Transparent West-Pacific: Frontier advances in Earth System Science

Authors

Lixin WU, Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, MOE, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China; Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao 266237, ChinaFollow
Jiwei TIAN, Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, MOE, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
Weidong SUN, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao 266237, China
Hailong LIU, Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao 266237, China
Tianyu CHEN, State Key Laboratory of Critical Earth Material Cycling and Mineral Deposits, School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Zhimian CAO, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, College of Ocean and Earth Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
Zhao JING, Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System and Key Laboratory of Physical Oceanography, MOE, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China; Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao 266237, China

Keywords

Earth System Science, West-Pacific, multispheric interactions, theoretical breakthrough, numerical simulation

Document Type

Precision Support Technology for Marine Environment

Abstract

The West-Pacific hosts a well-developed trench-arc-basin system characterized by intense fluid–solid interactions, making it an ideal region for studying multi-sphere interactions within the Earth system. Research on cross-sphere dynamic processes and material-energy cycles in the West-Pacific not only represents a core frontier in Earth System Science, but also crucial to addressing major strategic needs, such as global climate change response, sustainable use of marine resources, and protection of the deep-sea environment. This article highlights key advances achieved under the Major Program on West-Pacific Earth System Multispheric Interactions (WESPMI), in areas including multi-scale oceanic interactions, cross-sphere material exchange, plate subduction and deep Earth carbon cycling, and high-resolution Earth system modeling. It further emphasizes that future studies should focus on building an integrated stereoscopic observation system and a kilometer-scale Earth system modeling framework, deepening the understanding of cross-sphere coupling mechanisms, and promoting the deep integration of artificial intelligence with Earth System Science—thereby achieving a “transparent” understanding and accurate prediction of the West-Pacific Earth system.

First page

142

Last Page

151

Language

Chinese

Publisher

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences

References

1. 吴立新, 荆钊, 陈显尧, 等. 我国海洋科学发展现状与未来展望. 地学前缘, 2022, 29(5): 1-12. Wu L X, Jing Z, Chen X Y, et al. Marine science in China: Current status and future outlooks. Earth Science Frontiers, 2022, 29(5): 1-12. (in Chinese)

2. McWilliams J C. Submesoscale currents in the ocean. Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 2016, 472: 20160117.

3. Zhang Z W, Zhang X C, Qiu B, et al. Submesoscale currents in the subtropical upper ocean observed by long-term high-resolution mooring arrays. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 2021, 51(1): 187-206.

4. Zhang X C, Zhang Z W, McWilliams J C, et al. Submesoscale coherent vortices observed in the northeastern South China Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 2022, 127(2): e2021JC018117.

5. Jing Z Y, Fox-Kemper B, Cao H J, et al. Submesoscale fronts and their dynamical processes associated with symmetric instability in the northwest Pacific subtropical ocean. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 2021, 51(1): 83-100.

6. Wang C Y, Liu Z Y, Lin H Y. On dynamical decomposition of multiscale oceanic motions. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 2023, 15(3): e2022MS003556.

7. Zhang Z W, Liu Y L, Qiu B, et al. Submesoscale inverse energy cascade enhances Southern Ocean eddy heat transport. Nature Communications, 2023, 14: 1335.

8. Wang J N, Wang F, Lu Y Y, et al. Abyssal circulation from the Yap-Mariana Junction to the Northern Philippine Basin. Geophysical Research Letters, 2023, 50(6): e2022GL100610.

9. 张亮, 冷疏影, 孙卫东, 等. 共享航次驱动海洋科学重大突破. 科学通报, 2025, 70(S2): 4810-4819. Zhang L, Leng S Y, Sun W D, et al. Major marine science breakthroughs enabled by the NSFC Shiptime Sharing Project. Chinese Science Bulletin, 2025, 70(S2): 4810-4819. (in Chinese)

10. Zheng K W, Zhang Z W, Zhao W, et al. The impact of rough topography on behaviors of mesoscale eddies as revealed by submesoscale resolving simulations. Ocean Modelling, 2023, 186: 102279.

11. Nishioka J, Obata H, Ogawa H, et al. Subpolar marginal seas fuel the North Pacific through the intermediate water at the termination of the global ocean circulation. PNAS, 2020, 117(23): 12665-12673.

12. Li X Y, Gan B L, Zhang Z G, et al. Oceanic uptake of CO2 enhanced by mesoscale eddies. Science Advances, 2025, 11(24): eadt4195.

13. Wang Z X, Cao Z M, Liu Z Q, et al. Pacific Ocean-originated anthropogenic carbon and its long-term variations in the South China Sea. Science Advances, 2024, 10(37): eadn9171.

14. Wan X S, Sheng H X, Dai M H, et al. Epipelagic nitrous oxide production offsets carbon sequestration by the biological pump. Nature Geoscience, 2023, 16(1): 29-36.

15. Wei L, Cai P H, Shi X M, et al. Winter mixing accelerates decomposition of sedimentary organic carbon in seasonally hypoxic coastal seas. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 2022, 317: 457-471.

