Modeling the formation of undulations of the coastline: The role of tides

An idealized model is developed and analyzed to investigate the relevance of tidal motion for the emergence of undulations of a sandy coastline. The model describes feedbacks between tidal and steady flow on the inner shelf, sand transport in the nearshore zone and an irregular coastline. It is demonstrated that an initially straight coastline can become unstable with respect to perturbations with a rhythmic structure in the alongshore direction. The mechanism causing the growth of these perturbations is explained in terms of vorticity concepts. The relative importance of tide-related and wave-driven sediment fluxes in generating undulations of the coastline is investigated for the Dutch coast. Using parameter values that are appropriate for the Dutch coast it is found that tides can render a straight coastline unstable. The model predicts a fastest growing mode (FGM) with a wavelength that is in the order of the observed length of barrier islands. The mode grows on a time scale of 50 yr and it migrates 200 m per year. The wavelength of the FGM decreases with increasing amplitude of the tidal currents. This result is consistent with data of tides, waves and the lengths of barrier islands that are located along the Dutch and German Wadden coast.     

The 18.6 yr nodal modulation in the tides of Southern European coasts

The nodal modulation of the diurnal (K₁ and O₁) and semi-diurnal (M₂ and K₂) tidal constituents at the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic is estimated and its spatial variability mapped. Fourteen hourly tide gauge records each spanning more than 18 years are considered in this analysis. Ten tide gauges are located in the Mediterranean Sea and four in the Bay of Biscay. The nodal modulation of the most energetic tidal constituent (M₂) reaches up to 5 cm at the eastern Atlantic coasts, while within the Mediterranean Sea its modulation is in general less than 1.1 cm. The largest K₂ nodal modulation found is 3.7 cm in the eastern Atlantic coasts. In the Mediterranean Sea, smaller modulation amplitudes, ranging between 0.4 and 1.4 cm are found. The K₁ tide constituent has the largest amplitude nodal modulation within the Mediterranean Sea of 1.9 cm in the north Adriatic Sea, which is also larger than the modulation of this constituent at the eastern Atlantic coasts. The O₁ tide constituent has the highest amplitude nodal modulation (1.4 cm) at the eastern Atlantic coasts. In the Mediterranean Sea the maximum value is 1 cm in the north Adriatic Sea.     

Effects of the Changjiang river discharge on sea surface warming in the Yellow and East China Seas in summer

This study explores the effects of the Changjiang (also called the Yangtze River) river discharge (CRD) on the density stratifications and associated sea surface temperature (SST) changes using a global ocean general circulation model with regional focus on the Yellow and East China Seas (YECS). It is found that CRD increases the SST in summer through a barrier layer (BL) formation that tends to enhance stratification at the mixed layer base, and thus reduces both vertical mixing and entrainment. This process is effective, particularly in August, after the CRD reaches its maximum in July. The SST difference between the composites of flood and drought years confirms that the surface warming is related to surface freshening by the CRD. This result suggests that the BL induced by the CRD is an important contributor to the surface heat budget in the YECS.     

Impact of tidal power dams upon tides and environmental conditions in the Sea of Okhotsk

The transformation of natural tidal sea-level and currents is studied resulting from large-scale tidal power plant (TPP) dams in bays of the Sea of Okhotsk (SO). Some effects due to this transformation are estimated based on predictive modelling and a number of expected changes in amplitudes and phases, and spectral composition of tidal oscillations are described. Changes of morphometric properties of basins change the character of tidal motions even on significant distance from a dam. That is why, it is impossible to estimate this impact as usual boundary-value problems. The problem is solved based on “impedance” conditions on the open boundary of the model area, allowing to take into account the radiation of the additional perturbations induced by both waves reflected from the dam and nonlinear effects inside the area. In general, the transformation effects are proportional to the dam size and depend essentially on the dam location, the creation of which can change dissipative and resonance properties of the bays. The changes in tidal energetics of SO due to the dam construction are also considered to show noticeable reconstruction of horizontal energy fluxes and changes in the energy dissipation. Possible environmental consequences are related mainly to the transformation of tidal currents.     

