This study examines the effects of Stokes drift on pollutant transport within the surf zone on a plane beach both numerically and experimentally. Firstly, the numerical model is described. The wave-induced current is modeled using the concept of the radiation stress. The wave propagation model is based on the wave energy conservation equation. And the advective diffusion model including the Stokes drift is used to describe the pollutant transport in the surf zone. Model validation was achieved in this case versus an analytical solution for an instantaneous point source in a uniform horizontal flow. This study also describes a laboratory experiment on dye release in the surf zone over a plane beach. We examined the final inclination angle required by a continuously released pollutant plume to reach the shoreline under both cases, and transport velocities in the alongshore and cross-shore directions were estimated by linearly fitting the location of a dye-patch front at different time. Results show that this dye patch moved shoreward with an approximate speed of 0.05 m/s (0.017 m/s) between 10 s and 40 s and 0.001 m/s (0.011 m/s) after 40 s for Case 1 (2). This model was then used to simulate pollutant transport in the surf zone on a plane beach as reproduced in the current experiment. Comparisons between our dye transport experiment and numerical results were then also conducted; the data showed that the numerical results including Stokes drift agreed more closely with experimental results than those without it. The data showed that the pollutant was generally transported obviously shoreward in addition to its expected drift along the shore. We also suggest that Stokes drift plays an important role in pollutant movement in the surf zone, especially shoreward.

A significant strong, warm “Blob” (a large circular water body with a positive ocean temperature anomaly) appeared in the Northeast Pacific (NEP) in the boreal winter of 2013–2014, which induced many extreme climate events in the US and Canada. In this study, analyses of the temperature and salinity anomaly variations from the Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography (Argo) data provided insights into the formation of the warm “Blob” over the NEP. The early negative salinity anomaly dominantly contributed to the shallower mixed layer depth (MLD) in the NEP during the period of 2012–2013. Then, the shallower mixed layer trapped more heat in the upper water column and resulted in a warmer sea surface temperature (SST), which enhanced the warm “Blob”. The salinity variability contributed to approximately 60% of the shallowing MLD related to the warm “Blob”. The salinity anomaly in the warm “Blob” region resulted from a combination of both local and nonlocal effects. The freshened water at the surface played a local role in the MLD anomaly. Interestingly, the MLD anomaly was more dependent on the local subsurface salinity anomaly in the 100–150 m depth range in the NEP. The salinity anomaly in the 50–100 m depth range may be linked to the anomaly in the 100–150 m depth range by vertical advection or mixing. The salinity anomaly in the 100–150 m depth range resulted from the eastward transportation of a subducted water mass that was freshened west of the dateline, which played a nonlocal role. The results suggest that the early salinity anomaly in the NEP related to the warm “Blob” may be a precursor signal of interannual and interdecadal variabilities.

The evolution of energy, energy flux and modal structure of the internal tides (ITs) in the northeastern South China Sea is examined using the measurements at two moorings along a cross-slope section from the deep continental slope to the shallow continental shelf. The energy of both diurnal and semidiurnal ITs clearly shows a ~14-day spring-neap cycle, but their phases lag that of barotropic tides, indicating that ITs are not generated on the continental slope. Observations of internal tidal energy flux suggest that they may be generated at the Luzon Strait and propagate west-northwest to the continental slope in the northwestern SCS. Because the continental slope is critical-supercritical with respect to diurnal ITs, about 4.6 kJ/m² of the incident energy and 8.7 kW/m of energy flux of diurnal ITs are reduced from the continental slope to the continental shelf. In contrast, the semidiurnal internal tides enter the shelf because of the sub-critical topography with respect to semidiurnal ITs. From the continental slope to the shelf, the vertical structure of diurnal ITs shows significant variation, with dominant Mode 1 on the deep slope and dominant higher modes on the shelf. On the contrary, the vertical structure of the semidiurnal ITs is stable, with dominant Mode 1.

The Bohai Sea is extremely susceptible to storm surges induced by extratropical storms and tropical cyclones in nearly every season. In order to relieve the impacts of storm surge disasters on structures and human lives in coastal regions, it is very important to understand the occurring of the severe storm surges. The previous research is mostly restricted to a single type of storm surge caused by extratropical storm or tropical cyclone. In present paper, a coupled atmosphere-ocean model is developed to study the storm surges induced by two types of extreme weather conditions. Two special cases happened in the Bohai Sea are simulated successively. The wind intensity and minimum sea-level pressure derived from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model agree well with the observed data. The computed time series of water level obtained from the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) also are in good agreement with the tide gauge observations. The structures of the wind fields and average currents for two types of storm surges are analyzed and compared. The results of coupled model are compared with those from the uncoupled model. The case studies indicate that the wind field and structure of the ocean surface current have great differences between extratropical storm surge and typhoon storm surge. The magnitude of storm surge in the Bohai Sea is shown mainly determined by the ocean surface driving force, but greatly affected by the coastal geometry and bathymetry.

