Thresholds in East Asian marginal seas circulation due to deglacial sea level rise
East Asian marginal seas (EAMS) circulation is closely configurated by sea level rise during the last deglaciation. Here, we perform simulations to reconstruct the EAMS circulation on the basis of sea levels from −90 to 0 m of the present, using a high-resolution regional ocean circulation model under present-day fixed surface and lateral boundary conditions. Our results show that the EAMS circulation underwent twice abrupt changes: a rapid initiation of its modern structure when sea level rise exceeded −40 m, followed by a temporary overshoot of the Japan-Sea throughflows at −5 m. These nonlinear processes are caused by the opening of the Soya Strait and thus formation of the modern EAMS-circulation structure, and a transient absence of the circulation resembling a Kuroshio Large Meander following around-island integral constraint, respectively. Conceptually, our findings introduce the around-island integral constraint on abrupt shift in the global marginal-sea circulation during the last deglaciation.
Authors
- Xun Gong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9308-4431)
- Dong Zhi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3176-9440)
- Lester Lembke‐Jene (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6873-8533)
- Gerrit Lohmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2089-733X)
- Xiaopei Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6413-4479)
- Yang Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5527-1540)
- Xuesong Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9522-4098)
- Guangliang Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1451-7150)
- Jiayu Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8715-3952)
- Xuefa Shi
Institutions
- Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung (DE)
- Qilu University of Technology (CN)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Ministry of Natural Resources (CN)
- China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (CN)
- Institute of Oceanology (CN)
- Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (CN)
- First Institute of Oceanography (CN)
- Shandong Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Laoshan Laboratory
- Ocean University of China (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Climate and Atmospheric Science
- Published
- 2025-03-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-025-00927-y
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Geophysics and Gravity Measurements
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.79