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Storm tides have intensified due to global climate warming, with limited attention given to storm current velocity (SCV) due to data scarcity during hurricanes/typhoons and limitations in existing wind models’ accuracy. We propose an analytic model incorporating sea-surface resistance into the gradient wind equation, offering a theoretically robust approach. Through rigorous verification against measured data, our model demonstrates significant accuracy improvement compared to established models. Simulating storm tides during Typhoon Rammasun using our approach reveals strong agreement between calculated SCVs and measured data, surpassing the performance of the Holland model. Notably, typhoon storm surges primarily respond to pressure, while SCVs are predominantly governed by wind speed in open sea. The highest water level aligns with the lowest pressure, with maximum SCVs trailing the maximum wind radius. SCVs significantly exceed astronomical tidal current velocities (ACVs) in the open sea, reaching a maximum of 3.57 m/s. Areas where the SCV-to-ACV ratio exceeds 3 constitute 21.4% of the study area. Combining our wind model with Typhoon SCV simulations provides valuable insights into storm tide dynamics, advancing our understanding of storm tide mechanisms and informing mitigation strategies.

The North Shandong Coastal Current (NSCC) is an important transporting route for sediment, drifting algae, and spilled oil from the Bohai Sea to the Yellow Sea. This study investigated the features and formation mechanism of the NSCC using observational data of current velocity and a numerical coastal ocean model. Our results confirmed the existence of the NSCC in the sense of climatological current in winter when northerly wind prevails in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The magnitude of the NSCC in the monthly time scale ranged 0.07–0.12 m/s and the current direction was parallel to the coastline. The detided residual current on the pathway of the NSCC was unstable, but variable with the local wind speed. The residual current was well correlated with northerly wind speed and tended to be parallel to coastline with the increase of wind speed. Strong wind plays key roles in the formation of eastward mean flow on the pathway of the NSCC in winter. We found that strong wind can generate a stronger eastward current in the southern side of the northern Yellow Sea, but a smaller westward return flow during the strong wind relaxation period. The asymmetry of wind-related residual current during and after strong wind events accounts for the formation of the eastward NSCC. A momentum analysis was performed using the numerical model results during strong wind events. We found that the barotropic pressure gradient was the dominant driving force of the residual current both during and after a strong wind event.

Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has been proven to be a useful technique for observing the sea surface wind and current over the open ocean given its all-weather data-gathering capability and high spatial resolution. In addition to the commonly used radar return magnitude quantified by normalized radar cross section (NRCS), the Doppler centroid anomaly (DCA) has added another dimension of information. In this study, we combine the NRCS and DCA for a joint inversion of wind and surface current information using a Bayesian method. SAR-estimated Doppler is corrected by a series of steps, including the removal of scalloping effect and land correction. The cost function of this inversion scheme is constructed based on NRCS, DCA, and a background model wind. The retrieved wind results show the quality of performance through comparison with the in situ buoy measurements, showing a mean bias and a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.33 m/s and 1.45 m/s for wind speed and 6.94° and 35.74° for wind direction, respectively. The correlation coefficients for wind speed and direction reach 0.931 and 0.661, respectively. Based on the obtained wind field, the line-of-sight velocity of the sea surface current is then derived by removing the wind contribution using the empirical model. The results show a consistent spatial pattern relative to the high-frequency radars, with the comparison relative to the drifter-measured current velocity exhibiting a mean bias of 0.02 m/s and RMSE of 0.32 m/s, demonstrating the reliability of the proposed inversion scheme. Such results will serve as a prototype for future spaceborne sensors to combine the radar return and Doppler information for the joint retrieval of wind vector and surface current velocity. This technique could be readily extended to the radar configuration of rotating beams for monitoring winds and current vectors.

Kim, K.H. and Shim, K.T., 2014. A field investigation of waves and wave-induced currents at the Youngrang Coast of the Republic of Korea. An accurate identification of the root cause of beach erosion should be taken in the precedence over designing reliable countermeasures. This study reviews the characteristics of the wave-induced currents by using the observation results on wave and current. The observed patterns were taken from comprehensive observation results which studied characteristics of wave and wave induced current as well as suspended load and bed load. The observations were conducted at the Youngrang Coast in the east coast of Korea. Based on the field observation results, Youngrang Coast has intermittently shown the occurrence of high waves due to winter monsoons. Affected by the high waves, the wave-induced currents have shown to exist inside the wave-breaking zone with a current velocity of 0.5–1 m/s. Such strong wave-induced currents are considered to be acting the main source of winter longshore sediment transport and beach erosion.

Quantitative real-time observations of a tsunami have been limited to deep-water, pressure-sensor observations of changes in the sea surface elevation and observations of sea level fluctuations at the coast, which are essentially point measurements. Constrained by these data, models have been used for predictions and warning of the arrival of a tsunami, but to date no detailed verification of flow patterns nor area measurements have been possible. Here we present unique HF-radar area observations of the tsunami signal seen in current velocities as the wave train approaches the coast. Networks of coastal HF-radars are now routinely observing surface currents in many countries and we report clear results from five HF radar sites spanning a distance of 8,200 km on two continents following the magnitude 9.0 earthquake off Sendai, Japan, on 11 March 2011. We confirm the tsunami signal with three different methodologies and compare the currents observed with coastal sea level fluctuations at tide gauges. The distance offshore at which the tsunami can be detected, and hence the warning time provided, depends on the bathymetry: the wider the shallow continental shelf, the greater this time. Data from these and other radars around the Pacific rim can be used to further develop radar as an important tool to aid in tsunami observation and warning as well as post-processing comparisons between observation and model predictions.

