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Volume 14
Issue 15
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J. Mar. Sci. Eng., Volume 14, Issue 15 (August-1 2026) – 102 articles

Cover Story (view full-size image): Seismic airguns generate high-intensity noise that can affect marine life. Alternative seismic sources are emerging as promising tools for reducing ocean noise and impacts on marine mammals, yet their performance and integration into regulatory processes remain poorly quantified. Our study evaluates four such alternative technologies—three ultra-low‑frequency pneumatic systems and a marine vibroseis—against conventional airguns. Using auditory injury and behavioral disturbance criteria plus a new 60 s sound exposure metric, we show that generally these alternative sources generate less acoustic energy and produce smaller injury and disturbance zones than conventional airgun arrays. This work provides a science-based foundation for integrating alternative seismic sources into regulatory frameworks and advances efforts to reduce ocean noise. View this paper
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32 pages, 4370 KB  
Review
Research Progress of Archimedes Spiral Hydrokinetic Turbines in Free-Flow Conditions: A Comprehensive Review
by Ke Song, Ji Yao, Huiting Huan, Liuchuang Wei and Qingxue Liu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1449; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151449 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 392
Abstract
Ocean current energy is abundant, yet its exploitation is severely constrained by the low-velocity conditions typical of most marine environments, where conventional lift-type turbines exhibit poor self-starting capability and low efficiency. This review provides the first comprehensive synthesis of research on free-stream Archimedes [...] Read more.
Ocean current energy is abundant, yet its exploitation is severely constrained by the low-velocity conditions typical of most marine environments, where conventional lift-type turbines exhibit poor self-starting capability and low efficiency. This review provides the first comprehensive synthesis of research on free-stream Archimedes spiral hydrokinetic turbines (ASHTs), a class of drag-dominated rotors developed specifically for low-velocity kinetic energy harvesting. A unified classification is introduced, dividing ASHTs into single-blade long-axis (SL-ASHT) and three-blade short-axis (TS-ASHT) configurations. The energy conversion mechanisms, governed by pressure difference and hydrodynamic force synergy within helical passages, are elucidated, and the influence of critical geometric parameters is assessed. For SL-ASHTs, the analysis highlights exceptional self-starting capability (cut-in velocity: 0.1 m/s), a starting torque coefficient of 0.52, a maximum power coefficient of 0.51, and passive yaw adaptability that limits efficiency variation to below 2% over yaw angles of 0–40°. TS-ASHTs feature a compact architecture and higher rotational speed, facilitating direct generator coupling. With variable blade-angle distributions, thin airfoils, and non-uniform gap ratios, the power coefficient reaches 0.312. Performance-enhancement measures, including multi-parameter optimization, ducts, and winglets, deliver power gains of up to 35%, 122%, and 12%, respectively. This review further identifies critical barriers to engineering deployment: sediment erosion, cyclic fatigue, performance degradation under large yaw angles, and wake interactions. Future priorities include multi-objective optimization, advanced materials and flow control, full-scale sea trials, multiphysics coupling, array layout optimization, and hybrid energy system integration. By establishing a coherent classification and performance-evaluation framework, this work demonstrates that ASHTs offer strong potential as core devices for large-scale utilization of low-velocity ocean current and river hydrokinetic energy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Topic Marine Energy)
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16 pages, 4369 KB  
Article
Design and Evaluation of Sequential Near-Bottom Mobile Organism Sampling Equipment Intended for Deep-Sea Mining Plume-Affected Zones
by Kaichuang Wang, Haiyang You, Xinghui Tan, Jiale Wu, Bo Han, Junyi Yang, Congchi Huang, Jiawang Chen and Jin Guo
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1448; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151448 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 328
Abstract
Deep-sea mining generates plumes containing heavy metals harmful to marine ecosystems. Assessing their impact on benthic organisms is essential. Traditional monitoring methods commonly employ acoustic, optical, and electrical approaches to investigate collective behaviors of organisms, while direct acquisition and in situ preservation of [...] Read more.
Deep-sea mining generates plumes containing heavy metals harmful to marine ecosystems. Assessing their impact on benthic organisms is essential. Traditional monitoring methods commonly employ acoustic, optical, and electrical approaches to investigate collective behaviors of organisms, while direct acquisition and in situ preservation of biological specimens during deployment remain challenging. To address this limitation, a novel sequential near-bottom mobile organisms sampling equipment equipped with multiple chambers was developed. Sequential sampling of near-bottom mobile organisms was conducted to obtain samples at different time points for individual-level biological assessment. This study investigates the alcohol diffusion dynamics at various injection volumes. The results show that during injection, alcohol is concentrated in the upper section of the chamber. When 5.0 L of alcohol is introduced, the alcohol mass fraction within the sampling container rapidly reaches and stabilizes at 87%. The sampling equipment’s performance was evaluated through dock experiments and deep-sea trials at a depth of 1571 m in the South China Sea. Field tests successfully captured five jellyfish, with alcohol mass fractions of 85%, 87%, and 87% achieved in the respective chambers. These results demonstrate the feasibility of the equipment for sequential biological sampling and in situ preservation in deep-sea environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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31 pages, 2170 KB  
Review
Methodologies for Underwater Geomagnetic Navigation: Progress and Prospects
by Wenjun Zhang, Jiaqing Chen, Menghang Wu, Ye Li, Zhe Dong, Li Wang and Teng Ma
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1447; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151447 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 515
Abstract
High-precision, long-endurance navigation remains a central bottleneck for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operating in GNSS-denied, acoustically constrained, and dynamically disturbed marine environments. This manuscript examines the complete sensing-mapping-estimation chain for underwater geomagnetic navigation. It distinguishes scalar and vector measurements; compares shipborne, towed, and [...] Read more.
High-precision, long-endurance navigation remains a central bottleneck for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) operating in GNSS-denied, acoustically constrained, and dynamically disturbed marine environments. This manuscript examines the complete sensing-mapping-estimation chain for underwater geomagnetic navigation. It distinguishes scalar and vector measurements; compares shipborne, towed, and AUV-mounted survey configurations, calibration requirements, platform-interference mitigation, and uncertainty sources; reviews global, regional, and local magnetic models; and evaluates nonlinear map-aided positioning. Existing approaches are organized into map-based matching, filter-aided navigation, geomagnetic simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), and matching-area adaptability assessment. Their assumptions, data requirements, uncertainty treatment, accuracy evidence, and computational burden are critically compared. Persistent gaps include magnetic cleanliness, three-dimensional mapping, weak-feature-area observability, benchmark datasets, uncertainty quantification, and reproducible long-duration sea trials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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34 pages, 11271 KB  
Article
Adaptive Fixed-Time Anti-Saturation Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Control for Multi-AUV Formation Tracking Under Actuator Saturation and Lumped Disturbances
by Kaihang Zhang, Lijing Dong and Zhipeng Fan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1446; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151446 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 383
Abstract
This paper investigates formation trajectory tracking control for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) subject to actuator saturation and unknown lumped disturbances. An adaptive fixed-time nonsingular terminal sliding mode (AFxTNTSM) control method is proposed to achieve formation tracking under input constraints. First, a fixed-time [...] Read more.
