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Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2019) | Viewed by 34897

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Chau-Ron Wu

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Guest Editor

CEO & Research Fellow, Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica Distinguished Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, New Taipei, Taiwan
Interests: physical oceanography; data assimilation and modeling; climate variability and its impact

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Synchronous changes in the atmospheric and oceanic circulation have been observed globally since the late 1990s, which significantly influence regional climate, typhoon development, fisheries, and environments. Global warming and natural variability lead to climate change and associated with extreme events. This Special Issue features articles outlining how the ocean-atmosphere system responses or contributes to the global warming and natural variability, as well as the potential impacts on the marine resource and sustainable development. The Special Issue also welcomes studies exploring new analysis, method, or insights on different spatial-temporal scales of climate change. In particular, other areas are covered including adaptation strategy, sustainability policy, and education/implication of sustainability.

This Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

Climate change and its impacts
Air–sea interaction
Ocean data analysis and modeling
Biogeochemistry
Western boundary current
Renewable Energy
Sustainability, Policy, and Education

Prof. Dr. Chau-Ron Wu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Climate change
Kuroshio
Global warming hiatus
Biogeochemistry
Mesoscale eddy
Tropical cyclone
Renewable Energy
Sustainable devolvement
Air-sea interaction
Numerical modeling

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 3721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Association of Typhoon Intensity Increase with Translation Speed Increase in the South China Sea

by Ya-Ting Chang, I-I Lin, Hsiao-Ching Huang, Yi-Chun Liao and Chun-Chi Lien

Sustainability 2020, 12(3), 939; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030939 - 27 Jan 2020

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3370

Abstract

Tropical cyclone (TC) translation speed is an important parameter. In the context of TC–ocean interaction, faster translation speed can contribute to less TC-induced ocean cooling and thus enables more air–sea enthalpy flux supply to favor TC intensification. In 2018, Kossin published an interesting paper in Nature, reporting a global slow-down of TC translation speed since the 1950s. However, upon close inspection, in the last two decades, TC translation speed actually increased over the western North Pacific (WNP) and neighboring seas. Thus, we are interested to see which sub-region in the WNP and neighboring seas had the largest increase during the last two decades, and whether such increases contribute to TC intensification. Our results found statistically significant translation speed increases (~0.8 ms⁻¹ per decade) over the South China Sea. Ruling out other possible factors that may influence TC intensity (i.e., changes in atmospheric vertical wind shear, pre-TC sea surface temperature or subsurface thermal condition), we suggest, in this research, the possible contribution of TC translation speed increases to the observed TC intensity increases over the South China Sea in the last two decades (1998–2017). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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19 pages, 52342 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Pelagic Habitat of Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) in the Changing Environment of the North Indian Ocean

by Thushani Suleka Madhubhashini Elepathage, Danling Tang and Leo Oey

Sustainability 2019, 11(24), 7070; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11247070 - 10 Dec 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3345

Abstract

Swordfish (Xiphias gladius) are a highly migratory keystone species, found in tropical and temperate seas that are influenced by environmental parameters. In the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the ocean region around Sri Lanka, the environment is gradually changing as a result of climate change. In this study, we identified the preferable environmental conditions for swordfish using satellite-derived environmental data and in-situ fish catch data. We modeled the relationships between fish distribution and the environment changes using Boosted Regression Trees (BRT) and Generalized Additive Model (GAM) methods. The monthly mean fishing effort is comparatively high from October to March and the fish catch rates are high from September to November. Chlorophyll-a concentration has a positive relationship with catch rates while sea surface temperature (SST), sea salt surface mass concentration (SSS), and effort show negative relationships. Approximately 0.3–0.4 mgm⁻³ of chlorophyll-a, 28–28.5 °C SST, and (3–5)10⁻⁸ kgm⁻³ of SSS were significantly correlated with high swordfish catch rates. According to the optimum environmental conditions identified using the above models, the suitable environmental spatial and temporal distribution was mapped. The results show that the optimum conditions for swordfish are in the eastern region of Sri Lanka, around Thailand and Myanmar, from June to August, and around Bangladesh, Myanmar, Pakistan, the west coast of Sri Lanka, and the east coast of India during September to November. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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21 pages, 16951 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Variation of Cold Eddies in the Upwelling Zone off Northeastern Taiwan Revealed by the Geostationary Satellite Imagery of Ocean Color and Sea Surface Temperature

