Publications by authors named "Wei-dong Zhai"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how the death of phytoplankton affects the amount of settleable particulate organic matter (POM) in marine environments, finding a positive correlation between the number of dead algal cells and the carbon content of POM.
  • Different algal species showed varying contributions of cell death to POC, indicating that species type plays a role in POM production.
  • Field surveys in the East China Sea confirmed that phytoplankton death is a key factor influencing POC levels, and a specific formula was established to quantify this relationship.
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The eutrophication status in the central Bohai Sea tends to be mitigated in recent years. To explore the recent nutrient status, seasonal surveys were carried out from 2018 to 2021, covering both the Bohai Sea and the adjacent North Yellow Sea. In recent cold seasons, both dissolved inorganic nitrogen concentration (DIN) and the ratio of DIN to soluble reactive phosphorus were lower than those in 2016.

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The viability of algal cells is one of the most fundamental issues in marine ecological research. In this work, a method was designed to identify algal cell viability based on digital holography and deep learning, which divided algal cells into three categories: active, weak, and dead cells. This method was applied to measure algal cells in surface waters of the East China Sea in spring, revealing about 4.

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Taking the world's largest green tide caused by the macroalga in the South Yellow Sea as a natural case, it is studied here if macroalgae can perform inorganic carbon sequestration in the ocean. Massive macroalgae released large amounts of organic carbon, most of which were transformed by microorganisms into dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Nearshore field investigations showed that, along with seawater deoxygenation and acidification, both DIC and total alkalinity (TAlk) increased significantly (both >50%) in the areas covered by dense at the late-bloom stage.

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The Bohai Sea, adjacent to the Northwest Pacific, is a semi-enclosed shallow-water marginal sea that was considered on a critical path of eutrophication and environmental degradation. To better understand the Bohai Sea metabolism-induced summertime dissolved oxygen (DO) decline, five field surveys were conducted between July 2019 and July 2021 to investigate the seasonal/interannual and spatial variations in DO, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and stable isotopic composition of DIC (δC). Although the water-mixing scheme was subject to spatial variation, a uniform apparent ratio of δC versus apparent oxygen utilization was estimated at -0.

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Article Synopsis
  • Ocean circulation and ventilation play a crucial role in how the ocean absorbs and stores anthropogenic carbon (C), particularly in the western North Pacific, a significant carbon sink.
  • In a study conducted in May and August 2018, researchers measured the water column's carbonate system and dissolved inorganic radiocarbon in three zones: Kuroshio Extension (KE), Kuroshio Recirculation (KR), and subtropical zones.
  • Findings revealed that the KR and subtropical zones exhibited higher carbon inventories and accumulation rates compared to historical data, primarily due to the influence of subtropical mode water, while the KE zone showed lower carbon storage due to complex hydrological dynamics.
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The North Yellow Sea (NYS) is a productive marginal sea of the western North Pacific. In summer and autumn, CaCO saturation states beneath the seasonal thermocline in the NYS have frequently fallen below critical levels, indicating that marine calcifying organisms are under threat. To explore the long-term evolution of the acidification of the NYS, we reconstructed seasonal variations in subsurface aragonite saturation state (Ω) and pH during 1976-2017, using wintertime and summertime temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and pH data mainly from a quality-controlled oceanographic database.

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The Bohai and Yellow seas are marginal seas of the western North Pacific, characterized by coastal eutrophication and populated coastlines. In this work, six survey datasets collected between 2011 and 2018 were used to investigate the excess of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) related to soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), referred to as N*, in the Bohai and Yellow seas. High N* of more than 5 μmol kg occurred mostly in the Changjiang and Yellow River plumes and/or near the Jiangsu coast.

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The Bohai Sea is a shallow-water, semi-enclosed marginal sea of the Northwest Pacific. Since the late 1990s, it has suffered from nutrient over-enrichment. To better understand the eutrophication characteristics of this important coastal sea, we examined four survey datasets from summer (June 2011), late autumn (November 2011), winter (January 2016), and early spring (April 2018).

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The distributions of dissolved methane in the central Bohai Sea were investigated in November 2011, May 2012, July 2012, and August 2012. Methane concentration in surface seawater, determined using an underway measurement system combined with wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectroscopy, showed marked spatiotemporal variations with saturation ratio from 107% to 1193%. The central Bohai Sea was thus a source of atmospheric methane during the survey periods.

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