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Marine gas hydrate deposits are significant temporal reservoirs for hydrocarbons migrating from deep sources. This is crucial to our understanding of ocean carbon cycling. The cold seep, a geological process regarding gas leakage from deep or shallow sources, is usually linked with gas hydrate decomposition. In this thesis, we reviewed the latest applications of in situ monitoring and detecting methods regarding the leakage plumes, migration pathways, and seafloor geomorphologies associated with gas hydrate and cold seep systems, primarily including vessel-and land-based gas plume measurements, surface ocean-lower atmosphere hydrocarbon emission detections, seafloor visualization techniques, and in situ observation networks. The integrated applications of these in situ observation methods provide a nuanced view of the temporal and spatial variability of hydrate and cold seep systems, facilitate understanding of the fate of hydrocarbons, and expand our knowledge of cold-seep biota in a watery desert.

The monitoring of carbon flux dynamics and assessment of carbon sink functions of island forest ecosystems are rarely reported due to their special geographical location and few data sources. In this study, the forest ecosystem of the Nanji Island was used as the research object, the carbon sink potential of island forests and their driving factors were assessed. Based on eddy correlation techniques, the temporal variation characteristics and driving factors of net ecosystem productivity (NEP), gross primary productivity (GPP), and ecosystem respiration (Reco) from 2020 to 2021 were explored. Results showed that the forest ecosystem of Nanji Island was carbon sink. Net CO₂ uptake in 2020 and 2021 were 516 g C·m^-2·a^-1 and 598 g C·m^-2·a^-1, Reco were 1 037 g C·m^-2·a^-1 and 1 646 g C·m^-2·a^-1, and GPP were 1 552 g C·m^-2·a^-1 and 2 244 g C·m^-2·a^-1, respectively. Total solar radiation (Rg), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), net radiation (Rn) and sensible heat (H) were significantly and positively correlated with NEP and GPP (p≤0.001); air temperature (Tair) and soil temperature (Tsoil) were significantly and positively correlated with Reco(p≤0.001). The photosynthesis time of Nanji Island forest was longer than the carbon sink time on the daily scale. When Tair reached 10.05-27.76 ℃ and PAR reached 110.47-429.44 μmol·m^-2·s^-1, the photosynthesis intensity of island forest was higher than that of ecosystem respiration, which showed CO₂ absorption. The monitoring and assessment of carbon fluxes in the forest ecosystems of Nanji Island will provide an important theoretical support for the establishment of a dynamic monitoring and assessment management system for blue carbon in China.

With the advancement of observation technology and the improvement of ocean numerical simulation capabilities, some stable subsurface coherent vortices have been widely observed in the ocean, which far from the formation source area. These vortices possess distinctive dynamic characteristics, such as a low potential vorticity center, lens-like structure of isopycnals, weak stratification, and anomalous temperature, salinity, or other tracer properties compared to the surrounding water mass. Their core flow is relatively stronger. These subsurface coherent vortices significantly impact ocean water mass transport, thermohaline circulation and marine biological environment. This paper comprehensively summarizes researches on subsurface coherent vortices in the ocean, including their structure, hydrological characteristics, identifying methods, global distribution, dynamic mechanisms and their important effects on ocean environment. Furthermore, the research perspectives are discussed, such as the difficulties in the research and the issues that need to be solved to comprehensively understand subsurface coherent vortices in the ocean.

Climate reconstructions for the last millennium are essential for understanding climate change and will provide an important basis for predicting future climate change. However, there are spatial differences in monsoonal precipitation, and the hydrothermal configurations of two important characteristic periods of the past millennium, the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age, are highly controversial, especially in southern China. Therefore, the Core BBG-02 taken from the northeastern Beibu Gulf were analyzed for chronology, grain size, major elements and trace elements to understand the physical source of the Core BBG-02 and the climate and environmental changes in its source area. The analysis of chondrite-normalized distribution patterns of rare earth element and geochemical indicators reveal that the Red River may be the main source of the Core BBG-02, and the changes in geochemical indicators of the core reflect changes in the intensity of Indian Summer Monsoon. The results indicate that the climate was warm and humid during the Medieval Warm Period and cold and arid during the Little Ice Age, which is consistent with the results of previous studies on the variation of Indian Summer Monsoon and precipitation. The variation of solar radiation intensity is the essential reason of the variation of Indian Summer Monsoon, which is also influenced by ENSO activity and Indian Ocean Dipole.