by Hsiao-Wei Chung and Cheng-Chien Liu

Sustainability 2019, 11(24), 6979; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11246979 - 06 Dec 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3247

Abstract

The upwelling zone off northeastern Taiwan (UZONT) is one of the hot spots with mesoscale ocean eddies (MOEs) and eddy-induced transports in the north Pacific Ocean. We start from the temporal and spatial variations in MOEs in the UZONT, based on the Himawari-8 SST product and the GOCI chlorophyll-a product time series, respectively. Their relationship with three major factors, including the Kuroshio, typhoon, and El Niño/La Niña events, are then investigated. The spatiotemporal variations in MOEs serve as ideal indicators by which to understand the influences on the UZONT due to interannual environmental factors and climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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20 pages, 4495 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mixed Layer Heat Variations in the South China Sea Observed by Argo Float and Reanalysis Data during 2012–2015

by Zhanlin Liang, Tao Xing, Yinxia Wang and Lili Zeng

Sustainability 2019, 11(19), 5429; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11195429 - 30 Sep 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2698

Abstract

The atmospheric and oceanic causes of mixed layer heat variations in the South China Sea (SCS) are examined using data from six long-lived Array for Real-time Geostrophic Oceanography (Argo) floats. The mixed layer heat budget along each float trajectory is evaluated based on direct measurements, satellite and reanalysis datasets. Our results suggest that the mixed layer heat balance in the SCS has distinct spatial and seasonal variations. The amplitude of all terms in the mixed layer heat budget equation is significantly larger in the northern SCS than in the southern SCS, especially in winter. In the northern SCS, the mixed layer heat budget is controlled by the local surface heat flux and horizontal advection terms in winter, and the net heat flux term in summer. In the western and southeastern SCS, the mixed layer heat budget is dominated by the net surface heat flux in both winter and summer. Further analysis shows that in the SCS, surface shortwave radiation and geostrophic heat advection are major contributors to net heat flux and horizontal advection, respectively. Unlike the net heat flux and horizontal advection, the vertical entrainment is a sink term in general. The rate of mixed layer deepening is the most important factor in the entrainment rate, and a barrier layer may decrease the temperature difference between the bottom of the mixed layer and the water beneath. Residual analysis suggests that the residual term in the equation is due to the inexact calculation of heat geostrophic advection, other missing terms, and unresolved physical ocean dynamic processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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10 pages, 4251 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dynamics of Upwelling Annual Cycle in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean

by Li-Chiao Wang and Jia-Yuh Yu

Sustainability 2019, 11(18), 5038; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11185038 - 15 Sep 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2879

Abstract

A recent work proposed a simple theory based on the framework of Zebiak–Cane (ZC) ocean model, and successfully characterized the equatorial Atlantic upwelling annual cycle as a combination of the local wind-driven Ekman upwelling and nonlocal wind-driven wave upwelling. In the present work, utilizing the same simple framework, we examined the fidelity of the upwelling Pacific annual cycle using observations and simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). We demonstrated that the theoretical upwelling annual cycles generally match the original upwelling annual cycles in the equatorial Pacific in both observations and CMIP5 simulations. Therefore, this simple formulation can be used to represent the upwelling annual cycle in the equatorial Pacific. Observationally, the equatorial Pacific upwelling annual cycle is dominated by the local wind-driven Ekman upwelling, while the remote wave upwelling is confined near the eastern boundary with little contribution. In CMIP5 simulations, though the theoretical-reconstructed upwelling well-reproduces the original upwelling, the contribution is totally different compared to the observation. The wave upwelling serves as the main contributor instead of the Ekman upwelling. We further demonstrated that such discrepancy is attributable to the bias of the central to eastern equatorial thermocline depth patterns. This amplified, westward-shift wave upwelling weakened the impacts of the Ekman upwelling, and contributes to the entire Pacific equatorial upwelling annual cycle substantially. This implies that a realistic simulation of the equatorial Pacific upwelling annual cycle in models is very sensitive to the careful simulation of the equatorial thermocline depth annual evolutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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11 pages, 3636 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Coupling Influences of ENSO and PDO on the Inter-Decadal SST Variability of the ACC around the Western South Atlantic

