海洋锋,特性明显不同的两种或几种水体之间的狭窄过渡带。它们可用温度、盐度、密度、速度、颜色、叶绿素等要素的水平梯度，或它们的更高阶微商来描述；即一个锋带的位置可以用一个或几个上述要素的特征量的强度来确定它。

Ocean front is the narrow transition zone between two or more water bodies with distinctly different characteristics. It can be described by horizontal gradients of elements such as temperature, salinity, density, velocity, color, chlorophyll, or by their higher gradients; that’s to say, the position of a frontal zone can be determined by the intensity of the characteristics of one or several of the above elements.

 

基本信息 

Brief Introduction

在锋带附近具有强烈的水平辐合（辐散）和垂直运动，因而是不稳定的，其中存在着逐渐变性的过程和各种尺度的弯曲。

There is a strong horizontal convergence (divergence) and vertical motion in the vicinity of the frontal zone, and so it is unstable. And there are processes of gradual transformation and bending to different extents.

对海洋锋的成因及效应的科学研究工作，始于19世纪中期，美国海洋学家M.F.莫里，在1858年曾把锋描述为一种奇异的海洋现象。从那以后，海洋锋面引起人们的注意。随着寻找海洋资源和军事上的需要，海洋锋面的研究得到迅速发展，并且逐渐形成为海洋科学中的一个分支。

Scientific research on the causes and effects of ocean front began in the middle of the 19th century. The American oceanographer M. F. Maury described front as a peculiar oceanic phenomenon in 1858. Since then, ocean front has attracted the public attention. With the needs to search for marine resources and to prepare for military affairs, the study of ocean front has been rapidly developed and gradually formed into a branch of marine science.

对锋带的物理、化学、生物和光学等方面的性质进行研究，就是海洋锋学 — 锋带科学的基本内容。

The study of the physical, chemical, biological and optical properties of fronts is the basic content of the science of front.

特性

Characteristics

海洋锋的持续时间为数小时至数月。平行于锋的流分量，在垂直于锋的方向上常有强烈的水平切变。对大尺度锋来说，这种切变可能处于地转平衡状态。但是，浅海小尺度锋附近的流，受局地加速度应力和边界摩擦力的影响要比科里奥利力强得多。

Ocean front can last from a few hours to a few months. The component parallel to the front often has a strong horizontal shear in the direction perpendicular to the front. For a large-scale front, this shear may be in geostrophic equilibrium. However, currents near a small-scale front in shallow sea are much more strongly influenced by local acceleration stresses and boundary friction than by Coriolis force.

重要的物理驱动力是那些与海-气交换有关的力,其中包括行星式与局地风应力、热量(海面的增热与冷却)、水（蒸发与降水）的季节性和行星式的垂直输送。其他的一些过程，其中包括河流的淡水输入，潮流与表层地转流的汇合和切变，因海底地形与粗糙度引起的湍流混合，因内波与内潮切变所引起的混合和因弯曲引起的离心效应等，也是海洋锋生成的驱动力。

The important physical drivers are those related to the sea-air exchange, which includes planetary and local wind stress, heat (heating and cooling of the sea surface), seasonality of water (evaporation and precipitation) and planetary vertical transport. Several other processes which include freshwater input from rivers, convergence and shear of tidal currents and surface geostrophic current, turbulent mixing due to seafloor topography and roughness, mixing due to internal waves and internal tidal shear and centrifugal effects due to bending are also driving forces for ocean front generation.

地球的旋转，可显著地影响大锋带的运动过程，而小尺度锋似乎仅受非线性惯性效应和摩擦效应所控制。

The rotation of the earth can significantly affect the motion process of large frontal zones, while small-scale fronts seem to be controlled only by nonlinear inertial and frictional effects.

探测

Detection

水生学家通过实地观测和理论研究，证实了外海洋锋确实起着声学透镜的作用，故由调查船得到的声散射的资料，可能成为调查和研究海洋锋的有力工具之一。

Aquatic scientists have confirmed through field observations and theoretical studies that outer ocean fronts do act as acoustic lenses, so the information of acoustic scattering obtained by survey ships may become one of the potent tools for investigating and studying ocean fronts.

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参考资料

[1] 海洋锋渔人的天堂．中国国家地理 [引用日期2021-8-1]