Sediment dispersal and deposition due to sand mining in the coastal waters of Korea

Understanding the impact of marine sand mining operations in a complex coastal environment requires a combined observational and modeling approach. Here, we use field measurements collected during mining operations in Kyunggi Bay, Korea to develop sediment parameters and source conditions for a three-dimensional (3D) sediment transport model built on the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS). The model is run with realistic forcing obtained from a 9 km meteorological model, tides, and river discharges. The resulting vertical and horizontal distributions of sediment show encouraging agreement with the field data, demonstrating markedly different dispersal patterns due largely to the differential settling of the various sand classes. The resulting depositional patterns suggest that only the coarser size classes (500 and 250 μm) particles remain close to the mined site, while finer size classes are widely dispersed. These results suggest that this new methodology of multi-size class, 3D sediment transport modeling is quite promising, and further work is ongoing to include more realistic representation of sediment resuspension processes.     

Application of a finite element model to the computation of tides in the Mersey Estuary and Eastern Irish Sea

A variable mesh finite element model of the Irish and Celtic Sea regions with/without the inclusion of the Mersey estuary is used to examine the influence of grid resolution and the Mersey upon the higher harmonics of the tide in the region. Comparisons are made with observations and published results from finite difference models of the area. Although including a high resolution representation of the Mersey had little effect upon computed tides in the western Irish Sea it had a significant effect upon tidal currents in the eastern Irish Sea. In addition the higher harmonics of the M₂ tide in near-shore regions of the eastern Irish Sea particularly the Solway and Mersey estuary together with Morecambe Bay showed significant small scale variability. The Mersey was used to test the sensitivity to including estuaries because high resolution accurate topography was available. The results presented here suggest that comparable detailed topographic data sets are required in all estuaries and near-shore regions. In addition comparisons clearly show the need for an unstructured grid model of the region that can include all the estuaries. Such an unstructured grid solution was developed here within a finite element approach, although other methods in particular the finite volume, or coordinate transformations/curvilinear grids and nesting could be applied.     

The distribution of dissolved lead in the coastal waters of the East China Sea

The distribution of dissolved lead in the coastal waters of the East China Sea was investigated seasonally. The average concentrations in surface waters during the spring and autumn were 0.52 nM and 0.27 nM, respectively. In the spring, the concentration of dissolved Pb in the surface waters and bottom waters ranged from 0.13 to 1.86 nM and from 0.15 to 0.94 nM, respectively. For both the surface water and the bottom water, the highest values were observed at the Yangtze River Estuary. Seasonal variability of D-Pb between spring and autumn in the ECS was observed. These results suggested that riverine inputs and atmospheric inputs may be the main sources of lead in this area, while adsorption and co-precipitation on suspended particles at the river estuary and biological process may be the major sinks.     

对下扬子与华南边界结合带东延问题的地球物理探讨

以江山-绍兴、铅山-宜春等断裂带作为华南与扬子块体之间的边界结合带，这种认识目前已基本为大家所接受．但是，这条边界结合带向东延伸入海之后的位置与去向一直是多年来研究的热点．本文基于黄、东海研究区的地球物理数据(空间重力数据、布格重力数据和地震层析成像结果)，利用方向导数等处理方法，对研究区的地球物理数据进行处理，并对研究区的地球物理场进行了分析，划分出不同的区块．结合研究区的磁力与地质资料，利用各种成图、成像技术，形成一系列分析图件．在此基础上对华南与扬子块体之间的边界结合带进行了追踪．研究结果认为：该结合带的位置有可能比传统认识中自长江口至大黑山群岛的位置更向南一些，在杭州湾-长崎、对马海峡一线，并呈现向北略微凸出的弓形．边界结合带在深度上属于深大断裂带，一直可以追索到上地幔的顶部．与中朝与扬子块体之间的边界结合带相比较，本条结合带的踪迹不是十分清晰．表明加里东运动之后，该结合带的运动明显减弱．     

低信噪比海底多分量地震数据波场分离方法

以多分量地震观测为基础,联合纵波和转换横波数据能更有效地估计地下介质的弹性和物性参数,提升地质构造成像与油气储层描述的精度.在海底多分量地震数据处理过程中,观测记录的上-下行波分解和P/S波分离可压制水层鸣震以及P与S波之间的串扰,对偏移成像和纵横波速度建模至关重要.但受海底环境、仪器与观测因素共同影响,许多海底多分量地震资料都无法基于现有的海底波场分离方法与流程取得合理的结果.本文以海底声波场与弹性波场分离基本原理为基础,通过对方法流程的修正,摆脱常规流程对中小偏移距直达波信号的依赖性.借助模拟数据实验讨论了波场分离对海底介质参数、噪声的敏感性.结合东海YQ探区海底多分量地震资料上-下行P/S波分离及其叠前深度偏移处理,验证了本文方法流程的可行性.