This paper investigates formation trajectory tracking control for multiple autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) subject to actuator saturation and unknown lumped disturbances. An adaptive fixed-time nonsingular terminal sliding mode (AFxTNTSM) control method is proposed to achieve formation tracking under input constraints. First, a fixed-time nonsingular terminal sliding mode (FxTNTSM) surface is constructed to improve the convergence behavior of the position and velocity tracking errors while avoiding the singularity associated with conventional terminal sliding mode control. Second, a fixed-time dynamic auxiliary system (FxTDAS) is designed to compensate for the input deviation caused by actuator saturation. In addition, an adaptive robust compensation law is incorporated to handle unknown lumped disturbances without requiring prior knowledge of their upper bounds. Lyapunov-based analysis proves that the closed-loop tracking errors are practically fixed-time stable, and the settling-time upper bound is independent of the initial conditions. At this stage, validation is limited to numerical simulations, which illustrate that the proposed AFxTNTSM control method maintains the prescribed formation, attenuates time-varying lumped disturbances, and keeps the actual control inputs within the actuator saturation limits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Application of Underwater Vehicles—2nd Edition)
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35 pages, 15492 KB  
Article
Robust Adaptive Propagated Interval Observer for Actuator Fault Diagnosis in Underactuated AUVs
by Ishaq Ahmed, Ayman Alharbi, Jun Lu, Amar Jaffar and Muhammad Bilal
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1445; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151445 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 451
Abstract
This paper presents an interval-observer-based actuator fault detection and isolation (FDI) method for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) under bounded hydrodynamic uncertainty and time-varying ocean currents. A locally frozen linear time-invariant (LTI) representation enables deterministic set-membership analysis, and the robust adaptive propagated interval [...] Read more.
This paper presents an interval-observer-based actuator fault detection and isolation (FDI) method for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) under bounded hydrodynamic uncertainty and time-varying ocean currents. A locally frozen linear time-invariant (LTI) representation enables deterministic set-membership analysis, and the robust adaptive propagated interval observer (RAPIO) propagates admissible center–radius state bounds within a Lyapunov framework. Adaptivity is introduced through a reinforcement learning (RL)-augmented uncertainty-bound modulation mechanism, where an offline-trained agent scales a nonnegative channel-wise slack term without modifying the scheduled observer-gain rule or the nominal center predictor. Under the stated observer and disturbance-envelope conditions, positivity, stability, and diagnostic-channel inclusion hold for any bounded learning signal. Actuator loss-of-effectiveness (LoE) faults are represented through the actuator-effectiveness channel and detected through interval-consistency violations, enabling axis-wise isolation of surge, yaw-rate, and pitch-rate actuator faults. The same schedule-blind decision layer is additionally evaluated with structurally distinct additive-bias and stuck/jam actuator models. All stuck/jam events are detected, and bias-magnitude sweeps identify channel-wise 100%-detection boundaries with zero false alarms. A structured 72-case scenario sweep shows reliable detection, strong false-alarm rejection, and acceptable detection delays compared with benchmark observers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Application of Underwater Vehicles—2nd Edition)
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27 pages, 14805 KB  
Article
Research on Safety Assurance Strategies for Offshore Transfer Operations Based on Floating Hose State Prediction
by Hongcheng Zhong, Zichen Xu, Xianjing Bai and Zhenyu Wu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1444; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151444 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 310
Abstract
With the vigorous development of offshore energy and mining, offshore fracturing and deep-sea mining necessitate the ship-to-ship and platform-to-ship transfer of solid particles via floating hoses. However, traditional floating hoses designed for oil transportation are inadequate for the long-term and stable conveyance of [...] Read more.
With the vigorous development of offshore energy and mining, offshore fracturing and deep-sea mining necessitate the ship-to-ship and platform-to-ship transfer of solid particles via floating hoses. However, traditional floating hoses designed for oil transportation are inadequate for the long-term and stable conveyance of granular materials, as solid particles are prone to deposition and blockage under excessive bending. Additionally, in large-scale offshore fracturing operations, tension fluctuations in high-pressure hoses accelerate hose wear and compromise structural integrity. To address these challenges, this study proposes a systematic framework integrating neural network prediction with a feedforward–feedback composite control strategy. Spatial Attention–Convolutional Neural Network (SA-CNN) achieves the highest prediction accuracy and the strongest generalization capability across all operating conditions. Then, a feedforward–feedback composite control strategy is formulated, where the feedforward component is derived from SA-CNN predictions and the feedback component is provided by a PID controller, with an adaptive weighting mechanism adjusting their contributions based on prediction confidence. A curvature safety constraint is also incorporated to prevent excessive bending. The results show that the composite control strategy achieves the highest peak tension reduction, while achieving the lowest RMSE. Unlike pure PID, which introduces severe oscillations, the composite control strategy converges smoothly, confirming that feedforward prediction effectively suppresses feedback-induced oscillations. This study provides a theoretical foundation and a practical solution for the safety assurance of floating hoses in high-pressure fracturing fluid delivery applications and offshore solid particle transshipment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue AI-Driven Optimization of Ship Performance and Navigation Safety)
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38 pages, 5084 KB  
Article
Practitioner-Informed AI Decision Support for Maritime Accident-Type Risk in Korean Waters
by Dayoung Kim, Wonjin Choi, Seung Sim, Sewoong Oh and Hyunsoo Choi
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1443; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151443 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 282
Abstract
In maritime accident prevention, it is important to identify not only high-risk sea areas but also which accident-types are most likely to occur there. This study combines survey responses from 826 Korea Coast Guard practitioners with 3856 maritime accidents mapped onto an H3 [...] Read more.
In maritime accident prevention, it is important to identify not only high-risk sea areas but also which accident-types are most likely to occur there. This study combines survey responses from 826 Korea Coast Guard practitioners with 3856 maritime accidents mapped onto an H3 grid over Korean territorial waters during 2021–2023, and proposes a practitioner-informed framework for predicting accident-type-specific risk. The survey showed limited use of quantitative, standardized accident risk criteria but high demand for AI-based prediction and area-level risk analysis. Practitioners’ perceived accident frequency differed substantially from the empirical accident distribution, whereas their prevention priorities aligned more closely with the actual pattern. Accordingly, this study treats the accident-type taxonomy not as a fixed prediction target but as a design variable of the label space for decision support. A two-stage framework first estimates accident occurrence at the H3 grid-time level and then classifies the accident-type conditional on occurrence. Comparing survey-aligned, data-aligned, union, sufficient-sample, and full administrative (7-class) framings under a common training protocol shows that accident-type organization creates trade-offs among field interpretability, coverage, class granularity, and predictive stability. The study thus reframes maritime accident prediction as an accident-type-specific decision-support problem-linking practitioner perception with empirical evidence. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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27 pages, 3950 KB  
Article
Estimating Vessel Speed Through Water from Sparse Publicly Available Data Using AIS Trajectories and Tidal Current Reconstruction
by Paul Simavari, Kayvan Pazouki and Rosemary Norman
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1442; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151442 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 414
Abstract
Understanding vessel energy demand requires knowledge of vessel motion relative to the surrounding water, rather than motion relative to the Earth’s surface. However, direct measurements of speed through water (STW) are rarely accessible beyond individual vessels, as they rely on onboard instrumentation and [...] Read more.