Wave is an important factor to shape the dynamic geomorphology of the open tidal flat, but researches on tidal-flat wave characteristics are still limited. Taking Nanhui tidal flats in the Changjiang Estuary as an example, the wave characteristic parameters and wave spectrum parameters were obtained by inverting flow-velocity and water-pressure data from the Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters (ADVs) at some fixed platforms, and their changes over tidal cycles and associated influence mechanisms were discussed. The results show that both normal wave direction and prominent wave direction at three stations of Nanhui tidal flats are mainly southeast during the observation period, with long-period swells dominating. The effective wave height of the three stations is positively correlated with the water depth, but the fitting coefficients of each station are different over flood and ebb periods. Wave orbital velocities are obviously modulated by the shallow water effect and the flow directions, and their maximum values usually occur at the early flooding stage, while minimum values can be observed to occur during the current transition periods. The wave energy spectrum during ebb tides is featured by the bimodal pattern because of high influence by tidal levels and coastal topography, and the peak energy is continuously attenuated and gradually dispersed with the concurrent shift of peak frequencies.

Since a diagram depicting "The Great Ocean Conveyor" was first appeared as a logo by Wally Broecker in 1987, how the warmed upper ocean circulation ran through the Indonesian Seas with their complex coastline geometry and narrow passages, known as the Indonesian through-flow, becomes one of the difficult settings in boundary conditions of climate change model. With strong nonlinear effect, a shallow narrow passage forms vertical mixed hotspots on the one hand, and on other hand, it becomes a self-adapted low-pass filter if the tidal resonance units are introduced. Qiongzhou Strait, a sufficient sediment supply and shallow narrow passage for the northern shelf of the South China Sea, is reported with strong tidal current and westward through-flow. And its tidal channel and tidal deltas are maintained by the tidal resonance units introduced themself. Strong disturbances such as typhoon and cold wave can cause storm jet flow through the strait, triggering different high nutrition, algal bloom and hypoxia events over the adjacent Beibu Gulf. Qiongzhou Strait seems to be a noteworthy case of studying how the self-adapted low-pass filter introduced and whether human activities can affect the through-flow on the shallow narrow passages.

Artificial intelligence in oceanography has demonstrated a great potential with the explosive growth of ocean observation data and numerical model products. This article first reviews the history of ocean big data development, and then introduces in detail the current status of artificial intelligence in oceanography applications including identifying ocean phenomenon, forecasting ocean variables and phenomenon, estimating dynamic parameters, correcting forecast errors, and solving dynamic equations. Specifically, this article elaborates the research on the intelligent identification of ocean eddies, internal waves and sea ice, the intelligent prediction of sea surface temperatures, El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation, storm surges, waves and currents, the intelligent estimation of ocean turbulence parameterization for numerical models, and the intelligent correction of waves and current forecast errors. In addition, it discusses the recent progress of applying physical mechanism fusion and Fourier neural operator for solving ocean dynamic equations. This article is based on the current status of artificial intelligence in oceanography and aims to provide a comprehensive demonstration of the advantages and potential of applying artificial intelligence methods in the field of oceanography. With the two emerging research hotspots: digital twin oceans and artificial intelligence large models, the future development direction of artificial intelligence provides enlightenment and reference for interested scientists and researchers.

Mangroves, coastal salt marshes and seagrass beds, as the typical coastal blue carbon ecosystems, have been widely recognized for their remarkable capacity in carbon storage. Vegetation carbon pool and sediment (or soil) carbon pool were considered to be the major carbon pools within the coastal blue ecosystems and their variations determined the overall carbon sequestration of the ecosystems. From a perspective of carbon pool interactions, this study summarized the previous research work based on literature review, including the interactions within various vegetation carbon pools and within various sediment carbon pools, as well as the interactions between vegetation and sediment carbon pools. Interspecific competition, allochthonous carbon input and biogeomorphology were found to be the key to understand the carbon pool interactions. Finally, a perspective on the current state-of-the-art of blue carbon pool study is offered, with challenges and suggestions for future directions.