     

Growth of large-scale bed forms due to storm-driven and tidal currents: a model approach

An idealized morphodynamic model is used to gain further understanding about the formation and characteristics of shoreface-connected sand ridges and tidal sand banks on the continental shelf. The model consists of the 2D shallow water equations, supplemented with a sediment transport formulation and describes the initial feedback between currents and small amplitude bed forms. The behaviour of bed forms during both storm and fair weather conditions is analyzed. This is relevant in case of coastal seas characterized by tidal motion, where the latter causes continuous transport of sediment as bed load.The new aspects of this work are the incorporation of both steady and tidal currents (represented by an M₂ and M₄ component) in the external forcing, in combination with dominant suspended sediment transport during storms. The results indicate that the dynamics during storms and fair weather strongly differ, causing different types of bed forms to develop. Shoreface-connected sand ridges mainly form during storm conditions, whereas if fair weather conditions prevail the more offshore located tidal sand banks develop. Including the M₄ tide changes the properties of the bed forms, such as growth rates and migration speeds, due to tidal asymmetry. Finally a probabilistic formulation of the storm and fair weather realization of the model is used to find conditions for which both types of large-scale bed forms occur simultaneously. These conditions turn out to be a low storm fraction and the presence strong tidal currents in combination with strong steady currents during storms.     

黄海、东海海域出海气旋发展过程中尺度数值模拟

利用MM5中尺度模式对1999年6月两个出海气旋发展过程进行 数值模拟. 数值模拟的气旋出海后移动路径与实际情况基本一致. 在数值模拟基础上重点讨 论了出海气旋发展过程潜热通量和感热通量的分布及其演变情况. 气旋出海后在气旋中心区 南方和东方存在负潜热通量和感热通量区. 出海气旋的东移和发展，其前方强大正热通量区 的存在可能是重要原因之一.     

Interbasin freshwater,heat and salt transport through the boundaries of the East and South China Seas from a variable-grid global ocean circulation model

It has long been recognized that the circulation in the East China Sea (ECS) and Japan/East Sea (JES) is closely related with that in Pacific, especially with the Kuroshio (e.g., Nitani[1], Hi-daka[2]). Based on current measurements in the Taiwan Strait a…     

Temporal and spatial variations of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea

Temporal and spatial distributions of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) were determined in the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea during June-July, 2006 and January-February, 2007. The concentrations of DMS and total DMSP in surface water in the study area were 5.64 (1.79-12.24) and 28.25 (13.98-44.93) nmol L⁻¹ in summer, and were 1.79 (1.02-3.51) and 11.01 (6.90-17.98) nmol L⁻¹ in winter, respectively. The distributions of DMS and DMSP in the study area were obviously influenced by the Yangtze River effluent and the Kuroshio water. Even under highly variable hydrographic conditions, a significant relationship was observed between DMS and chlorophyll a concentrations in summer as well as in winter, suggesting that phytoplankton biomass might play an important role in controlling DMS distribution in the study area. The summer ratios of DMS/chlorophyll a and DMSP/chlorophyll a were approximately twofold higher than winter values, corresponding with the temporal variation in phytoplankton community structure between summer and winter. The sea-to-air fluxes of DMS were estimated to be 5.32 and 11.92 μmol m⁻² d⁻¹ using the equations of Liss and Merlivat (1986) and Wanninkhof (1992), respectively.     

Inter- and intra-annual patterns of Ulva prolifera green tides in the Yellow Sea during 2007-2009, their origin and relationship to the expansion of coastal seaweed aquaculture in China

The large green-tide events that occurred in the Yellow Sea in 2008 (3489 km²) and 2009 (4994 km²) are shown to be novel events preceded only once by a much smaller event in 2007 (82 km²). The blooms originated in the coastal area of Jiangsu province and spread north-east towards the Shandong Peninsula. The blooms grew at different rates and mesoscale variability in surface winds explained the differences in the spatial and temporal patterns of blooms in 2008 and 2009. The 2009 bloom was tracked to its origin immediately offshore of extensive intertidal flats between Yancheng and Nantong where recent rapid expansion of Porphyra aquaculture has occurred. We review published hypotheses which have been advanced to explain the occurrence of blooms and in light of our findings, we conclude that the accumulation and disposal of waste Ulva prolifera from Porphyra aquaculture rafts is the most likely cause of the blooms.     