Understanding vessel energy demand requires knowledge of vessel motion relative to the surrounding water, rather than motion relative to the Earth’s surface. However, direct measurements of speed through water (STW) are rarely accessible beyond individual vessels, as they rely on onboard instrumentation and are not publicly available. As a result, studies of vessel energy consumption and zero-emission transition pathways in inland waterway transport (IWT) often rely on Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, which provides speed over ground (SOG) but does not account for environmental current effects. The objective of this study is to develop an inferential method to estimate STW using sparse publicly available data. The proposed method combines AIS-derived vessel trajectories with a modelled environmental current field derived from tidal elevation data to resolve the component of the current acting along the vessel’s direction of travel. Vessel motion is reconstructed from AIS position data, and the along-track current component is obtained through vector projection onto the vessel trajectory. Combining this with observed SOG enables estimation of STW without onboard measurements. The method is evaluated using representative vessel case studies on the tidal River Thames, where estimated STW is compared with independent Doppler-based measurements. A detailed validation is presented for one representative vessel, with additional validation undertaken across multiple vessel types operating under different conditions. Across the validation cases, the methodology shows strong agreement with measured STW, demonstrating that STW can be estimated with acceptable accuracy using widely available data. This establishes the physical foundation required for subsequent propulsion power and energy-demand assessment in data-constrained environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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22 pages, 3832 KB  
Article
Instability Risk of Submarine Hydrate-Bearing Slopes Under Thermal Disturbances
by Xiaolong Song, Jiuhui Cheng, Bin Zhu and Hao Zhang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1441; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151441 - 6 Aug 2026
Viewed by 315
Abstract
Thermal disturbance can destabilize submarine hydrate-bearing sediments by reducing hydrate stability, promoting dissociation, weakening hydrate-derived cementation, and increasing excess pore pressure. This study develops a probabilistic framework coupling a one-dimensional thermal–hydrate evolution model with an infinite slope stability formulation. Hydrate system degradation is [...] Read more.
Thermal disturbance can destabilize submarine hydrate-bearing sediments by reducing hydrate stability, promoting dissociation, weakening hydrate-derived cementation, and increasing excess pore pressure. This study develops a probabilistic framework coupling a one-dimensional thermal–hydrate evolution model with an infinite slope stability formulation. Hydrate system degradation is represented by a hydrate degradation risk index (RIhyd), whereas mechanical stability is evaluated using the minimum factor of safety (FSmin). The reference simulation places hydrate mainly at 140–200 m below the seafloor, with a peak initial saturation of approximately 0.45. Over 10 ka, the hydrate occurrence zone contracts by approximately 66.7%. The minimum factor of safety, FSmin, decreases from approximately 6.2, crosses the warning threshold of 1.30, and first reaches the critical threshold of 1.00 at approximately 4.6 ka after substantial hydrate system degradation. Monte Carlo simulations (=800) yield a terminal median FSmin of approximately 2.8 and a 5th–95th percentile range of 1.1–11.4; the corresponding median RIhyd is approximately 31. The terminal probabilities of warning and critical states are approximately 0.16 and 0.08, respectively. Sensitivity analysis identifies slope angle and total temperature rise as the principal controls on FSmin, while total temperature rise dominates the coupled risk response. The framework provides an uncertainty-aware screening tool for comparing hydrate degradation and slope stability responses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Marine Geohazards and Offshore Geotechnics)
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33 pages, 1141 KB  
Article
Self-Organized Fencing Control of Multi-AUV Systems Under Limited Sensing and Nonuniform Acoustic Communication Delays
by Yi Huang, Li Cui, Liwei Kou, Zuguo Chen, Chaoyang Chen and Xin Hu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1440; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151440 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 306
Abstract
This paper formulates a self-organized dynamic fencing problem for multiple AUVs under finite target-sensing range and bounded nonuniform acoustic communication delays. Here, self-organization means that the fence is generated by local interactions without assigning fixed angular slots, virtual leaders, or persistent vehicle roles. [...] Read more.
This paper formulates a self-organized dynamic fencing problem for multiple AUVs under finite target-sensing range and bounded nonuniform acoustic communication delays. Here, self-organization means that the fence is generated by local interactions without assigning fixed angular slots, virtual leaders, or persistent vehicle roles. A minimal observer-assisted attraction-repulsion fencing controller is proposed for AUV implementation, comprising target-AUV radial attraction–repulsion, AUV–AUV distance attraction–repulsion computed from timestamp-aligned delayed neighbor states, a state-only target-motion observer, and a label-free bearing-coverage repulsion that acts only on oversized target-centered angular gaps. To address acoustic delay without delaying physical execution, each AUV stores its own state history and evaluates pairwise relative geometry at the timestamp carried by the received neighbor packet. The resulting command is applied at the current time. The analysis shows that timestamp alignment converts acoustic delay into a bounded geometric perturbation and establishes collision avoidance, radial confinement, angular-gap contraction, target tracking, and packet-range preservation on a locally order-consistent regular fencing interval. The theorem does not claim global entry from arbitrary non-enclosing configurations. Numerical simulations, including a five-degree-of-freedom ocean-current robustness test without current feedforward compensation and an evasive-target stress test with four rapid finite-acceleration turns, demonstrate self-organized entry and maintenance of compact convex-hull fencing in the tested cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Intelligent Control and Navigation of Unmanned Marine Vehicles)
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26 pages, 3727 KB  
Article
Containment Control with Group Control Strategy for Multi-USV Systems in Narrow Waterways
by Jiarui Liu, Yuanbo Su and Qihe Shan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1439; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151439 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 255
Abstract
This paper proposes a time-varying grouping containment control strategy for multi-unmanned surface vehicle (USV) systems navigating through narrow waterways with mid-channel obstacles. First, a virtual-leader-based grouping mechanism is developed to decompose the original global containment hull into multiple time-varying sub-convex hulls, enabling different [...] Read more.
This paper proposes a time-varying grouping containment control strategy for multi-unmanned surface vehicle (USV) systems navigating through narrow waterways with mid-channel obstacles. First, a virtual-leader-based grouping mechanism is developed to decompose the original global containment hull into multiple time-varying sub-convex hulls, enabling different follower subgroups to pass through separated navigable regions. Subsequently, a local algebraic-connectivity-based topology reconfiguration strategy is introduced within each subgroup to regulate follower-to-follower coupling while preserving subgroup connectivity. Moreover, a fuzzy adaptive compensator is incorporated into the distributed containment control protocol to compensate for matched unknown hydrodynamic nonlinearities and environmental disturbances. A Lyapunov-based analysis demonstrates that the containment errors and adaptive parameters are uniformly ultimately bounded under admissible local topology switching and bounded virtual-leader motion. Finally, numerical simulations with four actual leaders and six followers indicate that, in the considered scenario, the proposed method maintains positive obstacle clearance, regulates local algebraic connectivity, and improves the robustness of grouping containment control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Modeling and Intelligent Control of Marine Vehicles)
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17 pages, 3553 KB  
Article
Record-Breaking Marine Heatwave Event in the Yellow Sea During Summer 2024 and Its Underlying Mechanisms
by Aimei Wang, Dong Wang, Jingxin Luo and Wenshan Li
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1438; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151438 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 412
Abstract
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are persistent extreme warm events in the ocean that pose substantial threats to marine ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, and offshore energy infrastructure. In 2024, the Yellow Sea experienced the most intense MHW on record in terms of cumulative intensity, with sea [...] Read more.