The Yangjiang-Yitongdong Fault (YJF) is an important NW-trending regional fault, which divides the Zhujiang (Pearl) River Mouth Basin (ZRMB) into western and eastern segments. In Cenozoic, the northern continental margin of the South China Sea (SCS) underwent continental rifting, breakup, seafloor spreading and thermal subsidence processes, and the Cenozoic activities of YJF is one part of this series of complex processes. Two long NW-trending multichannel seismic profiles located on both sides of the YJF extending from the continental shelf to Continent-Ocean Boundary (COB) were used to study the tectonic and sedimentary characteristics of western ZRMB. Using the 2D-Move software and back-stripping method, we constructed the balance cross-section model and calculated the fault activity rate. Through the comprehensive consideration of tectonic position, tectonic evolution history, featured structure, and stress analysis, we deduced the activity history of the YJF in Cenozoic. The results showed that the YJF can be divided into two segments by the central uplift belt. From 65 Ma to 32 Ma, the YJF was in sinistral motion as a whole, inherited the preexisting sinistral motion of Mesozoic YJF, in which, the southern part of YJF was mainly in extension activity, controlling the formation and evolution of Yunkai Low Uplift, coupled with slight sinistral motion. From 32 Ma to 23.8 Ma, the sinistral motion in northern part of YJF continued, while the sinistral motion in southern part began to stop or shifted to a slightly dextral motion. After 23.8 Ma, the dextral motion in southern part of YJF continued, while the sinistral motion in northern part of YJF gradually stopped, or shifted to the slightly dextral motion. The shift of the YJF strike-slip direction may be related to the magmatic underplating in continent-ocean transition, southeastern ZRMB. According to the analysis of tectonic activity intensity and rift sedimentary structure, the activities of YJF in Cenozoic played a regulating role in the rift extension process of ZRMB.

The Arctic sea ice cover has declined at an unprecedented pace since the late 20th century. As a result, the feedback of sea ice anomalies for atmospheric circulation has been increasingly evidenced. While climatic models almost consistently reproduced a decreasing trend of sea ice cover, the reported results show a large distribution. To evaluate the performance of models for simulating Arctic sea ice cover and its potential role in climate change, this study constructed a reasonable metric by synthesizing both linear trends and anomalies of sea ice. This study particularly focused on the Barents Sea and the Kara Sea, where sea ice anomalies have the highest potential to affect the atmosphere. The investigated models can be grouped into three categories according to their normalized skill scores. The strong contrast among the multi-model ensemble means of different groups demonstrates the robustness and rationality of this method. Potential factors that account for the different performances of climate models are further explored. The results show that model performance depends more on the ozone datasets that are prescribed by the model rather than on the chemical representation of ozone.

The B/Ca ratio of planktonic foraminifer shells has been used as a proxy for reconstructing past ocean carbonate chemistry. However, recent studies have revealed significant uncertainties associated with this proxy, such as whether seawater temperature or [${\rm {CO}}_3^{2-}$] is the dominant control on the partition coefficient (K_D) of planktonic foraminiferal B/Ca. To address these uncertainties and thus improve our understanding of the planktonic foraminiferal B/Ca proxy, we analysed B/Ca ratios in the tests of Neogloboquadrina dutertrei (300–355 μm) and Pulleniatina obliquiloculata (355–400 μm) in surface sediment samples from the tropical western Pacific and South China Sea. The relationship between these B/Ca ratios and bottom water calcite saturation states (Δ[${\rm {CO}}_3^{2-}$]) is weak, thus suggesting only a small dissolution effect on the B/Ca of the two species. The correlation coefficients (R²) between the B/Ca ratios of N. dutertrei and P. obliquiloculata and environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, salinity, phosphate, DIC and ALK) in the tropical western Pacific and South China Sea are not high enough to justify using B/Ca ratios as a palaeoenvironmental proxy in the study areas. The significant correlation between K_D values of N. dutertrei and P. obliquiloculata and carbonate system parameters (e.g., [${\rm {CO}}_3^{2-}$], DIC, ALK, pH and [${\rm {HCO}}_3^{-}$]) in the study area reflect chemical links between the K_D denominator and these variables. Based on our surface sediment calibration, an empirical relationship between the K_D of N. dutertrei and temperature is proposed in the tropical western Pacific. We also generated a record of B/Ca ratios in N. dutertrei (300–355 μm) from Core MD06-3052 in the tropical western Pacific over the past 24 ka to evaluate the application of the revised B/Ca proxy method. Based on the reconstructed empirical relationship for B/Ca and subsurface seawater ALK, we estimated subsurface seawater carbonate system parameters in the tropical western Pacific since 24 ka. In general, the estimated subsurface seawater pH and [${\rm {CO}}_3^{2-}$] show an increase with time, and the record of subsurface seawater pCO₂ shows a decrease with time, in the tropical western Pacific over the past 24 ka. The consistent trends in subsurface seawater pCO₂ and opal flux during deglaciation may imply that the reported increase in subsurface water pCO₂ in the study area was promoted by enhanced upwelling in the Southern Ocean.