地震海洋学方法在研究南海东北部海水水体结构中的应用

反射地震方法一般用于地下地质结构的探测.本文采用南海东北部的一条地震测线记录,通过对水体反射信号的处理,获取了该测线上海水的声速剖面,并获得了海水水体结构的直观图像.在反射地震剖面上,可以看出南海东北部上层海水结构较为稳定,没有明显的水体侵入痕迹,但中、深层海水中内波较为发育,这与物理海洋学上的研究结果是一致的.本文通过设计合理的数据模型说明了地震海洋学这种方法的可行性,并对地震海洋学的工作方法和方向上提出了一些意见和建议.     

海洋效应对中国沿海地磁观测影响——以广州台站为例

以广州台站为例,研究海洋效应对中国沿海地磁观测C-响应的影响.海洋效应的三维正演模拟采用球坐标系下交错网格有限差分方法,假设磁层环形电流源,正演电阻率结构模型采用"地表 3-D电导+1-D层状背景"复合模型.数值模拟结果表明,中国地区沿海C-响应受海洋效应影响明显.在空间上,沿海岸线方向,受海洋效应影响,单周期的C-响应由无海洋效应的常值变形为平行于海岸线的等值线密集梯度带;在垂直海岸方向,海洋效应影响向内陆减小,其影响可达哈尔滨-贵阳一线.海洋效应影响采用比值法进行校正,以广州台站为例,在比值曲线上发现海洋效应对C-响应的影响最大周期可达20天左右,并且就中国沿海而言,相对全球平均一维模型,利用中国地区平均一维电导率模型作为背景模型的海洋效应校正结果更加合理.进一步对广州台站海洋效应校正前后的C-响应进行了1-D反演,由于校正前的C-响应在小周期时受海洋效应特别大,直接反演无法拟合数据;但校正后反演拟合明显变好,得到的1-D导电模型表明广州地区上地幔及地幔转换带的电阻率比中国平均电阻率高约一个量级,推测中国华南地区南部的地幔转换带可能处于相对冷的环境,该模型可能成为菲律宾海板块西向俯冲并滞留到华南大陆下方地幔转换带的电性证据.     

Determination of vertical displacements over the coastal area of Korea due to the ocean tide loading using GPS observations

This paper describes the GPS applicability for detecting the vertical displacements of ground stations caused by ocean tide loading effects. An experiment was carried out using 12 permanent GPS stations located in the coastal area of Korea using data in the period 1 July until 26 August 2003. The relative height differences were calculated from hourly DGPS data processing based on the carrier-phase observation. The power spectra of the M₂ and N₂ constituents of ocean tide loading were derived using the CLEAN algorithm. The differential vertical displacements generated by the ocean tide loading effect are typically 3–25 mm in coastal area of the Korea. We compared the results from GPS with those of the ocean tide models, NAO.99Jb regional model and GOT00.2, FES99 global models. The M₂ (N₂) amplitude differences of vertical displacements between GPS and GOT00.2 is 1.22 ± 3.61 mm (1.01 ± 1.48 mm), and that of the M₂ (N₂) amplitude difference between GPS and FES99 is 0.04 ± 4.64 mm (0.64 ± 1.75 mm), whereas the M₂ (N₂) amplitude difference between GPS and NAO.99Jb are 0.05 ± 1.03 mm (0.86 ± 1.18 mm). The highest vertical displacements at the PALM station are found for 24.5 ± 0.7 mm from GPS observation, and 22.9 mm from the regional model NAO.99Jb and 13.17 and 10.00 mm from the global models GOT00.2 and FES99, respectively. These values show that the vertical displacements derived from GPS are in good agreement with those of the regional model NAO.99Jb around Korea, more than with the global models. This result indicated that GPS is an effective tool to measure the vertical displacement caused by the ocean tide loading effect in the coastal area, and we need to use the NAO.99Jb ocean tide model rather than the global ocean tide models in and around the Korean peninsula for position determination with permanent GPS installations. This work demonstrates that vertical displacement caused by the M₂ and N₂ constituents of ocean tide loading can be measured by carrier-phase DGPS.     