Taking Beibu Gulf, South China Sea as a case, the occurrence, source, and ecological risks of 12 organophosphate esters (OPEs) were investigated in 34 surface sediment samples. The Σ12OPEs in the sediments ranged from <LOQ to 35.1 ng·g^-1. Triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), tri-n-butyl phosphate (TNBP), tris (2-chloro-propyl) phosphate (TCIPP) and tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP) were the dominant OPEs in the surface sediments. Generally, the total mass fraction of OPEs detected in sediments from the offshore was higher than that in the near shore, and the mass fraction for major OPEs were also different between the above two areas. On the one hand, the main reason might be related to their physiochemical properties. TPHP and TNBP compounds with higher lipophilicity might be more likely to accumulate in the sediments. On the other hand, it might be related to the source. For example, the OPEs detected in the offshore might be related to the oil exploitation and transportation, submarine optical cable and oil pipeline laying, shipping activities and the transportation of circulation in Beibu Gulf, while the discharge of life and industrial sewage as well as marine aquaculture might be the major sources for OPEs detected in the inshore area. Risk assessment revealed that most individual OPE could pose low ecological risks, but medium ecological risks of TPHP and the mixture of OPEs on aquatic organisms were found, which requires more attention. Therefore, the OPEs pollution situation in Beibu Gulf needs to be paid attention to, especially the pollution emission and control TCIPP and TCEP from inshore area, as well as TPHP and TNBP from offshore area, so as to reduce OPEs pollution from the source.

Aiming at the problems of difficulty in verifying the accuracy of the interpolation model of single-beam bathymetric data, a method based on high-precision UAV data to verify the accuracy of the interpolation model was proposed by using the intertidal tidal law. At low tide, UAV photogrammetry was used to construct a high-precision digital surface model (DSM) of the intertidal zone, and at high tide, the single-beam bathymetry data was obtained and the three-dimensional coordinates of the intertidal topographic points were calculated by combining the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology, and constructed an intertidal digital elevation model (DEM) by using the following 4 interpolation methods: Kriging, inverse distance weight, completely regularized spline and natural neighborhood interpolation method. Based on UAV data, the accuracy analysis of intertidal zone DEM was carried out. The results show that: (1) PPK technology-assisted UAV photogrammetry can construct high-precision intertidal zone DSM. (2) In the intertidal zone, UAV data can be used as an evaluation criterion for the accuracy of single-beam bathymetry data. (3) When the seabed topography is relatively flat, the completely regularized spline method has higher accuracy than the other three methods, and the coarse difference rate is 12.5%.

In order to explore the distribution, formation mechanism and motion law of eddy around Kuroshio in East China Sea, firstly, the eddy distribution around the Kuroshio in the East China Sea during the past 27 years was analyzed by using the mesoscale eddy data set of the AVISO(Archiving, Validation and Interpretation of Satellite Oceanographic Data). The results show that there are 650 eddies generated in the meander of the Kuroshio, and 271 eddies in the middle part of the Kuroshio. The diameters of the most these eddies were between 100 to 150 km, and the amplitudes were between 2 to 6 cm. Secondly, the motion path and eddy motion process of the Kuroshio in the East China Sea are also analyzed. The results show these the cyclonic eddies are easy to be generated in the inner side of the Kuroshio cyclonic bend, with a long path. For example, at the cyclone bend of the Kuroshio axis in the northeast of Taiwan, the average length of the path was 87.6 km. Otherwise, when these anticyclonic eddies are generated, these eddies usually are wandered. In the middle part of the Kuroshio, the eddy showed the polar symmetric distribution characteristics of these cyclonic eddies in the west side of the Kuroshio main axis and these anticyclonic eddies in the east side of the Kuroshio main axis. Both types of eddies moved northeastward along the Kuroshio main axis. Finally, combined with reanalysis data sets of ocean current and sea surface height, the eddy motion law and generation mechanism were discussed. It is concluded that these eddies generation at the curve of the Kuroshio are related to the separation of the boundary layer of the Kuroshio fluid. The Kuroshio countercurrent from the south of Yanmei Island to the west of Okinawa Island played a key role in the polar symmetric distribution of these eddies in the middle part of the Kuroshio. These eddies usually experience three stages of growth, maturation and decay in the process of movement.