Marine heatwaves (MHWs) are persistent extreme warm events in the ocean that pose substantial threats to marine ecosystems, fisheries, aquaculture, and offshore energy infrastructure. In 2024, the Yellow Sea experienced the most intense MHW on record in terms of cumulative intensity, with sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies exceeding 5 °C and an exceptional duration of 118 days. Using the ERA5 atmospheric reanalysis and GLORYS12V1 ocean reanalysis, this study systematically investigates the characteristics, driving mechanisms, and extremity of this event. Mixed-layer heat budget analysis indicates that enhanced shortwave radiation was the primary contributor to the warming, which is closely linked to the westward-extending and northward-shifting subtropical high. During MHW decay, sea surface cooling is dominated by enhanced latent heat flux, closely linked to typhoon and cold air activities. Further analysis links the positive SST anomalies to the North Atlantic and the Barents Sea warming, which triggered a Eurasian teleconnection wave train. These results highlight the importance of cross-basin climate connectivity in driving regional maritime temperature extremes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Physical Oceanography)
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37 pages, 9887 KB  
Article
Channel-Aware Residual BiLSTM for Ship Trajectory Prediction and Collision Risk Assessment in Restricted Waters
by Haibo Xie, Zhiqiang Shi, Yujing Jiang and Yangyang Ren
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1437; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151437 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 417
Abstract
Restricted waterways combine curved fairways, limited maneuvering space, and dense encounters, complicating short-term ship trajectory prediction and collision risk assessment. This study proposes a channel-aware residual Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) framework. The Nonlinear Randomly Reuse-based Mutated Whale Optimization Algorithm (NRRMWOA) configures its [...] Read more.
Restricted waterways combine curved fairways, limited maneuvering space, and dense encounters, complicating short-term ship trajectory prediction and collision risk assessment. This study proposes a channel-aware residual Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (BiLSTM) framework. The Nonlinear Randomly Reuse-based Mutated Whale Optimization Algorithm (NRRMWOA) configures its hyperparameters; a constant-velocity (CV) residual prior, channel look-ahead geometry, global–local fusion, and an Artificial Potential Field–Potential Collision Risk (APF-PCR) risk head are incorporated. Evaluation uses Automatic Identification System (AIS) data from two restricted-water regions. The fused system yields average and final displacement errors (ADE and FDE) of 103.70/217.16 m in Study Area 1 and 116.15/243.67 m in Study Area 2. Compared with the strongest metric-specific model, the ADE/FDE reductions are 5.47%/6.15% and 8.27%/8.07%, respectively; all differences are significant. The alert+ area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values are 0.988 and 0.993. Under the tested conditions, the CV residual, channel constraints, and expert fusion reduce trajectory error and supply forecasts for stepwise collision risk assessment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ship Manoeuvring and Control)
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20 pages, 4328 KB  
Article
Multi-Year Predictability of Sandy Shoreline Change from Remote-Sensing Reconstruction and a Spatiotemporal Transformer
by Keyu Tao, Fenzhen Su, Fengqin Yan, Vincent Lyne and Jiaojie Zhang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1436; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151436 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 382
Abstract
Most studies of sandy shoreline forecasting address relatively short time scales. Under limited annual observations and strong shoreline persistence, the added value of a Transformer over simple baselines and the influence of remotely sensed shoreline definitions remain insufficiently tested. Using Xichong Beach, Shenzhen, [...] Read more.
Most studies of sandy shoreline forecasting address relatively short time scales. Under limited annual observations and strong shoreline persistence, the added value of a Transformer over simple baselines and the influence of remotely sensed shoreline definitions remain insufficiently tested. Using Xichong Beach, Shenzhen, we constructed 40-year shoreline series for 80 transects from 284 quality-controlled Landsat waterlines acquired during 1986–2025. We compared a quality-controlled annual landward-envelope composite waterline with annual median waterlines and examined the effects of transect spacing and positional error on long-term change rates. We then developed a residual spatiotemporal Transformer that uses 10 years of shoreline states and historical wind–wave exposure to directly predict five future horizons, and compared it with persistence, rolling linear trend, and random forest models. The annual landward-envelope composite waterline was systematically landward of the annual median waterline (positional RMSE, 12.78 m), but their alongshore LRR patterns were strongly correlated (r = 0.982) and identified consistent major erosion–accretion zones. After Monte Carlo error propagation, the beach-mean LRR was −0.250 m yr−1 (95% interval, −0.299 to −0.203 m yr−1), whereas the direction of change remained uncertain at 39 local transects. Across 400 year–transect locations in the independent 2021–2025 evaluation period, the Transformer produced the lowest RMSE, MAE, and Dynamic RMSE (9.403, 7.399, and 12.042 m, respectively), with an RMSE skill of 27.0% relative to persistence. Environmental features yielded a small gain during rolling validation but no stable improvement in the independent evaluation period. SHAP attribution identified recent shoreline state as the dominant predictive information, followed by wind–wave exposure. Direct forecasts for 2026–2030 gave a beach-mean displacement of −8.527 m in 2030 (95% conditional residual bootstrap interval, −12.514 to −4.950 m), although every local-transect interval crossed zero. Multi-year predictability is therefore scale dependent: beach-mean trends are more resolvable, whereas local change directions remain constrained by observation error and model residuals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Coastal Engineering)
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29 pages, 9031 KB  
Article
Omic and Biochemical Profiling of European Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) Fillets Under Sub-Chilled Storage
by Evangelia D. Apostolidi, Myrsini Charikleous, Maria Kyritsi, Sofia Michailidou, Athanasios K. Anagnostopoulos, Sotirios Zerveas, Pavlos Voutsas, Chrysi A. Papadimitriou, Chrysoula Gubili, Nikolaos Stamatis and Grigorios Krey
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1435; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151435 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 492
Abstract
Sensory, proximate composition, microbiological analyses and fatty acid profiling, combined with omic analyses, were employed to examine qualitative changes in the fillet of fresh European anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus), caught in September of years 2020, 2021, and 2022 in the North Aegean [...] Read more.
Sensory, proximate composition, microbiological analyses and fatty acid profiling, combined with omic analyses, were employed to examine qualitative changes in the fillet of fresh European anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus), caught in September of years 2020, 2021, and 2022 in the North Aegean Sea (Greece), and stored for 72 h in a salt-containing ice slurry (sub-chilled conditions). Sensorially, the quality of the whole fish decreased significantly (p < 0.05) at the end of the storage period. However, total microbial viable counts remained relatively stable (≤105 CFU), as did the proximate components of the fillet, as well as the fatty acid profile of the total fat, with the main differences noted only in the distribution of the DHA and EPA in the lipid classes. Histamine levels remained at trace levels during storage and, from the proteomic analysis of the 2021 sample, significant differences were observed only in actin α1a, out of 27 major muscle proteins examined. The 16S rRNA gene analysis indicated important inter-annual changes in the anchovy’s microbiota, with no obvious pattern regarding the presence or changes in relative abundance of genera with spoilage potential during the storage period. Overall, the results suggest that short-term sub-chilled storage preserves to a large extent the nutritional and biochemical integrity of the anchovy fillets. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Marine Biology)
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33 pages, 1244 KB  
Systematic Review
Integration Mechanisms and Performance in Port–Hinterland Supply Chains: A Systematic Review
by Hao Zhang, Mark Ching-Pong Poo, Yui-yip Lau and Shiqi Fan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1434; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151434 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 603
Abstract
Port–hinterland links are a major driver of performance in maritime supply chains, affecting landed cost, service reliability and environmental outcomes. Yet research on ports and inland freight remains fragmented across transport geography, logistics, operations research and governance studies. This review consolidates evidence on [...] Read more.
