Lunar fortnightly modulation of tidal mixing near Kashevarov Bank, Sea of Okhotsk, and its impacts on biota and sea ice

Here we examine the consequences of strong tidal mixing on spatial and temporal distributions of biota and sea ice above Kashevarov Bank, Sea of Okhotsk, using data from field surveys (hydrography, pressure gauge and current meter moorings, and bio-acoustic soundings) and remote sensing (NOAA AVHRR). Fortnightly variations in the amplitude of diurnal tidal currents, primarily resulting from the K₁–O₁ interaction, are shown to dominate water motion over the bank. These currents (with maximum velocities 2 m s⁻¹) create a sharp tidally-mixed front that separates well-mixed water above the bank from stratified water along its flanks. Such mixing draws water upward from the cold dichothermal layer (100–150 m) into the surface layer, and thus serves to ventilate the intermediate layers of the Sea of Okhotsk. In summer, fortnightly modulation of the tidal mixing creates temporal variations in water column stratification, a critical factor in the joint supply of nutrients and light required to sustain phytoplankton growth. As such, chlorophyll-a and oxygen values vary in response to the fortnightly cycle, and zooplankton likewise form dense aggregations within the tidally-mixed front in response to the phytoplankton production. It is further noted that the brood cycle of dominant zooplankton species on the bank matches the fortnightly modulation of the tidal currents. In winter, tidal mixing draws relatively warm water upward from mid-depth to maintain a polynya that cyclically opens and closes in response to fortnightly variation in vertical heat flux.     

Effects of sea ice formation and diapycnal mixing on the Okhotsk Sea intermediate water clarified with oxygen isotopes

Processes relating to the formation of dense shelf water and intermediate water in the Okhotsk Sea were studied by examining oxygen isotope ratios (δ¹⁸O), salinity, and temperature. The salinity and δ¹⁸O of the cold dense shelf water on the northern continental shelf showed peculiar relationship. The relationship indicates that 3% of the mixed-layer water, having salinity of 32.6, froze and the remaining 97% became dense shelf water of salinities of more than 33.2 (σ_θ>26.7) during the sea ice formation. The salinity–δ¹⁸O relationship also shows that 20% of the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water at the σ_θ=26.8 level was derived from the dense shelf water. The remaining 80% came from the Western Subarctic Pacific water modified by diapycnal mixing of water affected by the surface cooling and freshening within the Okhotsk Sea. The mixing with dense shelf water contributes to only 26% of the temperature difference or 8% of the salinity difference between the original Pacific water and the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water at σ_θ=26.8. This result suggests that the cold and less saline properties of the Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water are produced mainly by diapycnal mixing, rather than by mixing of the Pacific water with the dense shelf water.     

Strong Tidal Mixing and Ventilation of Cold Intermediate Water at Kashevarov Bank, Sea of Okhotsk

Tidal mixing at the Kashevarov Bank, Sea of Okhotsk, has been investigated using observations of bottom pressure and currents. The tides are dominated by the diurnal constituents. The water motion over the Bank is predominantly controlled by strong diurnal tidal currents, which bring cold water on the bank from its source, a cold intermediate layer. The temperature fluctuations are about 1.2°C at the southern edge of the bank. The maximum observed velocity is about 164 cm/s at the top of the bank. A superposition of the original diurnal constituents K₁ and O₁ reveals a strong fortnightly (M_f) variability of the current speed. Tidal-induced mixing is responsible for ventilation of the cold intermediate layer of the Sea of Okhotsk. Strong tidal mixing creates a well-defined tidally mixed front around the bank. This front acts like a barrier separating well-mixed water on the bank from stratified water on its flanks. There is a residual current of the order of 10 cm/s.     

