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Oceans
Special Issues
Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts
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Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts

A special issue of Oceans (ISSN 2673-1924).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 December 2026 | Viewed by 5422

Editors

Prof. Dr. Miaohua Mao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai 264003, China
Interests: numerical model; hydrodynamics; wave dynamics; wave–current interaction; coastal circulation; physical modeling; ocean dynamics; water exchange; lagoon; coastal engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Weijie Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, China
Interests: Bragg resonance of water waves; coastal engineering; hydraulic engineering; wave hydrodynamics; Boussinesq wave model; fringing reefs; infra-gravity waves; wave runup
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. María Paz Chidichimo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
2. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental 3iA, Escuela de Hábitat y Sostenibilidad, Universidad Nacional de San Martín (UNSAM), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Interests: physical oceanography; ocean circulation; climate change; western boundary currents; Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC); South Atlantic Ocean; Antarctic circumpolar current

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Ocean fronts, together with other dynamic processes such as circulations, eddies, and internal waves, exert significant effects on ocean dynamics, ecology, and biogeochemical processes. This Special Issue aims to develop an understanding of the forming mechanisms, structures, functions, and dynamics of ocean fronts, including hydrodynamics, air–sea interactions, energy and material transports, the biogeochemical cycle, and biological processes. Detailed studies provide a foundation for describing how ocean fronts and other processes interact, and for understanding the variations in the characteristics and effects of ocean fronts on event-level, seasonal, and interannual time scales. Manuscripts focusing on ocean fronts, including structures, dynamics, interactions, and processes, are welcome. Furthermore, all approaches to studying ocean fronts (e.g., in situ observations, satellite remote sensing, numerical modelling, and artificial intelligence) are relevant. Remarkable technical developments for ocean remote sensing technologies have provided views of some new ocean fronts that were previously unnoticed, so papers addressing temporal aspects spanning past, present, and future changes are welcome. This Special Issue also particularly encourages studies on ocean fronts in coastal areas, which can aid in deepening the understanding of land-sea interactions and the connections between coastal and open oceans.

Prof. Dr. Miaohua Mao
Dr. Weijie Liu
Dr. María Paz Chidichimo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Oceans is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ocean fronts
  • hydrodynamics
  • air–sea interactions
  • biogeochemical cycle
  • land–sea interactions