Port–hinterland links are a major driver of performance in maritime supply chains, affecting landed cost, service reliability and environmental outcomes. Yet research on ports and inland freight remains fragmented across transport geography, logistics, operations research and governance studies. This review consolidates evidence on how physical, operational, governance and digital integration levers shape supply chain outcomes at the port–hinterland interface. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)-informed protocol was applied to Web of Science Core Collection records retrieved with a title-level port–hinterland query, last updated on 23 November 2025. The qualitative synthesis covers 90 peer-reviewed studies published from 2008 to 2026. Four eligible records (IN22, IN30, IN54 and IN83) could not be retrieved as full texts and are excluded from the qualitative synthesis; their metadata are retained only in the 94-record bibliometric keyword layer. The review traces the evolution from spatial and administrative views of hinterlands toward functional, network-based and actor-centred perspectives, and synthesises seven streams: delimitation and port choice, corridor competition, dry ports and extended gates, coordination and governance, multimodal operations, digitalisation, and sustainability and resilience. It proposes a four-layer conceptual framework linking infrastructure, services, governance and information integration to cost, reliability, capacity, emissions and resilience. The evidence base remains dominated by model-based studies that offer limited causal identification, supporting a focused agenda for more empirically grounded port–hinterland supply chain research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Design and Innovation for Sustainable Maritime Transport Systems)
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20 pages, 962 KB  
Article
Influence of Sediment Mixing Induced by the Gallery-Diffusor Hediste diversicolor on the Burial of Different Microplastic Particles: A Comparative Tracer Study
by Christopher Gebhardt, Michael Beckers and Stefan Forster
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1433; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151433 - 5 Aug 2026
Viewed by 389
Abstract
Although marine sediments are recognized as a sink for marine microplastic particles, investigations into the fate of once deposited particles have received relatively little interest so far. Through interactions with sediment-dwelling organisms, these particles are subject to potential burial in the wake of [...] Read more.
Although marine sediments are recognized as a sink for marine microplastic particles, investigations into the fate of once deposited particles have received relatively little interest so far. Through interactions with sediment-dwelling organisms, these particles are subject to potential burial in the wake of bioturbation. In this study, we analyzed the effect of sediment reworking by the polychaete Hediste diversicolor O.F. Müller, 1776, using different particle tracers—luminophores, polyethylene (PE), and polyamide (PA). Transport induced by H. diversicolor was observed to extend to sediment depths up to 14 cm with similar biodiffusive and advective transport rates for all tracer types. Local transport (Db) was 1.09 cm2 yr−1 for luminophores; microplastics showed slightly lower local transport with Db of 0.81 cm2 yr−1 (PA) and 0.57 cm2 yr−1 (PE). Non-local transport (r) was comparably low for all particle types, ranging from 0.69 yr−1 for luminophores and 0.95 yr−1 (PA) and 1.27 yr−1 (PE) for microplastics. Food addition did not significantly increase bioturbation activity of H. diversicolor. Despite differences in size and density, the particle tracer types in this study showed no significant differences in modeled bioturbation coefficients or burial depth, emphasizing that bioturbation of microplastics is not governed by particle properties alone but also by the functional ecology of the bioturbator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Marine Environmental Science)
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32 pages, 18913 KB  
Article
A Multi-Scale Underwater Laser Image Restoration Method with Polarization Feature Constraints
by Junqi Yan and Xun Yu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1432; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151432 - 4 Aug 2026
Viewed by 289
Abstract
Underwater laser imaging is widely used for deep-sea exploration, autonomous underwater navigation, and inspection of marine infrastructure, where high-precision observation under optically challenging conditions is required. These imaging systems are inherently limited by absorption attenuation, volume scattering, and backscattered noise, leading to reduced [...] Read more.
Underwater laser imaging is widely used for deep-sea exploration, autonomous underwater navigation, and inspection of marine infrastructure, where high-precision observation under optically challenging conditions is required. These imaging systems are inherently limited by absorption attenuation, volume scattering, and backscattered noise, leading to reduced visibility, low contrast, and loss of structural details. In this study, we propose a Polarization-Constrained Multi-Scale Defogging and Restoration (PCMS-DR) algorithm designed for turbid and heterogeneous aquatic environments, specifically targeting submerged engineered structures, pipelines, and other objects of interest. The method integrates polarization feature constraints with multi-scale decomposition, enabling robust separation of backscattered light and target-reflected signals while preserving high-frequency structural information. To quantitatively evaluate the proposed framework, two complementary validation strategies are adopted. First, polarization-resolved Monte Carlo photon propagation simulations are conducted to generate physically consistent synthetic underwater laser images for controlled analysis under different scattering conditions. Second, real-world validation is performed using 12 self-acquired coastal underwater laser imaging scenes collected under representative aquatic environments. The simulation and experimental datasets are analyzed separately to ensure that the quantitative evaluation accurately reflects both physical restoration capability and practical applicability. Quantitative results from the Monte Carlo simulation experiments demonstrate that the proposed PCMS-DR method achieves a peak PSNR of 26.52 dB and an SSIM of 0.836 under representative low-turbidity conditions, outperforming polarization-only and multi-scale-only baselines. In addition, evaluation on the self-acquired real underwater laser imaging dataset containing 12 coastal scenes indicates an average backscatter suppression ratio of 22.3% and a local contrast enhancement ratio of 1.62. These results confirm that the proposed method improves image visibility and structural preservation across both controlled simulations and practical imaging scenarios. Furthermore, evaluation on 12 real coastal underwater laser imaging scenes demonstrates an average backscatter suppression ratio of 22.3% and a local contrast enhancement ratio of 1.62, indicating improved visibility, contrast, and structural fidelity. The principal novelty of the proposed framework lies in the unified integration of polarization-constrained backscatter modeling, multi-scale transmission estimation, and physically guided detail restoration within a single optimization framework. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed PCMS-DR framework provides physically interpretable and effective restoration performance under the tested turbidity range for underwater laser imaging applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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23 pages, 346 KB  
Article
Risk Evaluation of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship Operations: A Formal Safety Assessment Approach
by Xinyue Nian, Deling Wang and Xinqiang Chen
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1431; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151431 - 4 Aug 2026
Viewed by 446
Abstract
Maritime autonomous surface ships (MASSs) are reshaping the organization of navigation, ship operation, remote control and maritime supervision. However, the transition from crewed navigation to autonomy also changes the structure of safety risk. Traditional ship risk assessment approaches rely heavily on historical accident [...] Read more.
