On January 11, 2015, a workshop on Small-Scale Processes and Particle Transport in the Pearl Estuary and Adjoining Shelf Waters was held at the Center for Coastal Ocean Science and Technology (CCOST), South Campus, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). This workshop is motivated by the important current themes undertaken by the CCOST group of Small-Scale Marine Processes and Sediment Dynamics. One five-year MST-funded research project (National Basic Research Program of China under grant 2013CB956502) and three four-year NSFC projects (41276079, 41176067, and 40976053) addressing these issues has been established in cooperation between CCOST and its research partners.

The workshop, organized by Prof. Jiaxue Wu at the CCOST, was composed of two normal sessions, one student session as well as one 40-min discussion session, totally 13 oral presentations.

Prof. Tom Rippeth from the School of Ocean Sciences of the University of Bangor, UK, opened the workshop with the talk “Mixing in the Ocean: A World Tour”. He is the author of numerous publications on marine turbulent mixing. The Bangor Turbulence and Mixing group, of which Tom is a member, is the European leaders in the development and implementation of novel techniques for the measurement of turbulent fluxes within the marine environment.

Prof. Jiaxue Wu gave a detailed presentation on small-scale marine processes and acoustical sediment in the coastal ocean. Prof. Wenping Gong at the CCOST talked about the contrast of sediment dynamics between shoal and channel in a microtidal estuary. Dr. Holly Pelling from School of Ocean Sciences in the University of Bangor, explored the impact of land reclamation, sea level rise and tidal power plants on regional tidal dynamics.

Session Two focused on meso/small-scale marine processes, such as the influences of density stratification on internal solitary waves given by Dr. Zhiwu Chen at the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology in Guangzhou (SCSIO); Observations of turbulent energy dissipation rate given by Dr. Chang-Rong Liang (SCSIO); Glider observations by Dr. Chunhua Qiu (CCOST), and bottom boundary layer (bbl) flows in the Pearl Estuary by Dr. Huan Liu (CCOST).

The student session had five talks given all by the CCOST students, three Ph.D. students Yongsheng Cui, Qianjiang Zhang and Changyu Li, one graduate student Zhihao Ye and one undergraduate student Mengxi Hu. They gave oral presentations of their current studies.

Finally, Prof. Jiaxue Wu chaired an effective discussion about bbl flows and sediment transport, and stratification and turbulent mixing in the coastal ocean.

This workshop has strengthened mutual understanding and will promote the substantive collaboration between SYSU and Bangor in the near future.