No abstract

Access to geophysical data poses a challenge in Oceanography and Marine Sciences. Ocean databases are an efficient solution to storing, standardizing, validating, and sharing marine and environmental data. However, ocean databases of regional seas and coastal systems are still rare. In this article, we describe a regional ocean database for Jiaozhou Bay, a coastal system affected by increasing anthropogenic activities, such as land reclamation, a cross‐bay bridge construction, and land‐based pollutant discharges. Understanding the impact of human activities on Jiaozhou Bay requires a comprehensive range of research on biogeochemical and physical changes, and on the current environmental state of the bay. The Jiaozhou Bay database described here aims to inform this key research and also to serve as a reference for the future development of regional ocean databases. It includes three kinds of variables: on‐site, satellite, and modeling data. The database structure is unified and incorporates file names, header information (including metadata), measured values and data‐quality flags, which facilitate data exchange and use. We propose a system of data‐quality flags, based on 13 checks that encompass quality control of the different kinds of variables (e.g., satellite 2D data and on‐site profile data). Three examples, one for each type of data, illustrate the use and value of the Jiaozhou Bay database in better understanding the oceanographic characteristics of this bay and the impact of intensive anthropogenic activities on its marine environment.

Spatial and temporal ocean colour data are increasingly accessible through remote sensing, which is a key tool for evaluating coastal biogeochemical and physical processes, and for monitoring water quality. Coastal infrastructure such as cross-sea bridges may impact ocean colour remote sensing due to the different spectral characteristics of asphalt and the seawater surface. However, this potential impact is typically ignored during data post-processing. In this study, we use Jiaozhou Bay (East China) and its cross-bay bridge to examine the impact of coastal infrastructure on water-quality remote-sensing products, in particular on chlorophyll-a concentration and total suspended sediment. The values of these products in the bridge area were significantly different to those in the adjacent water. Analysis of the remote-sensing reflectance and application of the Normalised Difference Water Index demonstrate that this phenomenon is caused by contamination of the signal by bridge pixels. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) products helped estimate the pixel scale that could be influenced by contamination. Furthermore, we found similar pixel contamination at Hangzhou Bay Bridge, suggesting that the impact of large coastal infrastructure on ocean colour data is common, and must therefore be considered in data post-processing.