Maritime autonomous surface ships (MASSs) are reshaping the organization of navigation, ship operation, remote control and maritime supervision. However, the transition from crewed navigation to autonomy also changes the structure of safety risk. Traditional ship risk assessment approaches rely heavily on historical accident records and crew-centered operational assumptions, whereas MASS operations involve coupled risks arising from perception systems, autonomous decision-making, communication links, cybersecurity, remote control centers, environmental uncertainty and management readiness. To address the scarcity of operational accident data and the need for a structured safety evaluation method, this paper develops a Formal Safety Assessment (FSA)-based risk evaluation framework for MASS operations. A hierarchical indicator system is established from five dimensions: ship machinery, human factors, environmental factors, information technology and management. A frequency-severity risk criterion is then constructed by defining the Frequency Index (FI), Severity Index (SI) and Risk Index (RI), and by introducing the ALARP principle to classify unacceptable, tolerable and broadly acceptable risk regions. On this basis, an integrated fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is proposed to determine factor weights, transform expert judgements into membership degrees, and calculate comprehensive risk scores. A case study using 50 expert questionnaires shows that the overall risk score of MASS operation is 5.64, located in the ALARP region. Among the first-level indicators, environmental factors, information technology factors and ship machinery factors present relatively high risk levels, with scores of 6.82, 6.60 and 6.25, respectively. At the secondary-indicator level, intelligent navigation system, weather conditions, hydrometeorological conditions, communication capability, equipment and systems, navigation decision-making, and environmental perception are identified as high-intensity risk indicators. Further contribution decomposition reveals that environmental perception, routine ship management, navigation decision-making, and communication capability contribute most substantially to the overall risk profile due to their higher systemic importance. The proposed framework provides an interpretable approach for MASS safety assessment and risk-control prioritization under limited operational data availability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Marine Hazards)
21 pages, 2920 KB  
Article
Structural Design and Performance Analysis of Underwater Tethered Vehicles
by Yan Luo, Xinming Xiong, Xia Yang, Xiong Deng, Dingfeng Yu, Yiyun Peng and Yanyang Wu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1430; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151430 - 4 Aug 2026
Viewed by 381
Abstract
An underwater towed vehicle serves as an effective and widely applicable mobile marine observation platform. Existing towed vehicles rely heavily on cables for depth adjustment. They also suffer from poor hydrodynamic efficiency and insufficient instrument space. To address these limitations, this study developed [...] Read more.
An underwater towed vehicle serves as an effective and widely applicable mobile marine observation platform. Existing towed vehicles rely heavily on cables for depth adjustment. They also suffer from poor hydrodynamic efficiency and insufficient instrument space. To address these limitations, this study developed a novel compensation control system. This system regulates the vehicle’s vertical movement and cable deployment by controlling the attack angles of its front and rear hydrofoils. The Myring profile was selected as the base design for the towed vehicle, offering excellent hydrodynamic performance, ample internal space, and cost-effectiveness. To verify the system’s reliability, critical components were meticulously designed and calibrated. Hydrodynamic simulations confirmed that adjusting the hydrofoil angle effectively controls vertical motion, with stress and deformation in the lifting mechanism and cable connectors meeting design specifications. Additionally, the overall drag resistance remains low, while the lift generated by both hydrofoils satisfies depth adjustment requirements. This research provides robust numerical foundations for developing vertical control strategies, optimizing operational conditions, and conducting subsequent sea trials of towed vehicles. Quantitative comparison with the conventional scheme indicates that the proposed structure cuts total drag by 21.6%, boosts depth adjustment efficiency by 47.3%, and achieves a 32% higher hydrofoil lift-drag ratio, accompanied by a structural safety factor of 1.8 and maximum deformation of only 1.711 mm under rated working conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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28 pages, 2429 KB  
Article
Wave-Filtering Observer-Based Nonlinear Position-Keeping Control for Underactuated Unmanned Surface Vehicles
by Changxing Nie, Weijian Huang, Gang Wan, Sisi Zhu, Xinyu Li, Yang Qu, Xianbo Xiang and Shaolong Yang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1429; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151429 - 4 Aug 2026
Viewed by 267
Abstract
This paper presents a positioning control method for underactuated unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) subject to environmental disturbances and wave-contaminated measurements. In underactuated dynamic positioning, surge motion and yaw motion can be directly regulated by the propulsion system, whereas sway motion cannot be directly [...] Read more.
This paper presents a positioning control method for underactuated unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) subject to environmental disturbances and wave-contaminated measurements. In underactuated dynamic positioning, surge motion and yaw motion can be directly regulated by the propulsion system, whereas sway motion cannot be directly controlled by an independent lateral thrust. Therefore, the lateral environmental-force component is utilized to induce the vehicle’s dynamic response to sway. To achieve this objective, a position-keeping guidance system taking into account the desired heading and the lateral positioning error is introduced in this paper. With this guidance mechanism, the lateral environmental-force component can drive the USV to reduce the cross-track error, thereby enabling underactuated positioning. A rotated coordinate system is established around the desired position, and the positioning error is decomposed into along-track and cross-track components. To improve the transient response, an error-rate feedback term is introduced into the rotated-angle update law for yaw-heading guidance design, which enhances the damping of the cross-track dynamics. Meanwhile, a wave-filtering observer is designed to make low-frequency position and velocity estimates for feedback control. Simulation results under multiple operating conditions show that the proposed observer reduces the amplitude and high-frequency variation of the control signals compared with the existing wave-filtering observer, and the proposed positioning control method achieves smaller positioning errors than the existing nonlinear positioning control (NPC). The comparative results also indicate that the proposed method is suitable for position keeping under constant or slowly varying environmental loads, moderate model uncertainty, and wave-contaminated measurements, whereas rapidly varying load directions may degrade the positioning accuracy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Modeling and Intelligent Control of Marine Vehicles)
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45 pages, 6749 KB  
Article
Experimental Validation and Load-Supply Feasibility Assessment of a Battery-Coupled Wind–Photovoltaic Auxiliary Power System for a Small Marine Vessel
by Ciprian Popa, Florențiu Deliu, Iancu Ciocioi, Andrei Darius Deliu, Petrică Popov, Adelina Rodica Bordianu, Adrian Popa, Narcis Octavian Volintiru, Doru Coșofreț and Gheorghe Samoilescu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1428; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151428 - 4 Aug 2026
Viewed by 340
Abstract
This study develops and experimentally validates a battery-coupled wind–photovoltaic power model for auxiliary electrical supply in small-vessel systems. The prototype integrates a 395 W CS6R-395MS monocrystalline photovoltaic module (CSI Solar Co., Ltd., Suzhou, Jiangsu, China), a 200 W FA200W horizontal-axis wind turbine (VEVOR, [...] Read more.
This study develops and experimentally validates a battery-coupled wind–photovoltaic power model for auxiliary electrical supply in small-vessel systems. The prototype integrates a 395 W CS6R-395MS monocrystalline photovoltaic module (CSI Solar Co., Ltd., Suzhou, Jiangsu, China), a 200 W FA200W horizontal-axis wind turbine (VEVOR, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA), maximum power point tracking (MPPT) power-conditioning stages, a 24 V/28 Ah AGM VRLA battery bank composed of four BAT212120086 batteries (Victron Energy B.V., Almere, The Netherlands), a 24 V DC bus, and a Phoenix 24/500 pure sine-wave inverter (Victron Energy B.V., Almere, The Netherlands), targeting non-propulsion navigation, communication, and lighting loads on a 5.7 m length overall (LOA) vessel. Field-acquired irradiance, cell temperature, incidence angle, PV voltage, wind speed, and rotor-speed data were used as time-dependent model inputs and compared with synchronized active-power measurements. Across the full 15–24 September 2025 experimental campaign, the maximum absolute relative error remained below 2.69%, while the aggregate statistical validation indices were ME = −0.1041 W, MAE = 0.3988 W, RMSE = 0.4931 W, and MAPE = 0.5946%. For the representative cloud-adverse case study conducted on 21 September 2025, the measured hybrid generation reached Ehyb=611.3 Wh over 8.28 h, corresponding to CRES=102.1% of the selected Eload=599 Wh/day auxiliary-load profile and to Chyb+bat=158.1% when the usable battery reserve at 50% depth of discharge (DOD) was included. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Marine Energy)
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20 pages, 13435 KB  
Article
Lessons Learned from the French Drift Committee (CODER): An Operational, Collaborative Approach to Refine Oil Drift Modeling at Sea—Case Study of the RAMOGEPOL 2025 Exercise
by Simon Martin, Vincent Gouriou, Edmée Durand, Coralline Nicolas, Gauthier Dupire, Morgane Mignot, Yann Ferret, Stéphanie Louazel, Jean-François Le Roux and Valérie Ulvoas
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1427; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151427 - 3 Aug 2026
Viewed by 463
Abstract
Marine oil spill management requires rapid and accurate forecasts to mitigate environmental and operational risks. Created in 2002 during the Prestige spill and formally established in 2006, the French Drift Committee (CODER) unites expertise from CEDRE, Météo-France, Ifremer and Shom to refine oil [...] Read more.
