Global shelf seas have experienced unprecedented marine heatwaves (MHWs) in recent decades. Although MHWs have been extensively studied at the global scale, their regional variability and underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood, particularly in shelf seas influenced by multiple climate modes. Here, we examine MHW variability in the Northeastern Atlantic shelf using a correlation-based k-means clustering approach. Two di...

Ocean mesoscale structures, which are parameterized in models with standard resolutions on the order of 1° or coarser, have an impact at larger scales, affecting the ocean mean state and circulation. Here we study the effects of increasing model ocean resolution to mesoscale eddy-resolving scales on the representation of the North Atlantic mean state, by comparing an ensemble of four HighResMIP coupled historical simulations w...

This study, combining long-term observations and high-resolution simulations, investigates the interannual variability of summer shelf circulation in the Northern South China Sea (NSCS) from 2000 to 2022. We elucidate the responses of NSCS shelf circulation to ENSO and Pearl River Estuary (PRE) freshwater runoff, revealing distinct spatial and mechanistic signatures. During El Niño years, a pronounced sea level anomaly dipole...

The circulation structure surrounding the Qingdao cold water mass in 2019 was investigated using three-dimensional ensembles of numerical simulations. This study reveals that a cold pool appears in early spring and reaches its peak in late May, and this pool is accompanied by local seasonal anticyclonic circulation. Momentum diagnostics reveal that vertical friction cannot be ignored because of the shallow topography and surfa...

Using multi-source observational data and GLORYS12V1 reanalysis data, we conduct a comparative analysis of different responses of two warm eddies, AE1 and AE2 in the northern South China Sea, to Typhoon Kalmaegi during September 2014. The findings of our research are as follows: (1) for horizontal distribution, the area and the sea surface temperature (SST) of AE1 and AE2 decrease by about 31 % (36 %) and 0.4 °C (0.6 °C). The...

Salt intrusion in estuaries has been exacerbated by climate change and human activities. Previous studies have primarily focused on salt intrusion in the mainstem of estuaries, whereas those in sub-estuaries (those that branch off their main estuaries) have received less attention. During an extended La Niña event from 2021 to 2022, a sub-estuary (the East River estuary) alongside the Pearl River estuary, China, experienced se...

The number of tide gauges providing coastal sea level data has significantly increased in recent decades. They help in the issue of coastal hazard warnings, in the forecasting (indirectly through models) of storm surges and tsunamis, and in operational oceanography applications. These data are automatically quality controlled in near-real time in the Copernicus Marine Service. A new initiative seeks to provide delayed-mode rep...

Global tide and surge models play a major role in forecasting coastal flooding due to extreme events or climate change. The model performance is strongly affected by parameters such as bathymetry and bottom friction. In this study, we propose a method that estimates bathymetry globally and the bottom friction coefficient in shallow waters for a global tide and surge model (GTSMv4.1). However, the estimation effect is limited b...

In May 2012, we conducted a hydrographic survey over the Carlsberg Ridge in the northwest Indian Ocean. In this paper, we use these station data, in combination with some free-floating Argo profiles, to obtain the sectional temperature and salinity fields, and subsequently, the hydrographic characteristics are comprehensively analyzed. Through the basic T–S diagram, three salty water masses, Arabian Sea High-Salinity Water, Pe...

Mean sea level (MSL) is rising worldwide, and correlated changes in ocean tides are also occurring. This combination may influence future extreme sea levels, possibly increasing coastal inundation and nuisance flooding events in sensitive regions. Analyses of a set of tide gauges in Hong Kong reveal complex tidal behavior. Most prominent in the results are strong correlations of MSL variability to tidal variability over the 31...

A quantitative definition for the land–sea (coastal) transitional area is proposed here for wave-driven areas, based on the variability and isotropy of met-ocean processes. Wind velocity and significant wave height fields are examined for geostatistical anisotropy along four cross-shore transects on the Catalan coast (north-western Mediterranean), illustrating a case of significant changes along the shelf. The variation in the...

Salt intrusion in the Pearl River estuary (PRE) is a dynamic process that is influenced by a range of factors and to date, few studies have examined the effects of winds and waves on salt intrusion in the PRE. We investigate these effects using the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system applied to the PRE. After careful validation, the model is used for a series of diagnostic simulations. It...

The Genealogical Evolution Model (GEM) presented here is an efficient logical model used to track dynamic evolution of mesoscale eddies in the ocean. It can distinguish between different dynamic processes (e.g., merging and splitting) within a dynamic evolution pattern, which is difficult to accomplish using other tracking methods. To this end, the GEM first uses a two-dimensional (2-D) similarity vector (i.e., a pair of ratio...