A quantitative approach to monitoring new sand cay migration in Nansha Islands
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2016
Abstract
Sand cay is a special kind of islet formed by coral detritus and bioclast, which is common in Nansha Islands of China. Some sand cays play an important role in ocean strategy and economy, but surprisingly we know little about them, especially those recently formed sand cays. In this research, we monitor migration of a new sand cay in Nanxun Jiao (Gaven Reef) using a series of QuickBird and WorldView-2 satellite images between June 2006 and August 2013. We conduct a regression between migration distance and wind observational data to examine the migration patterns of the new sand cay. The migration distance is calculated based on the sand cay locations extracted based on Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). The wind observational data downloaded from NOAA are reformed into four wind direction vectors. Based on the results of regression, we concluded that the migration of the new sand cay on Nanxun Jiao was significantly associated with the east, west and north wind. East wind was the main influence factor of the migration; its impact strength was almost twice as the west and north wind. The south wind has little effect on the migration of the sand cay, which is partly blocked by the artificial structure in the south.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
Acta Oceanologica Sinica
Number
608
First Page
102
Last Page
107
Recommended Citation
Zhu, H., Jiang, X., Meng, X., Feng, Q., Cui, S., & Liang, C. (2016). A quantitative approach to monitoring new sand cay migration in Nansha Islands. Acta Oceanologica Sinica, 35 (3), 102-107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-016-0827-8