Marine oil spill management requires rapid and accurate forecasts to mitigate environmental and operational risks. Created in 2002 during the Prestige spill and formally established in 2006, the French Drift Committee (CODER) unites expertise from CEDRE, Météo-France, Ifremer and Shom to refine oil drift modeling and response strategies. CODER’s operational scope combines multi-model forecasting, including MOTHY and OILMAP, integrated with real-time observations from drifting buoys, satellite/aerial observations and high-resolution environmental data, such as Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) current forecasts and Météo-France’s ARPEGE and AROME wind models. Annual exercises, such as RAMOGEPOL 2025, provide a controlled environment to test model performance in diverse hydrodynamic conditions and recalibrate simulations using real-time buoy data. During this exercise, the French Navy’s Anti-Pollution Practical Expertise Center (CEPPOL) deployed buoys in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Saint-Tropez, France, in both the Northern Current and wind-driven coastal waters, enabling CODER to assess model performance and refine simulations by comparing buoy trajectories with model outputs. This process enhances the accuracy of drift predictions, improves the understanding of local hydrodynamics, and identifies models’ strengths and limitations. By systematically evaluating and adjusting models using operational data, CODER strengthens the reliability of drift forecasts, ensuring more effective and adaptive responses to marine pollution incidents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drift Modeling at Sea: Applications to Marine Pollution, Harmful Algal Blooms, Sargassum, and Search and Rescue Operations)
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24 pages, 6345 KB  
Article
Comparison of Structural Performance of T-Flange Joints Using Different Bolt Grades Under Axial Tensile Loading Conditions
by Muhammad Waleed and Daeyong Lee
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1426; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151426 - 3 Aug 2026
Viewed by 311
Abstract
This study investigates the effect of bolt grade on the structural performance of T-flange joints used in wind turbine support structures. A nonlinear finite element model was developed to compare Grade 10.9 and Grade 12.9 bolts under identical loading and boundary conditions. The [...] Read more.
This study investigates the effect of bolt grade on the structural performance of T-flange joints used in wind turbine support structures. A nonlinear finite element model was developed to compare Grade 10.9 and Grade 12.9 bolts under identical loading and boundary conditions. The results showed that using Grade 12.9 bolts increased the reaction force by 12.3%, bolt stress by 21%, bolt strain by 18.7%, flange strain by 20.0%, tower shell strain by 18%, and tower shell stress by 11.2% compared with Grade 10.9 bolts. The external-load–bolt-force Z-Fs relationship, where Z denotes the applied external tensile load and Fs denotes the corresponding internal axial bolt force, was used to evaluate bolt-force development and load transfer during loading. The Z-Fs relationship further showed that the internal bolt force increased by 13.7% for Grade 12.9 bolts at the design external tensile load. These results indicate that Grade 12.9 bolts improve load-transfer capacity and joint resistance, but they also increase the stress and strain demand on the connected flange and tower shell. Therefore, higher-grade bolts should be evaluated within the complete joint system rather than based on bolt strength alone. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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25 pages, 16621 KB  
Article
Enhancing the Survivability of Flexibly Connected Modular Floating Structures Using a Novel Submerged Floating Mooring System
by Xiaoxu Huang, Peipei Zhang, Longting Qiu, Yousheng Yang, Chengcheng Xue and Yufei Wu
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1425; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151425 - 3 Aug 2026
Viewed by 375
Abstract
The survivability of modular floating structures operating in harsh marine environments is critical to their safe and reliable deployment. To enhance the survivability of a flexibly connected modular floating platform under extreme sea conditions, a novel submerged floating mooring system (SFMS) is proposed. [...] Read more.
The survivability of modular floating structures operating in harsh marine environments is critical to their safe and reliable deployment. To enhance the survivability of a flexibly connected modular floating platform under extreme sea conditions, a novel submerged floating mooring system (SFMS) is proposed. The SFMS integrates a mooring system with buoyancy adjustment devices, enabling the structure to switch between surface and submerged modes in response to environmental conditions. This submergence capability facilitates rapid spatial relocation and significantly improves the floating structure’s resistance to extreme conditions while reducing operation and maintenance requirements. Numerical simulations were performed using the SESAM software to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed SFMS under extreme sea states. Compared with the mild sea condition, the extreme sea condition increases the motion responses of modules by 89.8–197.4%, leading to excessive connector loads and potential failure risks in some steel wires of the connectors. After submergence, the motion response was reduced by 45.8–80.0%, accompanied by substantial reductions in mooring line tensions, connector loads, and vertical accelerations. These improvements effectively enhance both the structural safety and habitability of the floating platform. Furthermore, wave direction exhibits a certain influence on the performance of the submerged structure, remaining within the acceptable fluctuations. In addition, the system performance is improved generally as the submergence depth increases. Considering safety and comfort, a submergence depth of 20 m under extreme sea conditions is an appropriate selection. The findings demonstrate that adaptive submergence enabled by the proposed SFMS is a promising strategy for improving the survivability of modular floating structures in severe marine environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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25 pages, 12661 KB  
Article
Research on Dynamic Modeling and Fault-Tolerant Control of IPT System for Intelligent Ship Wireless Charging
by Yuan Li, Pan Sun, Haiyan Zeng, Jun Sun and Changsong Cai
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1424; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151424 - 1 Aug 2026
Viewed by 394
Abstract
Aiming at the problems of intelligent ship inductive power transfer (IPT) systems under complex marine operating conditions, such as susceptibility to parameter perturbations and power device faults, which result in low modeling accuracy, slow dynamic response and poor post-fault stability, this paper investigates [...] Read more.