This study evaluates the patterns and effects of relative sea-level rise on the tidal circulation of the basin of the Ria Formosa coastal lagoon using a process-based model that is solved on an unstructured mesh. To predict the changes in the lagoon tidal circulation in the year 2100, the model is forced by tides and a static sea level. The bathymetry and the basin geometry are updated in response to sea-level rise for three morphological response scenarios: no bed updating, barrier island rollover, and basin infilling. Model results indicate that sea-level rise (SLR) will change the baseline current velocity patterns inside the lagoon over the ~100-year study period, due to a strong reduction in the area of the intertidal basin. The basin infilling scenario is associated with the most important adjustments of the tidal circulation (i.e., increases in the flood velocities and delays in the ebb tide), together with an increase in the cumulative discharges of the tidal inlets. Under sea-level rise and in the basin infilling scenario, the salt marshes and tidal flats experience increases in the tidal range and current asymmetry. Basin infilling changes the sediment flushing capacity of the lagoon, leading to the attenuation of the flood dominance in the main inlet and the strengthening of the flood dominance in the two secondary inlets. The predictions resulting from these scenarios provide very useful information on the long-term evolution of similar coastal lagoons that experience varying degrees of SLR. This study highlights the need for research focusing on the quantification of the physical and socio-economic impacts of SLR on lagoon systems, thus enabling the development of effective adaptation strategies.

This paper describes a method to provide quality control for radial velocity maps derived from radar echo voltage cross spectra measured by broad-beam high frequency radars. The method involves the comparison of voltage cross spectra measured at Doppler frequencies in the Bragg region with values predicted from basic equations defining the complex voltage cross spectra in terms of the measured antenna patterns and the radar cross section. Poor agreement at a given Doppler frequency indicates contamination of the spectra, usually due to interference; velocity results from that Doppler frequency are then eliminated. Examples are given of its application to broad-beam radars operating at four sites.

The acoustic Doppler current profiler, temperature, salinity and density data set were recorded monthly over the course of a year in a tropical coral reef system to elucidate the effects of abrupt bathymetric changes on current variability and surface temperature over time. A minimum of five transect repetitions were performed during one diurnal tidal cycle each month during the year 2008. According to the empirical orthogonal functions, the dominant terms were advection and friction due to the shallowness of the system and the relatively short continental shelf located in front of the Port of Veracruz (Mexico). The data showed the dominance of the northwest-southeast current velocity components (parallel to the coast) attributed to the winds. The southeastward current velocity was the dominant component throughout the year, followed by the northwestward current velocity component. The data suggested that coral reefs produce current rectification near the shallow reef areas (1 m depth). No correlation existed between surface temperature and the chlorophyll-a levels throughout the year. Residual current velocities throughout the year never reached more than 50 cm –1 during the sampling periods, and the surface temperature varied from 21 to 30°C, with the highest temperature being observed near the coast and reefs. Finally there was a direct correlation of the northeasterly and strong northwesterly winds with the well-mixed cold-salty water column in the reef area.

According to Ocean Re-Analysis System 3 (ORA-S3) data, all components of the annual mean heat budget of the upper quasi-homogeneous ocean layer (UQL) in the North Atlantic for the period of 1959–2011 have been calculated and errors of these estimates have been determined. It has been shown that the contribution of the horizontal eddy diffusivity (estimated as a residual term of the UQL heat balance equation) to changes in the UQL annual mean temperature is significantly overestimated. This takes place mainly due to neglecting the covariances of seasonal fluctuations of current velocity vector components and UQL temperature gradients in calculations carried out with the use of annual average values. These covariances play an important role in the annual mean heat budget in some regions of the North Atlantic, especially in tropical latitudes. Changes in the annual average UQL temperature in the central and eastern parts of the North Atlantic are significantly affected by errors related to an inaccuracy of estimates of annual average heat fluxes on the ocean surface. The maximum contribution of the horizontal eddy diffusivity to the interannual variability of the UQL temperature is observed in the northwestern part of the North Atlantic and the region of the Subpolar Gyre.

Coastal vegetated ecosystems such as saltmarshes and seagrasses are important sinks of organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen (TN), with large global and local variability, driven by the confluence of many physical and ecological factors. Here we show that sedimentary OC and TN stocks of intertidal saltmarsh (Sporobolus maritimus) and seagrass (Zostera noltei) habitats increased between two- and fourfold along a decreasing flow velocity gradient in Ria Formosa lagoon (south Portugal). A similar twofold increase was also observed for OC and TN burial rates of S. maritimus and of almost one order of magnitude for Z. noltei. Stable isotope mixing models identify allochthonous particulate organic matter as the main source to the sedimentary pools in both habitats (39–68%). This is the second estimate of OC stocks and the first of OC burial rates in Z. noltei, a small, fast-growing species that is widely distributed in Europe (41,000 ha) and which area is presently expanding (8600 ha in 2000s). Its wide range of OC stocks (29–99 Mg ha−1) and burial rates (15–122 g m2 y−1) observed in Ria Formosa highlight the importance of investigating the drivers of such variability to develop global blue carbon models. The TN stocks (7–11 Mg ha−1) and burial rates (2–4 g m−2 y−1) of Z. noltei were generally higher than seagrasses elsewhere. The OC and TN stocks (29–101 and 3–11 Mg ha−1, respectively) and burial rates (19–39 and 3–5 g m−2 y−1) in S. maritimus saltmarshes are generally lower than those located in estuaries subjected to larger accumulation of terrestrial organic matter.