Improvement of short-term sea ice forecast in the southern Okhotsk Sea

In this study, a numerical model of 7-day forecast of sea ice produced by the Japan Meteorological Agency was improved by the following approaches. First, a new ice dynamic model was introduced: the distributed mass/discrete floe model. The model takes account of discrete characteristics of ice floes and well simulates the ice edge location at low computational cost. Secondly, the grid size was reduced to 5 × 5 km for the future high resolution forecasts. Next, the sea surface current data was examined because it significantly influences sea ice movement. We applied two new datasets of HINO and Okhotsk Ocean General Circulation Model (Okhotsk OGCM), which are estimated by numerical simulations, for the 7-day forecast of sea ice. Ice southward speed in January and the whorl formations in February and March were well reproduced with Okhotsk OGCM datasets. Finally, the ocean heat flux at the ice-ocean interface was refined. As a result, we achieved an ice edge error reduction from 30.8 km to 23.5 km.     

Properties of sea ice and overlying snow in the Southern Sea of Okhotsk

The general properties of sea ice and overlying snow in the southern Sea of Okhotsk were examined during early February of 2003 to 2005 with the P/V “Soya”. Thin section analysis of crystal structure revealed that frazil ice (48% of total core length) was more prevalent than columnar ice (39%) and that stratigraphic layering was prominent with a mean layer thickness of 12 cm, indicating that dynamic processes are essential to ice growth. The mean thickness of ice blocks and visual observations suggest that ridging dominates the deformation process above thicknesses of 30 to 40 cm. As for snow, it was found that faceted crystals and depth hoar are dominant (78%), as which is also common in the Antarctic sea ice, and is indicative of the strong vertical temperature gradients within the snow. Stable isotope measurements (δ¹⁸O) indicate that snow ice occupies 9% of total core length and that the mass fraction of meteoric ice accounts for 1 to 2% of total ice volume, which is lower than the Antarctic sea ice. Associated with this, the effective fractionation coefficient during the freezing of seawater was also derived. Snow ice was characterized by lower density, higher salinity, and nearly twice the gas content of ice of seawater origin. In addition, it is shown that the surface brine volume fraction and freeboard are well correlated with ice thickness, indicating some promise for remote sensing approaches to the estimation of ice thickness.     

末次冰盛期以来鄂霍次克海北部陆架的海冰变化

本文通过高分辨率粒度分析,研究了鄂霍次克海北部陆架LV87-54-1岩芯记录的海冰活动历史。利用AnalySize程序对粒度数据进行端元分析,提取了3个端元,并将EM3作为海冰指标。EM3含量结果表明,末次冰盛期以来鄂霍次克海北部陆架以活动性海冰覆盖为主。末次冰盛期和海因里希冰阶1期（HS 1）时EM3含量最高,指示海冰活动强烈。冰期时北半球中高纬度气候变冷与北极涛动负相位是导致海冰大规模扩张的主要控制机制,东亚夏季风减弱与黑龙江入海径流量的减少促使鄂霍次克海生成更多的海冰。自波令−阿勒罗德间冰阶开始以来,鄂霍次克海北部陆架海冰生成急剧减少,在新仙女木时期海冰曾出现微弱峰值,随后又快速下降。自全新世以来,受北半球中高纬度气候变暖、秋季太阳辐射量升高、北极涛动正相位和东亚夏季风的增强共同影响,EM3含量一直稳定在较低水平,鄂霍次克海海冰的生成受到明显抑制。     

The effect of tides on the volume of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean

Tides are believed to drive vertical mixing in the Arctic Ocean, thereby helping heat to reach the bottom of the sea ice layer, especially in regions with thick ice covers. However, tides are usually not included in ocean models. We investigated the effect of tides on sea ice in the Arctic Ocean using an ice-coupled ocean model that includes tides simultaneously. We found that with tidal forcing, the volume of sea ice increased by 8.5% in Baffin Bay, whereas it decreased by 17.8% in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The increase in sea ice volume in Baffin Bay results from the convergence of sea ice, driven by tidal residual currents. In contrast, the decrease in ice volume in the Canadian Archipelago is due to the suppression of ice formation in winter, especially in areas with steep topography, where the vertical mixing of temperature is enhanced by tides. Our results imply that tides should be directly included into the oceanic general circulation model (OGCM) to realistically reproduce the distribution of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.     