Hydrothermal precipitates associated with active vents in the eastern Manus Basin, an actively opening back-arc basin in the Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea, are among the most Cu-rich on the modern seafloor. The volcanic rocks associated with this mineralization may be insufficiently enriched in Cu to account for the Cu content of the sulfides by simple leaching. The PACMANUS hydrothermal field lies in the eastern portion of the eastern Manus Basin. Mass balance modeling of the PACMANUS hydrothermal system indicates that simple leaching of a stationary reaction zone (0.144 km³) by hydrothermal fluids cannot yield the Cu found in associated sulfide deposits because unacceptably high leaching, transportation and precipitation efficiencies are required to derive the Cu in sulfides by leaching processes. With 100% leaching, transport and precipitating efficiency, 0.166 km³ of volcanic rocks would need to be leached to account for the Cu budget of hydrothermal sulfide deposits. The key requirement for forming metal-rich magmatic fluids is a large amount of metals available to enter the exsolved vapor phase. Magmas generated in the eastern Manus Basin inherently have high fO₂ because of metasomatism of the mantle source by oxidized materials from the subducted slab, leading to copper enrichment in the magma chamber. Moreover, the presence of Cu in gas-rich melt inclusi on bubbles in Pual Ridge andesite is evidence that degassing and partitioning of Cu into the magmatic volatile phase has occurred in the eastern Manus Basin. Numerical mass balance modeling indicates that approximately 0.236 Mt Cu was potentially transferred to the hydrothermal system per cubic kilometer magma. Magmatic degassing seems to play a more significant role than leaching.

Immediately following a spill at sea, released oil—ranging from diesel to light crude and diluted bitumen, will initially weather through evaporation, resulting in an elevated concentration of light hydrocarbons in the air. As part of oil spill response operations, first responders use hand-held devices to monitor airborne concentrations when approaching a spill. The feasibility of using numerical modelling as an additional tool to assess potential flammability and plan response operations in the spill area was explored in this study. The Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) is defined as the minimum concentration of a gas in air, in this case a mixture of evaporated hydrocarbons, which can produce a flash fire in the presence of an ignition source. This ignition source could be triggered by the vessel itself or by spill response operations. A framework was put into place, utilizing a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model (H3D), an oil spill model (SPILLCALC), and an air dispersion model (CALPUFF) to assess the risk of possible ignition of the hydrocarbon vapour in the event of a spill. The study looked at a hypothetical credible worst case tanker spill (16 500 m³) of diluted bitumen (cold lake winter blend) occurring at Arachne Reef in Haro Strait, British Columbia, Canada. SPILLCALC provided one-minute averaged vapour fluxes from the water surface for each of 17 modelled pseudo-components which were used as inputs to CALPUFF. Using the predicted airborne concentrations of each pseudo-component, time-scaled to one-second averages, the flammability potential in the immediate spill area was determined at each grid point using Le Chatelier’s mixing equation. The approach describe here was developed as a proof of concept, and could be established as a real-time system, bringing valuable information in addition to hand-held devices during a spill response, or during a response exercise. This modelling study was conducted as part of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project. There are a number of commercially available oil spill models but few if any are equipped with the ability to model air dispersion and forecast hazardous conditions as discussed in this paper.

Wave energy resource assessment and trends around Indonesian’s ocean has been carried out by means of analyzing satellite observations. Wave energy flux or wave power can be approximated using parameterized sea states derived from satellite data. Unfortunately, only some surface parameters can be measured from remote sensing satellites, for example for ocean surface waves: significant wave height. Others, like peak wave period and energy period are not available, but can instead be estimated using empirical models. The results have been assessed by meteorological season. The assessment shows clearly where and when the wave power resource is promising around Indonesian’s ocean. The most striking result was found from June to August, in which about 30–40 kW/m (the 90th percentile: 40–60 kW/m, the 99th percentile: 50–70 kW/m) wave power energy on average has been found around south of the Java Island. The significant trends of wave energy at the 95% level have also been studied and it is found that the trends only occurred for the extreme cases, which is the 99th percentile (i.e., highest 1%). Wave power energy could increase up to 150 W/m per year. The significant wave heights and wave power have been compared with the results obtained from global wave model hindcast carried out by wave model WAVEWATCH III. The comparisons indicated excellent agreements.