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

36 pages, 12544 KB  
Article
Adaptive Extraction of the Main Axis of the Kuroshio Current in the Northwest Pacific and Analysis of Multiscale Variability Mechanisms in the Front Zone
by Xiang Wan, Lei Zhang and Maolin Li
Oceans 2026, 7(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans7030049 - 9 Jun 2026
Viewed by 229
Abstract
Accurately capturing the Kuroshio’s main axis and its multiscale frontal variations remains challenging due to the constraints of traditional fixed-section extraction methods. Here, we develop an adaptive iterative tracking algorithm utilizing high-resolution reanalysis data (2002–2024) that dynamically adjusts search directions and cross-sections via [...] Read more.
Accurately capturing the Kuroshio’s main axis and its multiscale frontal variations remains challenging due to the constraints of traditional fixed-section extraction methods. Here, we develop an adaptive iterative tracking algorithm utilizing high-resolution reanalysis data (2002–2024) that dynamically adjusts search directions and cross-sections via local velocity vectors, integrated with a dynamic step size and two-dimensional validation. Applying a multiscale variability decomposition framework across four key regions reveals distinct spatiotemporal dynamics. The North Equatorial Current bifurcation zone exhibits a significant strengthening trend driven by seasonal zonal and decadal meridional flows. Conversely, the Kuroshio east of Taiwan is dominated by high-frequency mesoscale processes (~70%) with a semi-annual cycle and no long-term trend. The East China Sea front maintains a highly stable seasonal meridional signal (25%). Crucially, the Luzon Strait intrusion shows a significant long-term weakening trend (~0.0029 m·s−1·a−1, p < 0.01), characterized by eastward strengthening and northward weakening, with ENSO significantly modulating its seasonal cycle. This approach substantially reduces systematic extraction errors compared to traditional fixed-section methods, as independently verified using satellite SST frontal gradients (median deviation < 0.2°), providing critical observational evidence for understanding western boundary current–marginal sea interactions and their dynamical responses under global warming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts)
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15 pages, 2097 KB  
Article
A Comparative Study on Ocean Front Detection in the Northwestern Pacific Using U-Net and Mask R-CNN
by Caixia Shao, Dianjun Zhang and Xuefeng Zhang
Oceans 2026, 7(2), 29; https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans7020029 - 31 Mar 2026
Viewed by 928
Abstract
Ocean fronts play a vital role in modulating climate variability, driving material transport, and maintaining the stability of marine ecosystems. Therefore, accurate identification of ocean fronts is of great significance for marine environmental monitoring and resource management. This study focuses on the Northwestern [...] Read more.
Ocean fronts play a vital role in modulating climate variability, driving material transport, and maintaining the stability of marine ecosystems. Therefore, accurate identification of ocean fronts is of great significance for marine environmental monitoring and resource management. This study focuses on the Northwestern Pacific region and conducts a systematic comparison between two representative deep learning models—U-Net and Mask R-CNN—for automated ocean front detection. The objective is to evaluate the adaptability and strengths of different network architectures in handling multi-scale features, complex background conditions, and boundary delineation, thereby providing a theoretical basis for model selection and application-specific deployment. Experimental results show that U-Net achieves superior spatial consistency in large-scale frontal segmentation, with an IoU of 0.81 and a Dice coefficient of 0.76, while maintaining relatively high computational efficiency. In contrast, Mask R-CNN demonstrates stronger boundary modeling capabilities in detecting small-scale fronts and handling heterogeneous backgrounds, achieving an IoU of 0.78 and a Dice score of 0.73, though at the cost of increased computational demand. Overall, U-Net is more suitable for broad-scale automatic detection of ocean fronts, whereas Mask R-CNN exhibits greater potential in complex scene recognition. Integrating the structural advantages of both models holds promise for further enhancing the stability and accuracy of frontal detection, thereby offering robust technical support for ocean remote sensing analysis and environmental forecasting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts)
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17 pages, 12526 KB  
Article
Long-Term Trend and Influencing Factors of Diurnal Sea Surface Temperature in the South China Sea
by Xiang Li, Jiaqi Luo, Yunfei Zhang, Zhen Shi and Jian Wang
Oceans 2026, 7(2), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans7020024 - 5 Mar 2026
Viewed by 878
Abstract
The characteristics and causes of the long-term trends of diurnal variation of sea surface temperature (DSST) in the South China Sea (SCS) are investigated in this study based on the global hourly sea surface temperature data generated by the mixed layer model (MLSST) [...] Read more.
