Seminar
Autonomous Underwater Vehicles and Sensors Powered by Ocean Thermal Energy

Abstract:

This talk will describe a new stand-alone power system to harvest temperature differentials in the ocean.Ai?? This is a unique power source underwater in the absence of solar and wave energy.Ai?? The current state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vehicles and sensors are all powered by primary battery, and therefore have limited lifetime.Ai?? Harvesting the ocean thermal energy associated with vertical temperature differentials between the warm surface and cold deep water has the potential to power these autonomous underwater vehicles and sensors indefinitely.Ai?? Results from the development, deployment and recovery of a prototype thermal recharging underwater float (known as SOLO-TREC) in the ocean will be presented.Ai?? With eight hours energy harvesting and sampling interval, SOLO-TREC has made more than a thousand dives between the ocean surface and 500 meters water depth over a period of 1.5 years.Ai?? Recent progress to commercialize this thermal recharging technology in support of several climate and oceanographic initiatives will be presented.Ai?? Future applications of this thermal energy harvesting technology to power autonomous underwater vehicles such as gliders and propeller-driven AUVs will also be discussed.

Speaker : Prof. Yi Chao, Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles
Date : 3 Nov 2015
Time : 2:30 pm
Venue : Room 1505 (Lifts 25-26), HKUST

HKUST ODMP – SCSIO joint workshop on ocean circulation and dynamics

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A workshop on ocean circulation and dynamics was held in FYTRI, HKUST (Nansha) on 16th Oct. 2015. The workshop was jointly organized by Prof. Jianping Gan (ODMP HKUST) and Profs. Ping Shi, Ruixin Huang (SCSIO).

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Seminar
Recent Advances in Turbidity Current Research

Abstract:

Turbidity currents hold the key to many fundamental questions in the fields of marine geology and sedimentology. Knowledge of turbidity currentsai??i?? cause and destructive nature has direct application in marine hazard mitigation, deep-water resource development, and hydrocarbon energy industry. Tremendous strides have been made through many researchersai??i?? pioneering work in turbidity current theories, laboratory experiments, as well as numerical simulations. But because of its unpredictability and destructive nature, being able to continuously monitor field turbidity currents in-situ has yet been accomplished. This presentation first briefly reviews the history of turbidity currents research in the past century; highlights the milestone theoretical and technological advances; and discusses the major challenges in turbidity current research. Specifically, an initiative to conduct a full-scale field campaign to investigate large, destructive turbidity currents in Northeastern South China Sea is proposed.

Speaker : Prof. Jingping XU, College of Marine Geosciences, Ocean University of China
Date : 28 Aug 2015
Time
Venue : Room 1505 (Lifts 25-26), HKUST

Seminar
The complexity in sediment dynamics in the marginal sea: the diversity and role

Abstract:

In marginal seas there is a large diversity in the physical (size and bulk density) and geochemical characteristics of suspended sediments due to their sources (terrestrial or marine; lithogenic or biogenic); the processes that entrain and transport them (wave resuspension, river plume, ocean currents); and the interactions between the sediments and the surrounding environment (water, substrate, fauna).

Because of the particle affinity of many biogeochemical substances in coastal and marine environments, suspended particles often become vehicles for carrying biogeochemical signals along the source to sink pathway in a river-sea dispersal system. When these sediments bearing the environmental attributes are deposited and buried on the sea floor, they become environmental proxies.

Often, there is a strong coupling between the physical processes that move the sediments and the biogeochemical signatures that these sediments carry on multiple time and space scales. The suspended sediments are involved in the biological, geochemical processes in estuarine and coastal environments, which affect the quality and ecology of these habitats.Ai?? Additionally, the deposition and erosion of the sediments cause changes in the geomorphology of the environment, thereby, affecting the stability of the habitat.

Sediments (suspended and substrate) play important roles in many changing environments in the marginal sea, their effects on the physical, geological, biological, and chemical nature of these environments cannot be ignored.Ai?? Therefore a multi-disciplinary approach is needed to study the sediment dynamics in the marginal sea.

Speaker : Prof. James LIU Tsu-Chien,Ai??Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Date : 27 Apr 2015
Time : 2:30 p.m.
Venue : Room 4480 (Lifts 25-26), HKUST

Seminar
OBSERVATIONAL AND MODELING STUDY OF OCEAN CIRCULATION, AIR-SEA INTERACTIONS, AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES OFF THE U.S. EASTERN SEABOARD AND GULF OF MEXICO COAST

Abstract:

Quantifying the coastal ocean response to climate changes requires us to first define the intrinsic coastal ocean variability on synoptic, seasonal and interannual time scales at the present time. Fundamental scientific questions to be addressed include: 1) what are the synoptic variability, seasonal characteristics, and interannual variations of coastal circulation; 2) what are the processes that lead to the large exchange of heat, salt, sediment, nutrient and carbon on the shelf; and 3) how does coastal circulation variability influence marine ecosystems? The talk will present some of my group’s efforts and findings on using in situ observations and coupled numerical models to understand coastal circulation dynamics, air-sea interaction, and biogeochemical processes off the U.S. eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico coast.

Speaker : Prof. Ruoying He

Prof He received a Ph.D. in Physical Oceanography from the University of South Florida. He is a Distinguished Professor of Oceanography in the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University and an adjunct scientist of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. His research interests include coastal circulation dynamics, numerical modeling and data assimilation, bio-physical interactions, and air-sea interactions.

Date : 26 Nov 2014 (Wednesday)
Time : 2:30 p.m.
Venue : Room Room 3494 (Lifts 25-26), HKUST

Seminar
Deep Ocean Warming Assessed from Satellite Observations, Upper-Ocean Measurements, and a Non-Boussinesq OGCM

Abstract:

Observational surveys have shown significant oceanic bottom-water warming, but they are too spatially and temporally sporadic to quantify the deep ocean contribution to the present day sea-level rise (SLR). In this study, altimetry sea surface height (SSH), GRACE ocean mass, and in-situ upper-ocean (0-700m and 0-2000m) temperature and salinity data, have been assessed for their seasonal variability and trend maps. A non-Boussinesq ocean general circulation model (OGCM), allowing the sea-level to rise as a direct response to the heat added into the ocean, is then used to diagnose the deep-ocean steric height. Constrained by sea-surface temperature data and the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation measurements, the model reproduces the observed upper-ocean heat content well. Combining the modeled deep-ocean steric height with observational upper-ocean data gives the full-depth steric height. Adding a GRACE-estimated mass trend, the data-model combination explains not only the altimetry global mean SLR but also its regional trends fairly well. The deep ocean warming is mostly prevalent in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, and along the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, suggesting a strong relation to the oceanic circulation and dynamics.

Speaker : Dr. Y. Tony SONG, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California
Date : 18 Nov 2014 (Tuesday)
Time : 2:30 p.m.
Venue : Room 1504 (Lifts 25-26), HKUST

Seminar
Interannual modulation of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) on the low-latitude western North Pacific
Speaker : Prof. Chau-Ron WU, Research Chair Professor and Director, Institute of Marine Environmental Science and Technology, Department of Earth Science, National Taiwan Normal University
Date : 23 July 2013, Tuesday
Time : 2:30 p.m.
Venue : Room 1003, IENV (Lift 4), HKUST

Seminar
Study of Seasonal Variability and Heat Budget of the East Australian Current Using Two Eddy-resolving Ocean Circulation Models
Speaker : Prof. Xiao Hua Wang, University of New South Wales, Australia
Date : 13 June 2013, Thursday
Time : 2:00 p.m.
Venue : Room 1003, IENV (Lift 4), HKUST

Seminar

Seminar