Atmospheric correction of Sea WiFS imagery for turbid coastal and inland waters

A practical algorithm of atmospheric correction for turbid coastal and inland waters is provided. The presentalgorithm uses the property that the water-leaving radiance at 412 nm increases very little with the increasing of waterturbidity. Thus, in very turbid coastal and inland waters, the radiance at 412 nm can be used to estimate the aerosolscattering radiance at 865 nm. The performance of the new algorithm is validated with simulation for several cases. Itis found that the retrieved remotely sensed reflectance is usually with error less than 10% for the first six bands ofSeaWiFS. This new algorithm is also tested under various atmospheric conditions in the Changjiang River Estuaryand the Hangzhou Bay where the sediment concentration is very high and the standard SeaWiFS atmosphericcorrection algorithm creates a mask due to atmospheric correction failure. The result proves the efficiency of thissimple algorithm in reducing the errors of the water-leaving radiance retrieving using SeaWiFS satellite data.

Mesoscale eddies in the South China Sea and their impact on temperature profiles

Some life history statistics of the mesoscale eddies of the South China Sea (SCS) derived from altimetry data will be further discussed according their different formation periods. A total of three ATLAS (autonomous temperature line acquisition system)mooring buoys data will be analyzed to discuss eddies' impact on temperature profiles.They identify that the intraseasonal variation of SCS thermocline is partly controlled by mesoscale eddies.

Several characteristics of water exchange in the Luzon Strait

Using the hydrographic data obtained from two sectional observations crossing the Luzon strait in the summer of 1994 and in the winter of 1998, the volume transport through this strait is calculated. It is found that in winter the volume transport (4.45×106 m3/s) is far larger than that in the summer (2.0 ×106 m3/s), respectively being about equal to 15.0% and 6.9% of the Kuroshio.And the paths of water in and out of the section of the strait vary distinctly with the season. In summer, the water flows in and out of the South China Sea (SCS) three times: that is, the inlet passages almost appear on the southern sides of the three deep troughs,the outlet passages are all located on the northern sides of the troughs,and the in-out volume transports through the channel are not lower than 4.0×106 m3/s. The highest velocity (>80 cm/s) and the largest entering water capacity (6.6×106 m3/s) all occur in the Balintang Channel. Except for the north outlet passage in the section, all the higher velocities over 10 cm/s are mainly distributed on the layer above 500 m. In winter,the water flows in and out of the strait two times:the southern sides of the second and third deep troughs are the main passages of the Kuroshio water running into the SCS,while the whole section of the first deep trough and the bottom section of the second deep trough are the outlet passages.The higher velocities over 10 cm/s are almost distributed on the layer above 300 m. Numerical calculation shows that the northern side of the third trough may be the outlet passage.

Calculation of circulation in the South China Sea during summer of 2000 by the modified inverse method

On the basis of hydrographic data obtained in August 2000 cruise, the circulation in the South China Sea (SCS) is computed by the modified inverse method in combination with SSH data from TOPEX/ERS-2 analysis. For study of the dynamical mechanism, which causes the pattern of summer circulation in the SCS, the diagnostic model (Yuan et al. 1982. Acta Oceanologica Sinica,4(1):1-11; Yuan and Su. 1992. Numerical Computation of Physical Oceanography.474-542) is used to simulate numerically the summer circulation in the SCS. The following results have been obtained. (1) The central and southwestern SCSs are dominated mainly by anticy-clonic circulation systems. They are mainly as follows. 1) There is strong anticyclonic eddy southeast of Vietnam (W1). Its horizontal scale is about 300 km, and it extends vertically from the surface to the about 1 000 m level. 2) There are a warm eddy W2 southeast of Zhongsha Islands and the anticyclonic circulation system W3 west off the Luzon Island. 3) There is a stronger cyclonic eddy C1 between the anticyclonic eddies W1 and W2.4) A strong northward coastal jet is present near the coast of Vietnam, and separates from the coast of Vietnam at about 12° N to the northeast.(2)The northern SCS is dominated mainly by a cyclonic circulation system. There is a cyclonic circulation system near and north of Section N2. (3) The southeastern SCS is dominated mainly by the cyclonic circulation system. (4) Comparing the results of circulation in the SCS during the summer of 2000 with those during the summer of 1998, it is found that they agree qualitatively, but there is the some difference between them in quantity.This shows that the circulation in the SCS has obviously seasonal feature. (5) The dynamical mechanism which products the basic pattern of summer circulation is because the following two reasons: 1) the joint effect of the baroclinity and relief (JEBAR) is essential dynamical cause; and 2) it is next important dynamical cause that the interaction between the wind stress and bottom topography under the southerly monsoon. (6) Comparing the hydrographic structure and distribution of stream functions with the SSH data from TOPEX/ERS-2 analysis in the SCS during August of 2000, they agree qualitatively.