by You-Lin Wang, Yu-Chen Hsu, Chung-Pan Lee and Chau-Ron Wu

Sustainability 2019, 11(18), 4853; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11184853 - 05 Sep 2019

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2491

Abstract

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) plays an important role in the climate as it balances heat energy and water mass between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through the Drake Passage. However, because the historical measurements and observations are extremely limited, the decadal and long-term variations of the ACC around the western South Atlantic Ocean are rarely studied. By analyzing reconstructed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in a 147-year period (1870–2016), previous studies have shown that SST anomalies (SSTAs) around the Antarctic Peninsula and South America had the same phase change as the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). This study further showed that changes in SSTAs in the regions mentioned above were enlarged when the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the ENSO were in the same warm or cold phase, implying that changes in the SST of higher latitude oceans could be enhanced when the influence of the ENSO is considered along with the PDO. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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20 pages, 8143 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Rapid Intensification of Typhoon Hato (2017) over Shallow Water

by Iam-Fei Pun, Johnny C. L. Chan, I.-I. Lin, Kelvin T. F. Chan, James F. Price, Dong Shan Ko, Chun-Chi Lien, Yu-Lun Wu and Hsiao-Ching Huang

Sustainability 2019, 11(13), 3709; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11133709 - 06 Jul 2019

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 5210

Abstract

On 23 August, 2017, Typhoon Hato rapidly intensified by 10 kt within 3 h just prior to landfall in the city of Macau along the South China coast. Hato’s surface winds in excess of 50 m s⁻¹ devastated the city, causing unprecedented damage and social impact. This study reveals that anomalously warm ocean conditions in the nearshore shallow water (depth < 30 m) likely played a key role in Hato’s fast intensification. In particular, cooling of the sea surface temperature (SST) generated by Hato at the critical landfall point was estimated to be only 0.1–0.5 °C. The results from both a simple ocean mixing scheme and full dynamical ocean model indicate that SST cooling was minimized in the shallow coastal waters due to a lack of cool water at depth. Given the nearly invariant SST in the coastal waters, we estimate a large amount of heat flux, i.e., 1.9k W m⁻², during the landfall period. Experiments indicate that in the absence of shallow bathymetry, and thus, if nominal cool water had been available for vertical mixing, the SST cooling would have been enhanced from 0.1 °C to 1.4 °C, and sea to air heat flux reduced by about a quarter. Numerical simulations with an atmospheric model suggest that the intensity of Hato was very sensitive to air-sea heat flux in the coastal region, indicating the critical importance of coastal ocean hydrography. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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28 pages, 9232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Biogeochemical and Carbon Model Related to Ocean Acidification Indices with an Operational Ocean Model Product in the North Western Pacific

by Miho Ishizu, Yasumasa Miyazawa, Tomohiko Tsunoda and Xinyu Guo

Sustainability 2019, 11(9), 2677; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092677 - 10 May 2019