Risks for poisoning of coastal and inland population due to asteroid impacts in Southern regions of Black Sea

The hydrogen sulfide rich waters of the Black Sea pose a potential danger for the surrounding land regions. The impact of an asteroid exceeding tens of meters in size may cause both a tsunami wave and a catastrophic poisonous gas release in the atmosphere. Some effects of this last phenomenon on the Southern Black Sea coastal regions are evaluated in this paper. The initial surface area of the poisonous cloud depends on asteroid size. The initial thickness of the cloud depends, in addition, on sea depth at impact location. The wind speed plays an important role in H₂S cloud dynamics. At 10 m/s wind speed, the cloud margins reach 185 km from the impact location in about 3 h. The maximum distance traveled by the hydrogen sulfide cloud increases by increasing the asteroid size and wind speed. The influence of the impact position on the distance traveled by hydrogen sulfide clouds is rather weak, as long as the seawater depth does not change significantly. The land surface area covered by the H₂S cloud generated by a 1,000 m size asteroid ranges between about 6,400 and 12,000 km². This may affect up to 3,000,000 people. When a 250 m size asteroid is considered, the covered land surface area ranges between about 1,400 and 2,100 km² and up to 120,000 people may be affected. In case of a 70 m size asteroid, the cloud covers up to 280 km² of land. This may affect up to about 70,000 people. These evaluations do not include the population of the towns on or near the seashore. A simple methodology to estimate the environmental risks of the potential asteroid impact was proposed. Sites less than 160 km from the impact place are at risk.     

东海海域潜在地震海啸的数值模拟初步研究

针对东海冲绳海槽地区的地震地质背景,对东海海域潜在的地震海啸进行了预研究. 假设了冲绳海槽在发生8.5级大地震,断层错距高达15 m的极端地震情况引发的海啸对中国东部沿海地区的影响. 初步数值模拟结果表明,该地震引发的海啸的最大初始波高为4.3 m,4小时左右传至浙江沿岸,近岸各处波高为1——2 m,其中局部地区波高为2.4 m;约7——8小时靠近上海海岸线（若震源在中冲绳海槽地区,海啸传到上海最快大约7小时）,近岸波高约为1 m. 近岸区域地形变化复杂,海岛密布,局部地形条件可能会很大地影响实际各地点海啸波高,加上海啸在岸边爬高及港湾效应,估计波高还会升高. 给出了冲绳海槽南、中、北部发生潜在地震海啸的传播等时图. 笔者在东海设置了3个地震及海啸监测站,基于海啸模拟结果绘制了监测站处的海啸随时间演化曲线,分析了预研究成果对海啸预警可能发挥的作用.      

An improved method for evaluating the seasonal variability of total suspended sediment flux field in the Yellow and East China Seas

The suspended sediment flux field in the Yellow and East China Seas(YECS) displays its seasonal variability.A new method is introduced in this paper to obtain the flux field via retrieval of ocean color remote sensing data,statistical analysis of historical suspended sediment concentration data,and numerical simulation of three-dimensional(3D) flow velocity.The components of the sediment flux field include(i) surface suspended sediment concentration inverted from ocean color remote sensing data;(ii) vertical distribution of suspended sediment concentration obtained by statistical analysis of historical observation data;and(iii) 3D flow field modeled by a numerical simulation.With the improved method,the 3D suspended sediment flux field in the YECS has been illustrated.By comparison with the suspended sediment flux field solely based on the numerical simulation of a suspended sediment transport model,the suspended sediment flux field obtained by the improved method is found to be more reliable.The 3D suspended sediment flux field from ocean colour remote sensing and in situ observation are more closer to the reality.Furthermore,by quantitatively analyzing the newly obtained suspended sediment flux field,the quantity of sediment erosion and deposition within the different regions can be evaluated.The sediment exchange between the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea can be evident.The mechanism of suspended sediment transport in the YECS can be better understood.In particular,it is suggested that the long-term transport of suspended sediment is controlled mainly by the circulation pattern,especially the current in winter.