 Hydrological observations were carried out in the northeastern of Beibu Gulf in July and October 2018, February 2019 to reveal its seasonal variations. Sectional measurements of temperature, salinity and current velocity were deployed to the north of 18°N and east of 108°E. The results show that there is obvious seasonal disparities on the character of water masses in this region: the sea water temperature in summer decreases from northern shallow water to southern deep region and the onshore brackish water dominates the area shallower than 30 m, and a occlusive cold water mass appears in deep layer to the west of Hainan Island; while in winter the water temperature increases from north to south, the brackish water shrinks to the northern coast shallower than 10 m, the area is occupied mainly by the mixed water, and a warm tongue appears in upper layer on the west of Hainan Island. The circulation in the research region is mainly counterclockwise in all three seasons, though the strength of current varies in different seasons, and is significantly influenced by wind. The water exchange between the northeastern gulf and outer ocean is not active, since the observed salinity is entirely less than 34. The water mass is generally shear instable, and static instability appears in winter. This suggests that the diapycnal mixing in this region might be strong. 

Nitrate is the main nitrogen form available for phytoplankton life activities in the ocean, and its nitracline depth (Z_N) directly affects the vertical transport of nitrate and the ocean primary productivity, and then further influences the carbon cycle. With the advancement of ocean observation technologies, the profile data of nitrate have been collected in diversified ways, such as ship-based CTD observations and BGC-Argo automatic observations. The vertical sampling resolution of these techniques varies significantly (the vertical sampling resolution of CTD is lower than that of BGC-Argo). In view of different sampling data, it is urgent to conduct systematic and quantitative comparative analysis and study on the computing methods of Z_N. In this study, three different methods: difference method, gradient method and threshold method, are adopted to compute the corresponding Z_N by using the historical ship-based CTD data and BGC-Argo buoy data in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. The results show that in the case of single nitrate profile, based on BGC-Argo data, the difference between observed Z_N and the Z_N calculated by difference method is only 0.2 m, followed by threshold method is 20.0 m and gradient method is 202.8 m at most. Based on CTD data, the difference between observed Z_N and Z_N calculated by difference method is 2.0 m, the threshold method is 49.0 m, and the gradient method is 155.0 m. Compared with the gradient method and threshold method, the difference between the Z_N calculated by the difference method and the observed Z_N is the smallest. According to the results of statistical error analysis, it is found that the Z_N calculated by the three methods based on BGC-Argo data show a good correlation with the observed Z_N. Among them, the error of difference method is the smallest (R²=0.77, RMSE=28.48 m). The R² and RMSE of threshold method are 0.64 and 34.85 m, and the R² and RMSE of gradient method are 0.52 and 53.80 m. For CTD data, due to its low vertical sampling resolution, the Z_N calculated by the three methods is quite different from the observed Z_N. However, compared with the gradient method and threshold method, the error of the difference method is still the smallest (R²=0.81, RMSE =16.13 m). The R² and RMSE of threshold method are 0.47 and 27.65 m, and the R² and RMSE of gradient method are 0.42 and 36.41 m. The applicability of each method is preliminarily explored through comparing and analyzing the characteristics and differences of them so as to provide some scientific reference for the in-depth research on the vertical distribution characteristics and upward transport process of nitrate.