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3487

Abstract

We developed a biogeochemical and carbon model (JCOPE_EC) coupled with an operational ocean model for the North Western Pacific. JCOPE_EC represents ocean acidification indices on the background of the risks due to ocean acidification and our model experiences. It is an off-line tracer model driven by a high-resolution regional ocean general circulation model (JCOPE2M). The results showed that the model adequately reproduced the general patterns in the observed data, including the seasonal variability of chlorophyll-a, dissolved inorganic nitrogen/phosphorus, dissolved inorganic carbon, and total alkalinity. We provide an overview of this system and the results of the model validation based on the available observed data. Sensitivity analysis using fixed values for temperature, salinity, dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity helped us identify which variables contributed most to seasonal variations in the ocean acidification indices, pH and Ω_arg. The seasonal variation in the pH_insitu was governed mainly by balances of the change in temperature and dissolved inorganic carbon. The seasonal increase in Ω_arg from winter to summer was governed mainly by dissolved inorganic carbon levels. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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18 pages, 2312 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dispersal Characteristics and Pathways of Japanese Glass Eel in the East Asian Continental Shelf

by Yu-San Han, Kuan-Mei Hsiung, Heng Zhang, Lai-Yin Chow, Wann-Nian Tzeng, Akira Shinoda, Tatsuki Yoshinaga, Sung-Pyo Hur, Sun-Do Hwang, Yoshiyuki Iizuka and Shingo Kimura

Sustainability 2019, 11(9), 2572; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11092572 - 04 May 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4591

Abstract

The Japanese eel Anguilla japonica is an important aquaculture fish species in the East Asian countries of Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan. All glass eel fry are captured from the wild and understanding the recruitment patterns of the glass eel is important. The larvae of A. japonica are passively transported to the East Asian Continental Shelf by the North Equatorial Current, the Kuroshio, the Kuroshio intrusion currents, and coastal currents. In each location, recruitment time is diverse: It is November in Taiwan and April in the Yalu River. How the glass eels reach recruitment areas remains poorly understood. Here, we combine information from larval ages based on otolith increments, simulated drifting paths on the East Asian Continental Shelf, and main fishing seasons in each location of East Asia. We identify five main recruitment blocks: (1) The main Kuroshio, (2) The Taiwan Strait Warm Current, (3) The Taiwan Warm Current, (4) The Yellow Sea Warm Current and (5) The branch of Yellow Sea Warm Current. The counted age of the glass eels is significantly underestimated for the later recruits, possibly due to the cessation of the otolith edge growth under low water temperatures. This study clarifies the eel’s larval characteristics and transport mechanisms in the East Asia Continental Shelf, providing important information for its recruitment dynamics in the marine stage. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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17 pages, 7307 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Influences of Global Warming on the Larval Survival and Transport of Snow Crab (Chionoecetes opilio) in the Sea of Japan

by Xinyan Mao, Xinyu Guo, Yucheng Wang and Katsumi Takayama

Sustainability 2019, 11(8), 2198; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11082198 - 12 Apr 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2915

Abstract

The snow crab (Chionoecetes opilio) sustains an important bottom trawling fishery in the Sea of Japan. Its response to global warming is attracting the attention of the public. Using a transport and survival model for crab larvae in the Sea of Japan, we examined the spatial-temporal variations of crab spawning and larval settlement in the past (mid-20th century), present (early 21st century), and future (mid- and late 21st century) under the low and high radiative forcing scenarios. It was found that the variations in spawning differed between the regions south of and north of 41.5° N, on both seasonal and long-term scales. Larval settlement in the Sea of Japan was projected to increase in the future, which is mainly attributed to a reduction in mortality due to the low water temperature. Moreover, the aggregating location of the settled megalopae will likely shift northward, with increasing settlement off Hokkaido Island. With additional sensitivity experiments, we confirmed that the change in water temperature has a stronger impact on larval settlement than that in the current field. The change in water temperature controlled both the amount and distribution of crab larval settlement, while a change in current field only affected the distribution to some extent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Climate Change on the Ocean-Atmosphere System: Understanding, Adaptation and Sustainable Development)

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