16. Hong Q Q, Cheng Y L, Qu Y, et al. Overlooked shelf sediment reductive sinks of dissolved rhenium and uranium in the modern ocean. Nature Communications, 2024, 15: 3966.

17. Li Y C, Bo G Y, Cai Y H, et al. Removal of dissolved arsenic from deep seawater around hydrothermal vents and seamounts. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2025, 660: 119351.

18. Li L F, Luan Z D, Du Z F, et al. In situ Raman observations reveal that the gas fluxes of diffuse flow in hydrothermal systems are greatly underestimated. Geology, 2023, 51(4): 372-376.

19. Sun Z L, Wu N Y, Cao H, et al. Hydrothermal metal supplies enhance the benthic methane filter in oceans: An example from the Okinawa Trough. Chemical Geology, 2019, 525: 190-209.

20. Peng X T, Du M R, Gebruk A, et al. Flourishing chemosynthetic life at the greatest depths of hadal trenches. Nature, 2025, 645: 679-685.

21. Arculus R J, Ishizuka O, Bogus K A, et al. A record of spontaneous subduction initiation in the Izu–Bonin–Mariana arc. Nature Geoscience, 2015, 8(9): 728-733.

22. Stern R J. Subduction initiation: Spontaneous and induced. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2004, 226(3-4): 275-292.

23. Li H, Arculus R J, Ishizuka O, et al. Basalt derived from highly refractory mantle sources during early Izu-Bonin-Mariana arc development. Nature Communications, 2021, 12: 1723.

24. Ding W W, Sun W D. How did Cenozoic subduction initiate in the West Pacific?. Science China Earth Sciences, 2025, 68(12): 4127-4138.

25. Sun W D, Li S G. Reconstruction of the Pacific plate: Constraints from ocean floor and Eastern China. The Innovation Geoscience, 2023, 1(1): 100013.

26. Sun W D. New perspectives on deep carbon cycling. Science China Earth Sciences, 2024, 67(8): 2411-2422.

27. Hilton R G, West A J. Mountains, erosion and the carbon cycle. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 2020, 1(6): 284-299.

28. Cheng H H, Suo Y H, Li S Z, et al. Late Oligocene birth of the modern Pearl River: New insights from landscape evolution modeling. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 2025, 130(11): e2025JF008503.

29. Chang P, Zhang S Q, Danabasoglu G, et al. An unprecedented set of high-resolution earth system simulations for understanding multiscale interactions in climate variability and change. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 2020, 12(12): e2020MS002298.

30. Wang S Y, Ma X H, Zhou S H, et al. Extreme atmospheric rivers in a warming climate. Nature Communications, 2023, 14: 3219.

31. Liu B W, Gan B L, Cai W J, et al. Will increasing climate model resolution be beneficial for ENSO simulation?. Geophysical Research Letters, 2022, 49(11): e2021GL096932.

32. Yang H Y, Guo H H, Chen Z H, et al. Onshore intensification of subtropical western boundary currents in a warming climate. Nature Climate Change, 2025, 15(3): 301-307.

33. Wang S P, Jing Z, Wu L X, et al. El Niño/Southern Oscillation inhibited by submesoscale ocean eddies. Nature Geoscience, 2022, 15(2): 112-117.

34. Guo X W, Gao Y, Zhang S Q, et al. Threat by marine heatwaves to adaptive large marine ecosystems in an eddy-resolving model. Nature Climate Change, 2022, 12(2): 179-186.

35. Bian C, Jing Z, Wang H, et al. Oceanic mesoscale eddies as crucial drivers of global marine heatwaves. Nature Communications, 2023, 14: 2970.

36. Duan X H, Zhang Y, Xu K, et al. An AI-enhanced 1km-resolution seamless global weather and climate model to achieve year-scale simulation speed using 34 million cores// Proceedings of the 30th ACM SIGPLAN Annual Symposium on Principles and Practice of Parallel Programming. Las Vegas: ACM, 2025: 524-538.

37. Wei J L, Han X, Yu J F, et al. A performance-portable kilometer-scale global ocean model on ORISE and new sunway heterogeneous supercomputers// SC24: International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis. Atlanta: IEEE, 2024: 1-12.

38. Xie J W, Yu J F, Zhou Y Z, et al. A 1-km resolution global ocean simulation promises to unveil oceanic multi-scale dynamics and climate impacts. The Innovation, 2025, 6(7): 100843.

39. Xu K, Yu M X, Chen Y H, et al. Kilometer-scale AI-powered and performance-portable earth system model(AP3ESM) to achieve year-scale simulation speed on heterogeneous supercomputers// Proceedings of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis. St. Louis: ACM 2025: 111-124.

Recommended Citation

WU, Lixin; TIAN, Jiwei; SUN, Weidong; LIU, Hailong; CHEN, Tianyu; CAO, Zhimian; and JING, Zhao (2026) "Transparent West-Pacific: Frontier advances in Earth System Science," Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version): Vol. 41 : Iss. 1 , Article 13.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3724/j.issn.1000-3045.20251215013
Available at: https://bulletinofcas.researchcommons.org/journal/vol41/iss1/13