A model study of influence of circulation on the pollutant transport in the Zhujiang River Estuary and adjacent coastal waters

A tracer model with random diffusion coupled to the hydrodynamic model for the Zhujiang River Estuary (Pearl River Estuary, PRE) is to examine the effect of circulations on the transport of completely conservative pollutants. It is focused on answering the following questions: (1) What role does the estuarine plume front in the winter play in affecting the pollutants transport and its distribution in the PRE ? (2) What effect do the coastal currents driven by the monsoon have on the pollutants transport? The tracer experiment results show that: (1) the pollutant transport paths strongly depend on the circulation structures and plume frontal dynamics of the PRE and coastal waters; (2) during the summer when a southwesterly monsoon prevails, the pollutants from the four easterly river inlets and those from the bottom layer of offshore stations will greatly influence the water quality in Hong Kong waters, however, the pollutants released from the four westerly river-inlets will seldom affect the water qual

An operational satellite remote sensing system for ocean fishery

Ocean environmental information is very important to supporting the fishermen in fishing and satellite remote sensing technology can provide it in large scale and in near real-time. Ocean fishery locations are always far away beyond the coverage of the satellite data received by a land-based satellite receiving station. A nice idea is to install the satellite ground station on a fishing boat. When the boat moves to a fishery location, the station can receive the satellite data to cover the fishery areas. One satellite remote sensing system was once installed in a fishing boat and served fishing in the North Pacific fishery areas when the boat stayed there. The system can provide some oceanic environmental charts such as sea surface temperature (SST) and relevant derived products which are in most popular use in fishery industry. The accuracy of SST is the most important and affects the performance of the operational system, which is found to be dissatisfactory. Many factors affect the accuracy of SST and it is difficult to increase the accuracy by SST retrieval algorithms and clouds detection technology. A new technology of temperature error control is developed to detect the abnormity of satellite-measured SST. The performance of the technology is evaluated to change the temperature bias from -3.04 to 0.05 ℃ and the root mean square (RMS) from 5.71 to 1.75℃. It is suitable for employing in an operational satellite-measured SST system and improves the performance of the system in fishery applications. The system has been running for 3 a and proved to be very useful in fishing. It can help to locate the candidates of the fishery areas and monitor the typhoon which is very dangerous to the safety of fishing boats.

Variability of the circulation in the southern Huanghai Sea and East China Sea during the two investigative cruises in June 1999

On the basis of the hydrographic data obtained from June 17 to 25, 1999 on board R/V Eardo , Korea (hereafter'the second cruise'), the circulation in the southern Huanghai Sea and East China Sea is computed by using the modified inverse method. The comparison between the two computed results in the first cruise, which was carried out from June 4 to 19, 1999 on board R/V Xiangyanghong 14, China, and in the second cruise is made. The following results have been obtained. (1) Part of the Kuroshio flows northward through the eastern part of Section E, and its volume transport(VT) is about 6.2×106 m3/s,and its maximum velocity is about 93 cm/s.This shows that most of the Kuroshio flows northward through the region east of Section E.The VT of the offshore branch of Taiwan Warm Current west of the Kuroshio through Section E is about 0.4×106 m3/s. (2) There is the following variability between these two cruises, whose time difference is about two weeks:① The position of the Kuroshio in the second cruise is slightly more east than that in the first cruise; ②The high-density water (HDW) with a cold water occurs in the region south of Cheju Island between 125°30' and 127°E at Sections D and C. The circulation in the region of HDW is cyclonic. Comparing the position of HDW during the second cruise with that during the first cruise,it is found that its position in the second cruise moves slightly northward.(3) The cold and uniform mixing layer occurs in the layer from the 30 m level to the bottom of the middle part of Section A and in the layer from the 20 m level to the bottom of the middle part of Section B,respectively.They are both the southern part of the Huanghai Sea Cold Water Mass (HSCWM). (4) There are higher temperature and lower density with a weaker anticyclonic circulation in the southwestern part of the computed region.Its center is located at the westernmost point of Section E.

Discussion about mechanism of harmful algal blooms breakout

HAB (harmful algal bloom) is a serious marine ecological disaster. Up to now there is no definite conclusion about its mechanism of occurrence.The observation results show that the HAB breakout in the Xiangshan Bay was mainly caused by physical convergence ca-pacity,and the breakout process had no direct relation to eutrophication.As a new idea it is thought that the process of the HAB breakout is mainly a physical convergence or accumulation process in some areas. A hypothesis about dynamic mechanism of the HAB appearing in the area off the Changjiang Estuary is put forward according to hydrology and topography and the past work, and a breakthrough is expected to be made for doing further research.