Abyssal peridotite is widely distributed in tectonic environments such as mid-ocean ridges, subduction zones, and continental margins, and typically undergoes subsequent alterations, among which serpentinization is the most significant type. Serpentinization refers to the chemical process wherein ferromagnesium-rich minerals in peridotite, such as olivine and pyroxene, are replaced by a series of secondary minerals like serpentine, magnetite, and brucite. The conditions of serpentinization are closely linked with hydrothermal circulation and the migration of mineral-forming substances, bearing significant implications for indicating hydrothermal mineralization. Traditional methods of petrology and geochemistry exhibit polysemic interpretations and uncertainties when reflecting serpentinization conditions, with different minerals or chemical indicators possibly suggesting different outcomes. Oxygen isotopes are ubiquitous in nature and the oxygen isotope tracing method, due to its wide applicability, ease of comparison, and support for in-situ micro-zone analysis, can clearly reflect the reaction conditions and processes of the mineral or rock-fluid system. This study primarily provides an overview of the principles of oxygen isotope thermometry, the process of abyssal peridotite serpentinization, application cases of oxygen isotope thermometry in the serpentinization of abyssal peridotite, factors influencing the oxygen isotope compositions of serpentinites, as well as the advantages and limitations of oxygen isotope thermometry. It aims to offer a reference for a more profound understanding of the serpentinization process of abyssal peridotite.

The multiple indices of n-alkanes including ∑oddC_25-33, CPI, ACL, C₃₁/C₂₇ and P_mar-aq from a sediment core HKUV16 retrieved in the Pearl River Estuary were analyzed to explore their sources and environmental changes since the mid-Holocene. The distribution features of n-alkanes of core HKUV16 indicated that they were mainly from terrestrial higher vegetation. From 8.0 to 7.0 ka BP, ∑oddC_25-33, CPI, and P_mar-aq increased, while ACL and C₃₁/C₂₇ were low, which showed that terrestrial organic matter input increased and woody vegetation increased. The decrease of ∑oddC_25-33 during 7.0~3.2 ka BP indicated that the input of terrestrial organic matter decreased, while the ACL and C₃₁/C₂₇ showed an increase-decrease-increase trend, suggesting that the Pearl River Basin might have experienced dry-wet-dry climate change. From 3.2 to 2.2 ka BP, high ACL and C₃₁/C₂₇ indicated that herbaceous plants expanded and the climate was relatively arid. The multi-indices showed that the input of n-alkanes to the Pearl River Estuary before 2.2 ka BP was mainly affected by East Asian summer monsoon. However, increasing human activities since 2.2 ka BP might have become the dominant factor for the ecological environment of the Pearl River Basin.

Marine sands are important submarine mineral resources. The marine sand resources of Hainan Island are widely distributed in coastal zones and continental shelf areas, with large scale, good quality and rich in heavy minerals. The basic distribution characteristics of marine sand resources around Hainan Island are described, and the progress and main achievements of marine sand exploration around Hainan Island are reviewed with emphasis on heavy mineral sand and aggregate sand. Through the exploration, 15 abnormal areas of heavy mineral placer have been delineated in the sea area around Hainan Island, and one large zirconiumtitanium placer deposit has been proved. However, due to the low level of investigation and research, the resource potential of heavy mineral placer is not clear. The scale of sediment survey around Hainan Island has basically reached 1∶250 000, which provides a solid foundation for the exploration of aggregate sand resources. In recent years, billions of cubic meters of aggregate sand resources have been discovered in the east entrance of Qiongzhou Strait and tidal sand ridge area of the western Hainan, and the resource potential is predicted to reach tens of billions of cubic meters. According to the comprehensive analysis, 8 potential exploration areas of marine sand resources can be delineated around Hainan Island. Except the east mouth of Qiongzhou Strait and the tidal sand ridge area of the western Hainan, the northeast continental shelf of Hainan, the southwest continental shelf of Hainan and Beibu Gulf area are all favorable enrichment areas of marine sand resources, and may contain heavy mineral resources potential. According to the specific sedimentary environment, the exploration objectives and tasks of each prospective area are discussed respectively. Combined with the current work progress and existing problems, the suggestions for the future marine sand exploration are put forward.