The characteristics and causes of the long-term trends of diurnal variation of sea surface temperature (DSST) in the South China Sea (SCS) are investigated in this study based on the global hourly sea surface temperature data generated by the mixed layer model (MLSST) from the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (NMEFC) of China. Validation of the MLSST dataset demonstrates excellent agreement with in-situ buoy observations in the SCS with a correlation coefficient of 0.951, confirming its reliability in the SCS. Based on this dataset, the long-term trend of DSST in the SCS exhibits significant seasonal variations with the strongest magnitude in spring and the weakest in winter. Specifically, a significant decreasing trend of −0.0014 °C yr−1 during 1982–2009 transitioned to a pronounced increasing trend of 0.0057 °C yr−1 from 2010–2019. Both climatic factors and local atmospheric variables jointly modulate the DSST in the SCS. On the long-term timescale, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) served as the dominant factor driving DSST changes in most areas of the SCS. After 2010, the PDO shifted to a persistent positive phase, providing a crucial climatic background for the basin-wide DSST increase. While the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) showed enhanced correlation with DSST post-2010, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) had negligible influence overall. In addition, the SCS summer monsoon played an important regulatory role in shaping the long-term trend of summer DSST by altering air–sea heat exchange processes. Among local atmospheric variables, sea surface wind speed was significantly negatively correlated with DSST, and net heat flux was significantly positively correlated with DSST, with their effects showing regional differentiation. The regulatory role of wind speed dominated in the western SCS, whereas the net heat flux exerted a more prominent impact in parts of the eastern SCS. This work clarifies the spatiotemporal patterns and multi-driver framework governing DSST variability in the SCS, providing a basis for understanding regional ocean–atmosphere interactions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts)
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18 pages, 4715 KB  
Article
The Track-Long Scale Response Modes of Sea Surface Temperature Identified by the Western North Pacific Typhoons
by Rui Liu, Liang Sun, Haihua Liu, Mengyuan Xu, Gaopeng Lu, Xiuting Wang and Youfang Yan
Oceans 2026, 7(1), 7; https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans7010007 - 8 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1304
Abstract
Although previous studies composited response of sea surface temperature (SST) to typhoon sea surface wind (SSW) forcing around typhoon center, how SST responded spatiotemporally along the typhoon track over the ocean remains unclear. Through Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis, several isolated typhoons in [...] Read more.
Although previous studies composited response of sea surface temperature (SST) to typhoon sea surface wind (SSW) forcing around typhoon center, how SST responded spatiotemporally along the typhoon track over the ocean remains unclear. Through Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis, several isolated typhoons in the Western North Pacific (WNP) from 2021 to 2024 were investigated. Two SSW forcing modes and two SST response modes were identified. The first SSW mode spatially reflects the overall distribution of SSW along the track, centering at its maturation position. And the first SST mode exhibits a high spatial correlation (|R|>0.85) with this SSW mode. The second SSW mode displays a distinct track-long scale dipole pattern along the path of the typhoon, representing its intensity variation during the “development–maturation–decay” lifecycle. Similarly, the second SST response mode shows a significant but lower correlation with this second SSW mode. Both corresponding SST response modes typically lag behind their respective wind-forcing by approximately 2 to 4 days, indicating that these SST response modes are direct reactions to SSW forcing. These cases implies that two track-long scale SSW modes are generally present during the lifecycle of typhoons and that their corresponding SST responses are dominated accordingly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts)
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14 pages, 4504 KB  
Article
Coastal Circulation and Eddies Generation in the Southwest Mexican Pacific
by Federico Angel Velázquez-Muñoz, Raul Candelario Cruz-Gómez and Cesar Monzon
Oceans 2026, 7(1), 6; https://doi.org/10.3390/oceans7010006 - 8 Jan 2026
Viewed by 746
Abstract
We use 29 years of altimeter-derived sea level anomalies and geostrophic velocities (1993–2021) from the Copernicus Marine Service to identify the Mexican Coastal Current (MCC) and to examine how it interacts with the coastline. Variance-ellipse and empirical orthogonal function analyses isolate a narrow [...] Read more.
We use 29 years of altimeter-derived sea level anomalies and geostrophic velocities (1993–2021) from the Copernicus Marine Service to identify the Mexican Coastal Current (MCC) and to examine how it interacts with the coastline. Variance-ellipse and empirical orthogonal function analyses isolate a narrow alongshore jet with a mean width of about 95 km and average speeds near 0.3 m s−1 that reverses direction semiannually: poleward in June and July and equatorward in the rest of the year. When the MCC impinges on broad concavities in the coast, the boundary layer separates, forming recirculation cells that intensify and detach as coherent eddies. These near-shore eddies have similar radii (from ∼30 km) and relative vorticity of ±0.5×10−5s−1 at the beginning of their generation, and they propagate offshore once the current weakens. A simple numerical model reproduces the observed behavior and suggests that eddy formation is controlled by flow separation rather than generic instability. The semiannual change in direction of the MCC indicate a link with the larger-scale North Equatorial Countercurrent and Costa Rica Coastal Current systems of the eastern tropical Pacific. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Progress in Ocean Fronts)
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