source.

Using Bayesian Bio-economic model to evaluate the management strategies of Ommastrephes bartramii in the Northwest Pacific Ocean

The neon flying squid(Ommastrephes bartramii)in the Northwest Pacific Ocean is one economically important cephalopod,largely exploited by squid jigging fleets from Chinese Mainland,Japan,and Chinese Taibei.In this study,a Bayesian Bio-economic model was developed using fishery data from Chinese Mainland,Japan,and Chinese Taibei,and relevant fishery economic data from Chinese Mainland.The stock assessment and risk analysis of alternative management strategies for O.bartramii were carried out.Three prior distributions(i.e.,uniform,normal and logarithmic normal)for model parameters were assumed in different scenarios.The results showed that the estimated model parameters and reference points such as maximum sustainable yield(MSY),maximum economic yield(MEY),bio-economic balance point(BE)and fishing mortality were similar in the scenarios of normal and logarithmic normal prior assumptions.However,the estimates were larger in the scenario of uniform prior assumption.The fishing mortalities and annual catches from 1996 to 2008 were lower than the reference points F_(0.1) and MSY in all the three scenarios,indicating that O.bartramii stock is at sustainable exploited level.The results of decision analysis indicated that under the same harvest rate,the catch and biomass in 2023 from the uniform assumption were the highest.However,the highest probability of the collapse was found for squid resources after 2023.Our findings suggested that the harvest rate of 0.4 appeared to be the best management regulation under the uniform assumption,and the MSY would be 200 thousand tons.In addition,the harvest rate of 0.5 would be the best management regulation under the other two assumptions,and the MSY would be 180 thousand tons,which balanced the desire for high yields and the healthy population.The results of this study could be used to provide management suggestions for neon flying squid in the Northwest Pacific Ocean.

Applying the Catch-MSY model to the stock assessment of the northwestern Pacific saury Cololabis Saira

The Pacific saury(Cololabis saira)is one of the major harvested species in the temperate waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean(NPO).The Catch-MSY model uses catch data and basic life history information to estimate the Maximum Sustainable Yield(MSY)for data-limited fisheries.Since there is considerable uncertainty in the current status of the Pacific saury stock in the NPO,the Catch-MSY model was used in this study to estimate MSY on the basis of catch data and life history information from the North Pacific Fisheries Commission(NPFC).During the process,17 scenarios,according to different prior distributions of the intrinsic rate of increase(r)and carrying capacity(K),were set for sensitivity analysis.Moreover,the influence of different catch time series and different process errors were taken into account.The results show the following:(1)there was a strong negative correlation relationship between ln(r)and ln(K);the MSY increases with an increase in the lower limit of r;(2)The time series of catch data had a limited impact on the assessment results,whereas the results of the model were sensitive to the annual catch in the first and last years;(3)The estimated MSYs of the Pacific saury were 47.37×10^4 t(41.57×10^4 t to 53.17×10^4 t)in scenario S1A and 47.53×10^4 t(41.79×10^4 t to 53.27×10^4 t)in scenario S1B.Given the uncertainty of the Catch-MSY model,maintaining a management target between 50×10^4 t and 70×10^4 t was a better management regulation.This study shows that the Catch-MSY model is a useful choice for estimating the MSY of data-limited species such as the Pacific saury.

Inversion of the three-dimensional temperature structure of mesoscale eddies in the Northwest Pacific based on deep learning

Mesoscale eddies,which are mainly caused by baroclinic effects in the ocean,are common oceanic phenomena in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and play very important roles in ocean circulation,ocean dynamics and material energy transport.The temperature structure of mesoscale eddies will lead to variations in oceanic baroclinity,which can be reflected in the sea level anomaly(SLA).Deep learning can automatically extract different features of data at multiple levels without human intervention,and find the hidden relations of data.Therefore,combining satellite SLA data with deep learning is a good way to invert the temperature structure inside eddies.This paper proposes a deep learning algorithm,eddy convolution neural network(ECN),which can train the relationship between mesoscale eddy temperature anomalies and sea level anomalies(SLAs),relying on the powerful feature extraction and learning abilities of convolutional neural networks.After obtaining the temperature structure model through ECN,according to climatic temperature data,the temperature structure of mesoscale eddies in the Northwest Pacific is retrieved with a spatial resolution of 0.25°at depths of 0–1000 m.The overall accuracy of the ECN temperature structure is verified using Argo profiles at the locations of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies during 2015–2016.Taking 10%error as the acceptable threshold of accuracy,89.64%and 87.25%of the cyclonic and anticyclonic eddy temperature structures obtained by ECN met the threshold,respectively.