Aiming at the problems of intelligent ship inductive power transfer (IPT) systems under complex marine operating conditions, such as susceptibility to parameter perturbations and power device faults, which result in low modeling accuracy, slow dynamic response and poor post-fault stability, this paper investigates an integrated full-system fault diagnosis and hierarchical fault-tolerant control strategy. Based on the complex Fourier series and generalized state-space averaging (GSSA) method, a complete nonlinear time-domain model of the IPT system is established. The high-order switching-coupled system is accurately reduced to a first-order dominant model, and the inherent over-damping characteristics of the system as well as the influence rules of relevant parameters are clarified. A PI closed-loop regulation strategy is designed, and the trade-off mechanism of proportional integral parameters regarding steady-state accuracy, response speed and fault robustness is revealed. Comparative theoretical analysis and simulation results verify that the established model is highly consistent with the dynamic characteristics of the practical system, with the steady-state error controlled within 2%. Under the open-circuit fault of power switches, the system can still maintain stable output current without instability or sharp current drop, demonstrating excellent fault tolerance. The research findings provide a theoretical basis and technical support for high-precision modeling, parameter tuning and the safe and reliable operation of wireless charging systems for intelligent ships. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Underwater Wireless Power Transfer Systems)
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23 pages, 8316 KB  
Article
Robust Ship Detection Algorithm Under Complex Occlusion Conditions
by Jiahang Li, Yan Zhang, Yu Sun and Churuo Zhang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1423; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151423 - 1 Aug 2026
Viewed by 325
Abstract
To address the accuracy degradation of ship detection caused by occlusion from adjacent vessels, shore-based facilities and meteorological obscuration in complex maritime-surveillance scenes, this paper proposes an occlusion-robust detection model named OAR-YOLO. An adaptive dual-path downsampling module termed ADown was embedded at the [...] Read more.
To address the accuracy degradation of ship detection caused by occlusion from adjacent vessels, shore-based facilities and meteorological obscuration in complex maritime-surveillance scenes, this paper proposes an occlusion-robust detection model named OAR-YOLO. An adaptive dual-path downsampling module termed ADown was embedded at the three backbone levels P3, P4 and P5, in which low-frequency contextual information and high-frequency edge information were preserved separately through parallel average-pooling and max-pooling branches, alleviating the information loss caused by conventional strided-convolution downsampling. An attention-driven intra-scale feature interaction module termed AIFI was embedded at the top level P5 to establish semantic associations between spatially separated visible regions through global self-attention, compensating for the insufficient cross-region connectivity caused by the locality of convolution. The two modules formed a dual compensation mechanism of information conservation and semantic connectivity. On a self-built ship dataset, OAR-YOLO achieved a Precision of 81.0%, an mAP@0.5 of 74.7% and an mAP@0.5–0.95 of 47.1%, with gains of 2.7, 2.6 and 1.4 percentage points over the YOLO11n baseline. The model has only 2.89 M parameters and 5.7 GFLOPs, with an inference time of 0.8 ms per frame, meeting the real-time deployment requirements of complex maritime applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Ocean Engineering)
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22 pages, 12720 KB  
Article
Possible Evidence for Sea Salt Production by Solar Evaporation at a Newly Discovered Submerged Neolithic Site off the Carmel Coast, Israel
by Ehud Galili, Vered Eshed, David E. Friesem and Isaac Ogloblin-Ramirez
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1422; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151422 - 1 Aug 2026
Viewed by 861
Abstract
The submerged Early Holocene landscape of the Carmel Coast (Israel) has yielded remarkable evidence of Neolithic settlements and their associated material culture, preserved on and within the seafloor. Here, we report on the preliminary documentation of a newly discovered submerged Neolithic site near [...] Read more.
The submerged Early Holocene landscape of the Carmel Coast (Israel) has yielded remarkable evidence of Neolithic settlements and their associated material culture, preserved on and within the seafloor. Here, we report on the preliminary documentation of a newly discovered submerged Neolithic site near N. Mearot Inlet, containing series of rectangular clay basins arranged in a grid pattern. Following their initial identification, sediment cores were extracted from the basins and the ramparts around them and analyzed for their pollen, phytoliths, and mineralogical composition; however, more samples are to be taken and the analyses have yet to yield more conclusive results. Comparisons with later case studies suggest that the polygonal cracking of the clay and the basins’ morphology, size, and spatial organization are more consistent with salt evaporation pans, which were operated ca. 7000 years BP, than with plot-and-berm agricultural use, though agricultural use cannot be ruled out entirely. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Geological Oceanography)
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22 pages, 10093 KB  
Article
A Dual-Branch Encoder–Decoder Network with Convolutional Long Short-Term Memory and Efficient Channel Attention for Forecasting Summer Marine Heatwaves in the East China Sea
by Yinjing Zhang, An Yi, Yang Yu, Boni Wang, Wenjin Sun and Haixia Shan
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1421; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151421 - 1 Aug 2026
Viewed by 317
Abstract
Frequent marine heatwaves (MHWs) threaten marine ecosystems and economies. To accurately anticipate MHW occurrence probability in the East China Sea (ECS), this work proposes MHW-NET, a deep learning model. The model uses an encoder–bottleneck–decoder dual-branch architecture, ConvLSTM, efficient channel attention (ECA), and a [...] Read more.
Frequent marine heatwaves (MHWs) threaten marine ecosystems and economies. To accurately anticipate MHW occurrence probability in the East China Sea (ECS), this work proposes MHW-NET, a deep learning model. The model uses an encoder–bottleneck–decoder dual-branch architecture, ConvLSTM, efficient channel attention (ECA), and a composite loss function with focal Tversky and SSIM losses. The model is trained on data from 1982 to 2011, with an independent test period of 2016–2022. Over lead days 1 to 7, MHW-NET performs relatively well in the Yellow Sea, while exhibiting substantially weaker performance in complex nearshore regions such as Bohai Bay, the Zhejiang coast, and the waters off northern Taiwan. The model accurately characterizes the spatial distribution of MHWs and reproduces the spatial patterns of the two extreme MHW events in 2016 and 2022, with spatial correlations exceeding 0.85. Feature importance analysis indicates that sea surface temperature and 2-m air temperature are the main driving factors of MHWs in the ECS. This study’s ablation experiments show that ConvLSTM and ECA are core modules and noise and refinement are auxiliary. Benchmark comparisons with baseline models further confirm the superiority of MHW-NET, demonstrating its potential for improving MHWs forecasting and early warning in the ECS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Section Physical Oceanography)
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17 pages, 3008 KB  
Article
Robust Adaptive Dynamic Positioning: An Asynchronous Actor and Critic Approach with Meta-Driven Radial Function Network
by Wanjin Huang, Jiqiang Li and Guoqing Zhang
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2026, 14(15), 1420; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse14151420 - 1 Aug 2026
Viewed by 246
Abstract
Dynamic Positioning systems are crucial for modern marine vessels to maintain positions or track trajectories under environmental disturbances. Traditional model-based and neural network control schemes often suffer from heavy computational burdens, low-velocity nonlinearities, and chattering near decision boundaries during waypoint transitions, which can [...] Read more.
Dynamic Positioning systems are crucial for modern marine vessels to maintain positions or track trajectories under environmental disturbances. Traditional model-based and neural network control schemes often suffer from heavy computational burdens, low-velocity nonlinearities, and chattering near decision boundaries during waypoint transitions, which can trigger actuator saturation. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an enhancing robust adaptive control algorithm. Specifically, a model-free control framework is developed by employing an asynchronous deep Actor–Critic neural network with multi-layer perceptron for high-precision policy approximation in continuous spaces. To accelerate convergence, an online meta-driven radial basis function network is proposed for adaptive reward shaping, optimized by the Adam scheme. Furthermore, at the guidance level, a hysteresis state machine and an adaptive damping reference model are designed to decouple wave-induced high-frequency chattering and eliminate thrust saturation. By applying dynamic surface control, the proposed scheme avoids complex thrust allocation calculations. The proposed method enhances system autonomy and ensures smooth transient behavior while maintaining compatibility with standard marine hardware. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue New Technologies in Autonomous Ship Navigation)
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