太平洋夏季水对加拿大海盆海冰的影响

近年来,北极海冰发生了大面积减少,减少的原因仍存在着争议。基于2003-2011年的水文和遥感卫星数据,对北冰洋加拿大海盆的太平洋水和海冰进行研究。通过对比2006年和2007年太平洋水位温与海冰密集度的空间分布,发现太平洋水暖异常于2007年1-3月进入加拿大海盆的中部,并可能导致了2007年夏季海冰大面积的融化。2003-2011年,在加拿大海盆的中部,太平洋水位温与海冰密集度存在着时间上的负相关。选取2007年8月,发现两者在空间上也存在着负相关。这很可能说明太平洋水暖异常在流动的过程中,向上输送了热量,在一定程度上,融化了海冰,从而触发海冰-反照率正反馈,导致海冰的减少。因此,通过白令海峡进入北冰洋的太平洋夏季水,对北极海冰面积的减少有着重要影响。     

渤海海冰的年际和年代际变化特征与机理

根据1951-2013年间的渤海冰情等级资料,利用最大熵谱分析、相关分析和合成分析等方法,研究了渤海冰情等级的年际和年代际变化特征,探讨了局地气候、大气环流、ENSO(El Nio-Southern Oscillation)和太平洋年代际振荡(PDO)对海冰的影响。结果表明,渤海海冰具有明显的年际和年代际变化特征,并在1972年前后发生了一次由重到轻的气候跃变,在跃变后冰情较跃变前平均降低了0.7级。相关分析与合成分析结果显示,渤海冰情的年际变化除受局地气候的影响外,还受西太平洋副热带高压(副高)、极涡和欧亚环流的共同调控,特别在1972年以后,秋季副高、冬季欧亚和亚洲纬向环流对渤海冰情的年际变化均有重要影响,可作为渤海海冰预报的重要因子,而春季PDO、ENSO、冬季副高及欧亚和亚洲经向环流则是渤海冰情年代际变化的影响因素。     

Linkage between winter air temperature over the subtropical Western Pacific and the ice extent anomaly in the Sea of Okhotsk

This study deals with the correlation between ice extent in the Sea of Okhotsk and the interannual variability of winter (December–February) air temperature over the subtropical Western Pacific from 1979 to 2008. The analysis indicates that the increase in sea ice extent coincides not only with cooling over the Sea of Okhotsk and the adjacent area, but also with significant warming over the subtropical Western Pacific that extends from the surface to the middle troposphere. This meridional dipole pattern of tropospheric temperature anomalies (cooling in the high latitudes and warming in the low latitudes) primarily results from dynamical processes driven by the large-scale atmospheric circulation change. A heat budget diagnosis reveals that when ice extent in the Sea of Okhotsk increases by one standard deviation, the tropospheric air temperature over the subtropical Western Pacific rises by about 0.25°C. It also suggests that the adiabatic heating and stationary eddy heat flux convergence may be the most important factors, which account for 30 and 15% of the warming, respectively. In addition, these two factors also coordinate to result in significant cooling over the Sea of Okhotsk and the adjacent regions.     

表面粗糙对渤海海冰热红外辐射方向特征的影响研究

热红外遥感技术使大范围、快速地监测渤海海冰表面温度成为可能。然而,目前绝大多数遥感器都是小视场角的,只对海冰在某个方向上的辐射能量进行了测量。由于自然界的海冰大多数都是高低起伏的、不平坦的,如果近似地认为遥感像元尺度内各部分温度是相同的,有时会带来较大误差。在盛冰期的渤海辽东湾东岸固定冰区,分别用3D激光扫描仪、热红外成像仪和自计温度计测量了渤海海冰的表面形状、辐射亮温和真实温度。结果表明,由于海冰表面粗糙,会形成三维非同温像元。同时,也会导致传感器在粗糙海冰的各个部分的局部观测天顶角与整体观测天顶角有所不同,造成粗糙海冰与平整海冰的方向辐射特征有较大差异,平整海冰更接近理想平面,粗糙海冰更接近朗伯面。     

