Intra- and inter-annual changes of sea ices in the Liaodong Bay

Abstract

The Liaodong Bay is the northernmost part of China's seas, and sea ices are often seen there in cold winter, which strongly affect the development of marine economy, maritime transportation, and offshore fishery. The temporal and spatial changing patterns of sea ices in the Liaodong Bay were primarily examined with Landsat remote sensing images totaling 20 scenes. The results show that sea ices in the Liaodong bay are seasonal and the largest coverage of sea ices almost appear in January or February each year. The areas of sea ices show cyclical features of about 4–5 years. The sea-ices area at cycle peaks tended to increase, suggesting that winter weather at cycle peaks became colder in the past years. The general fate of sea ices in the Liaodong Bay was summarized. The results are helpful to predicting and better understanding the evolution of sea ices in the Liaodong Bay.