New progress has been made in sea-air flux research, and the ocean heat flux instrument has been launched

Different from terrestrial ecosystems, the ocean is a large ecosystem that contains many secondary ecosystems of different levels. Each secondary ecosystem occupies a certain space and consists of interacting organisms and non-living things, forming a unity with a certain structure and function through energy and material flows. As we all know, although people divide the world's oceans into several oceans and some affiliated seas, they are not isolated from each other. The movement of sea water will cause the sea areas to interact with each other, and this also constitutes the difference from the terrestrial ecosystem.

In fact, in addition to driving the coordinated operation of the entire marine ecosystem, the flow of seawater also undergoes subtle energy exchanges with the atmosphere, thereby participating in the atmospheric circulation and affecting climate change. This complex interaction process between the ocean and the atmosphere is completed through the sea-air interface. With the help of this channel, while completing the heat energy exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, it will have a strong impact on the structure of the atmospheric boundary layer, ocean circulation structure, and ocean material transport conditions. Therefore, scientific observation of the sea-atmosphere coupling interface is an important research direction to understand the interaction mechanism between the ocean and the atmosphere.

At present, with the rapid development of science and technology and the deepening of research on the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere, the observation technology of the atmospheric boundary layer at the sea-air coupling interface has become increasingly mature and provides a good foundation for the sea-air coupling interface. Made significant contributions to the field of flux research. However, due to limitations of current observation methods and technologies, it is still unclear how much heat is input into the ocean and how much heat is fed back to the atmosphere by the ocean. Researchers have not developed a scientific method that can directly observe the heat flux in the upper boundary layer of the ocean. instrument.

Recently, Shang Xiaodong’s team at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made new progress in the study of ocean heat flux. The relevant research results were published in Acta Oceanologica Sinica. It is understood that the research team led by Shang Xiaodong, with the support of the national "11th Five-Year Plan" high-tech development research "863" plan project, has developed the fastest ocean detection fast temperature sensor with the fastest response time in the world (response time 7ms). Based on this research technology, the scientific research team has spent more than ten yearsBased on technological research and breakthroughs, with the support of the Scientific Research Equipment Development Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Pilot Project A, we independently developed and manufactured an advanced equipment that can directly observe the heat flux of the upper boundary layer of the ocean - the Ocean Heat Flux Meter. It is understood that this instrument measures the speed and temperature changes of turbulent flow to determine the transport of underwater heat.

Subsequently, researchers used ocean heat flux instruments to carry out scientific observations on the coast of Sanya and the northern part of the South China Sea, and for the first time measured relevant data on underwater heat flux. Shang Xiaodong said that climate change is mainly regulated by the ocean. Part of the heat radiated from the sun to the earth and the heat absorbed and emitted by the earth has disappeared. This phenomenon is scientifically called "heat loss". , so some people speculate that this small part of the heat may be stored inside the ocean. Therefore, the significance of studying underwater heat flux lies in this.

The above-mentioned advanced sea-air flux observation technology is expected to be used in marine scientific research, mariculture, and climate prediction and forecasting. In addition, the leader of the research team also said that they will continue to carry out a series of scientific research in the future to further enhance the observation performance of the ocean heat flux instrument and apply it to the measurement of heat flux from hydrothermal vents on the seafloor.

Data sources: South China Sea Institute of Oceanography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yangcheng Evening News, Baidu Encyclopedia

(Original title: New achievements in sea-air flux research Progress (the advent of ocean heat flux instrument)