The variation characteristics of water and sediment in the Pearl River Basin over the past about 70 years were analyzed by using the runoff and sediment discharge data at three major hydrological stations in the Pearl River Basin, Gaoyao Station (Xijiang River), Shijiao Station (Beijiang River) and Boluo Station (Dongjiang River) from 1954 to 2019, and applying the Mann-Kendall nonparametric test and accumulative anomaly curves. The results showed that the change of the runoff in the Pearl River from 1954 to 2019 was not obvious while the sediment discharge was decrease, among which the sediment discharge at Gaoyao and Boluo Stations changed abruptly in 2003 and 1991, decreasing by 71.3% and 48.88%, respectively, compared with before the abrupt change, while the sediment discharge at Shijiao Station did not change abruptly. On this basis, the change of vegetation cover in the basin and its relationship with the change of water and sediment were studied by using the precipitation data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the basin from 2000 to 2019. The NDVI in the Pearl River Basin showed an overall increasing trend from 2000 to 2019, and the improvement area of vegetations cover accounted for 89.27% of the total basin area. Among which NDVI in the Pearl River Basin was poorly correlated with sediment discharge from 2000 to 2008, NDVI in the Xijiang River Basin and Dongjiang River Basin were positively correlated with precipitation in the basin but not with sediment discharge form 2009 to 2019, and only in the Beijiang River Basin, NDVI was insignificantly negatively correlated with sediment discharge. The influence of human activities on sediment discharge in the Pearl River at different periods was discussed using the double cumulative curve method. Since the 1980s, human activities such as deforestation, reservoir construction, and soil and water conservation had a significant impact on sediment discharge. After 2000, the construction of Longtan Reservoir was the main reason for the decline of sediment discharge in the Xijiang River, but the improvement of vegetation coverage had no significant impact on the sediment discharge in the Pearl River Basin.

Two-phase leaching method can separate hydrogenetic and residual mineral phases of ferromanganese nodules, which will provide valuable information with the research of ferromanganese nodule mineralization and pale-environment. In order to study the applicability of the two-phase leaching method in the nodule mineralization research for different types of nodules compared to the bulk sample results, the ferromanganese nodules samples from six stations were selected, which were collected on the seamounts area of western Pacific Ocean and CC Zone of eastern Pacific Ocean, respectively. Geochemical and mineralogical compositions of the bulk samples were analyzed, and elements compositions of the hydrogenetic and residual mineral phases were analyzed, which were obtained using the two-phase leaching method. The results indicated that the mass ration variation of the residual mineral phases was not obvious with about 14.0%-17.6%, which had high contents of Nb, Rb, Ta, Ti, Zr. Contents and relevant rations of elements such as Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Sr, REY in the hydrogenetic mineral phase showed similar features with those in the bulk samples. Proportion of elements contents like Ti, Nb, Sr between hydrogenetic and residual mineral phases showed well negative correlation with Mn/Fe values, which probably could be regarded as index for ferromanganese nodule mineralized environment research in the future.

Coastline is one of the important geographical elements to describe the boundary between land and sea. Under the dual influence of natural factors and socio-economic factors, coastline dynamic evolution of different intensities continues to occur. Based on Landsat series satellite remote sensing images, the spatial and temporal evolution of the coastline of Nan’ao Island from 1976 to 2021 was analyzed by RS and GIS technology combined with field investigation, and the driving factors were analyzed by grey correlation analysis. The results show that : (1)In the past 45 years, the coastline of Nan’ao Island has changed significantly. The coastline length has increased by 11.06 km, and the fractal dimension have generally increased.(2)During the study period, the type of coastline changed from natural coastline dominated by bedrock to artificial coastline, the comprehensive index of coastline utilization show an increasing trend, and the main structure of coastline development and utilization show a form of single to multiple.(3)The evolution of the coastline of Nan’ao Island has obvious regional differences. That of Houzhai Town is greatly affected by human factors, and its evolution is more significant. The coastlines of Yun’ao and Shen’ao Towns are mainly affected by natural factors, and their evolutions are relatively slow.(4)Typhoon(natural disasters) and population are the main driving factors of the coastline evolution of Nan’ao Island.