A three-dimensional model study on ocean dynamic response to traveling cyclone over the Huanghai Sea

On the basis of numerical simulation of the mean circulation and relevant thermal-salinity fields in June with a three-dimensional o-cean model (ECOM-si), the model outputs are used as first guess of initial fields for numerical integration of the model equations and the numerical results are applied to investigating the dynamical responses of the Huanghai Sea and the East China Sea (HECS) in the course of a weak land-to-sea cyclone's passage over the Huanghai Sea on 15-16 June 1999. Predominance of the dynamic impact of cyclone over the thermal one in June in the HECS is justified using observations and model simulations.The cyclone and its surrounding weather system, i.e., subtropical high ridge to its south could influence current and thermal fields in the Bohai Sea, the Huanghai Sea and the northern East China Sea even though the intensity of cyclone was rather weak. The response of oceanic currents to the wind stresses driven by the cyclone and its soumern subtropical high were strongly characterized by the wind drift with its extent of equivalent scale of cyclone in the horizontal and of Ekman layer in the vertical. The sea response at a given site was closely related to the transient local wind speed and direction.especially was sensitive to the local wind direction,which is demonstrated at three points locating at the southern and western Huanghai Sea and the northern East China Sea. So the sea responses at locations differed considerably from one another. Current responded to the wind stress in a simple way:directly to the wind-driven current and subsequent gradient current and slope current, etc., whereas sea temperature responded to the wind stress in two ways: directly to the cyclone-induced cooling and indirectly to water movements both in the horizontal and the vertical by the cyclone' s wind stress. So the sea temperature variation under the influence of cyclone was more complicate than the current. The HECS in response to the cyclone and its ambient weather system was likely to be a fast process and such a response could last at least for more than 1 d. Current increased with the duration of wind stress exerted on the surface and decreased with the increasing depth. Affected by the cyclone, the maximum sea surface temperature decreased by almost 1.6 ℃during the 24 h cyclone.

Currents in the Luzon Strait during the spring of 2002: observation and computation by modified inverse model

On the basis of the current measurements at 200,500 and 800 m from moored current meters with the time series data from March 17 to April 15 at the mooring station (20°49′57″N, 120°48′ 12″E) and the hydrographic data obtained in the Luzon Strait during the spring of 2002 cruise, the circulation in the investigated area is computed by using the modified inverse method. The major observed results are as follows: (1) the average velocity and the flow direction in the observing days are (47.4 cm/s, 346°) at the 200 m level. The average velocity in the observing days is (20.3 cm/s, 350? at the 500 m level. These mean that the Kuroshio intrudes into the South Chin Sea to flow northwestward through the Luzon Strait at 200 and 500 m levels. (2) The average velocity in the observing days is (1.2 cm/s, 35°) at the 800 m level, i. e., its direction is northeastward. This means that the flow condition at the 800 m level very differs from mat at the 200 and 500 m levels. (3) There is the high density and cold water (HDCW) in the middle of western part of in the investigated region, and its center is located near the hydrological station 3 at Section A. (4) There is the lower density and warm water (LDWW) in the southeastern part of investigated region. (5) The currents in April 2002 are stronger than those in March 2002.The major computed results are as follows: (1) The northwestward and southeastward VTs through Section B are 32.48×106 m3/s (inclusive of VT of anticyclonic eddy) and 3.34×106m3/s, respectively. The net northwestward VT through Section B in the investigated area is about 29.14×106 m3/s. (2) The eastern and western VTs through Section A are about 16.71×106 and 8.57×106 m3/s, respectively. Thus, the net eastward VT through Section A is about 8.14×106 m3/s. (3) The net northward VT through Section M is about 24.68×106 m3/s. (4) After about 24.68×106 m3/s flows through Section M, most of it, about 16.54×106 m3/s, flows northward through the eastern part of Section C and then flows northward into the region east Taiwan Island. The other part of it, about 8.14×106 m3/s, branches out from the main Kuroshio and then flows meanderingly through the western part of Section C. Thus, the Kuroshio has the two cores of current at Section C. (5) The direction of the computed current near the mooring station M agrees with the direction of the current measurements at 200 and 500 m from moored current meters, i.e., their directions both are northwestward. (6) About 3.34×106 m3/s of the South Chin Sea water probably flows slowly from the northwest to the southeast in the layer below 550 m at the western part of Section B.