Linkage of the Decadal Variability of Extreme Summer Heat in North China with the IPOD since 1981

Extreme summer heat can have serious socioeconomic impacts in North China.Here,we explore the decadal variability of the number of extreme heat days in early-to-mid summer(June and July)and a related potential mechanism consistent with the major seasonal occurrence period of extreme heat events in North China(NCSH).Observational analyses show significant decadal variability in NCSH for 1981–2021,potentially linked to the Indo-Pacific warm pool and Northwest Pacific Ocean dipole(IPOD)in early-to-mid summer.Dynamic diagnostic analysis and the linear baroclinic model(LBM)show that the positive IPOD in early-to-mid summer can excite upward vertical wind anomalies in the South China-East China Sea region,shifting the position of the western Pacific subtropical high(WPSH)to the east or weakening the degree of its control of the South China-East China Sea region,thus generating a positive geopotential height quadrupole(EAWPQ)pattern in the East Asia-Northwest Pacific region.Subsequently,the EAWPQ can cause air compression(expansion)over North China by regulating the tropospheric thickness anomalies in North China,thus increasing(decreasing)NCSH.Finally,an empirical model that incorporates the linear trend can better simulate the decadal NCSH compared to an empirical model based solely on the IPOD index,suggesting that the decadal variability of NCSH may be a combined contribution of the decadal IPOD and external linear forcing.

MEDIUM-RANGE OSCILLATION AND TELECONNECTION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION SYSTEMS OVER THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC AND SOUTH INDIAN OCEANS

This paper aims to demonstrate some characteristics of the 20-50 day oscillations of certain circulation systems in low latitudes during the northern summer seasons.The teleconnection between the variations of the Mascarene high and the Northwest Pacific high and its physical mechanism are studied.How the Mas- carene high plays an important role in the interaction between the atmospheric circulations of both hemispheres is discussed.

A DIAGNOSTIC STUDY OF AN EXPLOSIVELY DEEPENING OCEANIC CYCLONE OVER THE NORTHWEST PACIFIC

The vertical motions and secondary circulation of an explosively deepening oceanic cyclone,which oc- curred over the Northwest Pacific Ocean and was in conjunction with 200 hPa-level jet stream and has central pressure falls of 33.9 hPa/24h,have been computed from seven-level nonlinear balance model and Saw- yer-Eliassen-Shapiro equation for the transverse ageostrophic circulation.The vertical motions are partitioned into contributions from large-scale latent heat release,effect of cumulus heating,thermal advection,differen- tial vorticity advection,etc.,while the secondary circulation stream function is partitioned into contributions from geostrophic deformation,transfer of momentum and heat in the area of cumulus and diabatic heating. The principal results are the following.Large-scale latent heat release is very crucial to the explosive de- velopment of cyclones.If there is enough transfer of moisture,the positive feedback process between ascent of air and large-scale heating would work.The cumulus heating and the transfer of momentum and heat in the area of cumulus play an important role during the explosively deepening stage.Thermal advection is the initial triggering condition for large-scale heating and the conditional instability for the convection of cumulus.

Bacterial diversity in the sediments collected from the Shikoku Basin

Diversity of bacteria was studied in deep-sea sediments from the Shikoku Basin in the Northwest Pacific Ocean by PCR, RFLP and sequence analysis of 16S rDNA and comparing with Genbank database. Based on the RFLP profile generated, 77 clones from the 16S rDNA library were divided into 27 types. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the 27 independent clones fell into four groups: Proteobac-teria (62.96%), Chloroflexi (14.81%), Planctomycetes (14.81%) and Acidobacteria (7.41%). Among all sequenced clones, 6 were related to the sulfur or sulfate metabolism bacteria and the results also demonstrated that some bacteria in deep-sea sediments had relation to matter-energy circulation.

Remote sensing observations of phytoplankton increases triggered by successive typhoons

Phytoplankton blooms in the Western North Pacific, triggered by two successive typhoons with different intensities and translation speeds under different pre-existing oceanic conditions, were observed and analyzed using remotely sensed chlorophyll-a （Chl-a）, sea surface temperature （SST）, and sea surface height anomaly （SSHA） data, as well as typhoon parameters and CTD （conductivity, temperature, and depth） profiles. Typhoon Sinlaku, with relatively weaker intensity and slower translation speed, induced a stronger phytoplankton bloom than Jangrni with stronger intensity and faster translation speed （Chl-a〉0.18 mg-m-3 versus Chl- a〈 0.15 mg.m-3） east of Taiwan Island. Translation speed may be one of the important mechanisms that affect phytoplankton blooms in the study area. Pre-existing cyclonic circulations provided a relatively unstable thermodynamic structure for Sinlaku, and therefore cold water with rich nutrients could be brought up easily. The mixed-layer deepening caused by Typhoon Sinlaku, which occurred first, could have triggered an unfavorable condition for the phytoplankton bloom induced by Typhoon Jangmi which followed afterwards. The sea surface temperature cooling by Jangmi was suppressed due to the presence of the thick upper-ocean mixed-layer, which prevented the deeper cold water from being entrained into the upper-ocean mixed layer, leading to a weaker phytoplankton augment. The present study sug- gests that both wind （including typhoon translation speed and intensity） and pre-existing conditions （e.g., mixed- layer depths, eddies, and nutrients） play important roles in the strong phytoplankton bloom, and are responsible for the stronger phytoplankton bloom after Sinlaku＇s passage than that after Jangmi＇s passage. A new typhoon- influencing parameter is introduced that combines the effects of the typhoon forcing （including the typhoon intensity and translation speed） and the oceanic pre- condition. This parameter shows that the forcing effect of Sinlaku was stronger than that of Jangmi.