Observations of sea ice interannual variations and spring bloom occurrences at the Japanese scallop farming area in the Okhotsk Sea using satellite imageries

The dynamics of ice formation and phytoplankton bloom development in the coastal region of the Okhotsk Sea, Hokkaido, where the Japanese scallop, Mizuhopecten yessoensis, are cultured were investigated using seven years (1998–2004) satellite data from the Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS). The interannual variability of sea ice cover and timing of spring bloom occurrences were analyzed. Longer ice cover in 1999, 2001 and 2003 with the presence of ice until early April and shortened ice cover in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2004 with the occurrence of ice until early March were recognized at this area. Variability in the timing of sea ice retreat and development of spring blooms at the scallop areas were observed. Progression of a single ice edge bloom showed higher Chl-a concentration compared to development of an initial ice edge bloom followed by a later open water bloom. Higher concentration of phytoplankton biomass was observed in the initial bloom when sea ice melting is delayed compared to when the sea ice leaves earlier. Wind events were also observed to affect the occurrences of spring bloom.     

辽东湾海冰分布面积历史数据重构及其影响因素分析

辽东湾是我国冬季冰情最严重的海区,大面积海冰覆盖会对海上经济活动产生严重影响。本文以辽东湾海冰为研究对象,基于MODIS卫星影像资料重构了辽东湾2001−2021年海冰分布面积时间序列。同时,确定了辽东湾浮冰范围与海冰分布面积的非线性关系式,并利用此关系式将辽东湾历史海冰最大分布面积延拓至1953年。通过对其年际变化趋势进行研究,获得工程设计重现期辽东湾海冰分布面积。进一步分析了辽东湾海冰最大分布面积的影响因子,结果表明海冰最大分布面积与冻冰度日及北风分量的相关系数达0.96。此外,分析了秋季北极部分海区海冰密集度与辽东湾冬季海冰覆盖程度的相关性。本文成果可为辽东湾海冰长期趋势研究和海冰灾害的预报预警工作提供基本数据支撑。     

海冰动力过程的改进离散元模型及在渤海的应用

海冰的断裂、重叠和堆积等离散分布特性广泛地存在于极区和副极区的不同海域,并对海冰的生消、运移过程有着重要影响。针对海冰在不同尺度下的离散分布特点,发展海冰动力过程的离散元方法有助于完善海冰数值模式,提高海冰数值模拟的计算精度。为此,本文针对海冰生消运移过程中的非连续分布和形变特性,发展了适用于海冰动力过程的改进离散元模型(MDEM)。不同于传统离散元方法,该模型将海冰离散为具有一定厚度、尺寸和密集度的圆盘单元。海冰单元设为诸多浮冰块的集合体,其在运移和相互接触碰撞过程中,依照质量守恒发生单元尺寸、密集度和厚度的相应变化。基于海冰离散性和流变性的特点,该模型采用黏弹性接触本构模型计算单元间的作用力,并依据Mohr-Coulomb准则计算海冰法向作用下的塑性变形及切向摩擦力。为验证该模型的可靠性,本文对海冰在规则水域内的运移和堆积过程进行了分析,离散元计算结果与解析值相一致;此外,对旋转风场下海冰漂移规律的模拟进一步验证了本文方法的精确性。在此基础上,对渤海辽东湾的海冰动力过程进行了48h数值分析,计算结果与卫星遥感资料和油气作业区的海冰现场监测数据吻合良好。在下一步工作中将考虑海冰离散元模拟中的热力因素影响,发展具有冻结、断裂效应的海冰离散元模型,更精确地模拟海冰动力-热力耦合作用下的生消和运移过程。     

