Introduction

Abstract

Marginal seas are among the most productive marine environments in the world, and they are known to have undergone rapid environmental changes in recent decades. This book introduces temporal changes over time scales from years to decades in the marginal seas in the Northwest Pacific, ranging from the northern-most Arctic/Subarctic Bering Sea to the tropical South China Sea (SCS). The relevant physical variables include sea level, sea surface temperature, water mass index, current and transport, and local issues, such as sea ice and tidal mixing, as well as other processes and dynamics govern them. Trends are also discussed. The biogeochemical variables include nutrient concentrations, oxygen concentration, pH, ocean acidification, eutrophication, and productivity. This book comprehensively reviews long-term changes in the physical and biogeochemical variables for six marginal seas and two related western boundary currents. The focus on Asia-Pacific marginal seas is especially important because of their extensive exploitation and the urgent need for adaptive management strategies in their coastal areas. Readers in most oceanographic fields will find the newest information on long-term changes in these marginal seas in this book which provides a holistic overview of what has changed and warns readers of what is likely to change in the future.