海洋，覆盖了地球超过70%的表面积，其内部环流如同地球的“血液循环系统”，深刻影响着全球气候与环境。三十年来，薛惠洁教授以海洋动力学为基础，以数值模型为主要研究手段，持续探索着海洋运动的规律，致力于解码海洋的运行规律，在蓝色疆域里留下了扎实的研究足迹。
在三十余年研究中，薛惠洁教授和她的团队围绕海洋动力与数值模拟，取得一系列具有国际影响力的成果：
1. 厘清南海环流与边界流规律
针对南海“区域海洋 + 边缘海”的特殊属性，薛惠洁教授构建了“南海三层环流垂向耦合理论框架”，首次明确指出深层混合在三层环流及其垂向耦合中的作用，揭示了表层、中层、深层海水的联动机制。她所定义的“黑潮入侵南海量化指数”，为解释南海海水性质的长期变化趋势及其物理、生地化过程提供了可靠的衡量标准和科学依据。
2. 研发锋面与涡旋研究工具
为解析湾流锋面的复杂运动，薛惠洁教授开发了一套高效、普适的不稳定性分析程序，这套程序不仅服务于其本人对湾流开展的深入研究，更被美国、日本、巴西及中国台湾地区的研究者广泛采用，应用于西边界流、陆架锋面等多种研究场景。
3. 打造近海预报业务系统
薛惠洁教授主导开发了“缅因湾业务化预报系统”，该系统是国际上首批能够提供水位、海流及温度场的业务化预报系统之一。其应用价值显著：既能协助环保部门对化学物质泄漏轨迹进行快速、精准的追踪，也为鱼卵仔鱼输运、海洋种群连通性等生态研究提供关键数据支撑，是产学研用紧密结合的典范。
图1：薛惠洁教授指导学生
未来，薛惠洁教授将继续深耕近海与边缘海动力学、西边界流及涡旋的理论与数值研究、近海预测及应用、物理-生物耦合模型、区域海气相互作用等五大方向。她的研究贯通从河口陆架到开阔大洋、从短期过程到长期气候变化的广阔时空尺度，致力于回答多尺度海洋动力学的核心问题，为更好地理解、预测和应对海洋与环境变化提供坚实科学支撑。
如有兴趣了解薛惠洁教授的更多情况，欢迎访问个人主页：https://mel2.xmu.edu.cn/faculty/huijiexue/ 或联系hjxue@xmu.edu.cn。
个人名片：
薛惠洁教授1991 年获美国普林斯顿大学博士学位，随后在北美开启科研征程: 先于美国北卡罗来纳大学完成博士后研究并任研究助理教授，1994 年起加入美国缅因大学，逐步从助理教授晋升至教授，在西边界流、海洋锋面等领域积累了深厚经验。2013 年，她兼任中国科学院南海海洋研究所责任研究员，将研究重心转向中国周边海域；同年入选国家创新人才长期项目。2021 年 10 月，薛惠洁加盟厦门大学，以“南强特聘教授”身份继续引领海洋科学研究，为学科发展注入新活力。
Huijie Xue: Over 30 Years in Decoding Ocean Dynamics
Professor Xue Huijie, a Nanqiang Distinguished Professor at Xiamen University, has dedicated over three decades to unraveling the complexities of ocean circulation. Grounded in physical oceanography and armed with numerical models, she has made lasting contributions to the field.
Over the course of her distinguished career, Prof. Xue and her team have achieved several key breakthroughs in ocean dynamics and modeling:
1. Understanding the South China Sea circulation and boundary currents
Recognizing the unique attribute of the South China Sea as both a regional ocean and a marginal sea, Prof. Xue’s team proposed a theoretical framework for “vertical coupling of the South China Sea's three-layer circulation", which, for the first time, clearly revealed the dynamical role of the abyssal mixing in maintaining the Luzon overflow and in linking the surface, middle, and deep layer circulations in the South China Sea. They also defined the "Kuroshio intrusion index into the South China Sea", which allows quantitative evaluations of Kuroshio intrusion events and their roles in long-term variation trends of seawater properties and associated physical and biogeochemical processes in the South China Sea.
2. Developing tools for ocean front and eddy research
To analyze the complex evolution of the Gulf Stream front, Prof. Xue developed an instability analysis algorithm. This program was not only applicable to Gulf Stream research but has also been adopted by researchers from the United States, Japan, Brazil, and China, for studies on western boundary currents and coastal shelf fronts, , becoming a practical tool in the international research community.
3. Building an operational coastal ocean forecasting system
Prof. Xue led the development of the "Gulf of Maine Operational Nowcast/Forecast System". As one of the first few systems capable of providing operational forecasts of water level, ocean currents, and temperature fields, it has been widely applied: it not only assists environmental protection departments in tracking the trajectory of chemical spills but also provides data for studies on fish egg and larval transport as well as population connectivity, truly enabling research outcomes to serve practical needs.
Currently, Prof. Xue Huijie's team continues to pursue several key research directions: coastal and marginal sea dynamics, theoretical and numerical studies of western boundary currents and eddies, coastal ocean prediction and application, bio-physical coupled models, and regional air-sea interactions. These directions cover multi-scale ocean dynamics, ranging from estuaries, shelves, to open oceans, and from short-term processes to long-term changes, essential for advancing scientific understanding of the marine system and climate change.
For more information, please visit Prof. Xue’s website https://coeoa.xmu.edu.cn/t/XHJ/ or contact her at hjxue@xmu.edu.cn
Biography: Xue Huijie received her PhD Degree from Princeton University in 1991. . Afterward, she spent three years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, first as a postdoctoral researcher and later as a Research Assistant Professor. In 1994, she joined the University of Maine as a faculty member, where she was promoted from Assistant Professor to tenured Full Professor, gaining extensive expertise in ocean dynamics and modeling. In 2013, she concurrently served as a senior scientist at the State Key Laboratory of Tropical Oceanography, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shifting her research focus to China seas. In the same year, she was selected for the National Innovative Talent Program. In October 2021, Prof. Xue Huijie retired from the University of Maine and joined Xiamen University as a Nanqiang Distinguished Professor, where she continues to inspire marine science education and research.