Measurements of air-ice drag coefficient over the ice-covered Sea of Okhotsk

The air-ice drag coefficient under neutral stratification C _DN was measured with the eddy correlation method in the southern Sea of Okhotsk. The disturbance of the wind field caused by the ship’s structure was evaluated by computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and two types of correction methods were applied to estimate the error span of C _DN : one is based on the results of CFD, and the other is based on the parameterization of C _DN over open water suggested by Taylor and Yelland (2001). The C _DN × 10³ values finally obtained ranged from 1.9 to 5.4 with a mean value of 2.7 by the CFD correction and from 1.5 to 5.0 with a mean value of 3.1 by the other method. This is somewhat larger than the value of 2.5 suggested by Shirasawa (1981), and in the same range as 2.2–4.0 over rough ice and 3.1–5.0 over very rough ice, values which were complied by Guest and Davidson (1991) for first year ice. Most of the ice conditions were characterized by broken floes with a diameter less than 100 m and raised rims, which made the surface rougher than flat, level ice. The relation between C _DN and ice concentration was not clear, mainly because the contribution of the form drag caused at the freeboard was undetectable due to the great variation of ice surface condition. The roughness length z _M was also evaluated using the model developed for snow covered ice in a previous study.     

渤海海冰季节演变的数值模拟

MM5数值产品作为大气强迫,利用冰-海洋耦合模式模拟2003～2004冬季渤海海冰演变过程。与海冰遥感、海洋站监测资料等实测资料相比,初冰日和终冰日和观测数据比较接近,模拟海冰各个发展阶段主要分布特征和MODIS遥感图像相似,但模拟的海冰厚度与辽东湾93平台、202平台的冰厚观测数据相比存在较大出入,说明该模型还有待改善。总体上看,冰-海洋耦合模式基本具备模拟渤海海冰季节演变过程的能力。     

渤海海冰特征厚度分析

通过海冰生消机理和数值试验,讨论了渤海海冰特征厚度的存在条件;对不同厚度的海冰表面温度、冰面热量收支、冰面下热传导和太阳辐射透射量进行了对比分析,分析了渤海海冰向特征冰厚的动态演化过程;在不同气温、风速、相对湿度和海洋热通量等气象和水文条件下,对渤海特征冰厚进行了计算;讨论了海冰生消的动态平衡过程,分析了1997/1998年冬季辽东湾JZ20-2海域实测冰厚与特征冰厚的相互关系。对渤海特征冰厚分析将有助于渤海海冰数值模拟工作的开展和对不同重现期设计冰厚的推算。     

冬季白令海海冰范围变化及其对大气响应机制研究

白令海是冬季北极海冰变化最明显的区域之一,该区域海冰的季节和长期变化与局地的气候、水文环境和生态系统密切相关,并会影响我国的天气气候过程。为了识别该区冬季海冰的长期变化,基于Hadley中心数据,采用滑动t检验和线性回归分析方法对白令海1960–2020年海冰范围的变化趋势及其空间差异进行分析,并分析了海冰变化对大气环流等大气强迫的影响。结果表明：白令海冬季海冰范围在1960–2020年显著减小,20世纪70年代和2000年前后白令海海冰范围存在显著的均值突变。其过程中伴随着阿留申低压中心低压加强、核心位置向白令海西部偏移以及对应风场分布的变化,这个过程存在一个近20 a周期的振荡。同时,太平洋年代际震荡的相位变化可以通过改变海平面气压来调节经向风,改变进入白令海的热平流,进而影响白令海冬季海冰范围。因此,阿留申低压系统和北太平洋年代际振荡对冬季白令海海冰的变化起到重要的调节作用。     

Warming of intermediate water in the sea of Okhotsk since the 1950s

Okhotsk Sea Intermediate Water (OSIW), the source water for ventilation of North Pacific Intermediate Water, exhibits a multidecadal warming trend. Historical data show that OSIW temperatures increased by 0.28, 0.57, 0.31 and 0.10°C during 1955 to 2003 at potential densities of 26.8, 27.0, 27.2 and 27.4σ _θ , at depths of approximately 250, 500, 700 and 900 m, respectively. This rate of warming is much faster than that of the global ocean. This OSIW warming is likely linked to the reduced ventilation of cold Dense Shelf Water associated with brine rejection during sea ice formation.