Chinese scientists have developed a detection algorithm for special oceanic features that serve as biodiversity hotspots, offering a possible breakthrough to help fishermen and researchers find prime fishing grounds.

The team’s dataset and detection algorithm on global ocean fronts – boundaries at which two distinct bodies of water meet – could have broad applications in oceanography, ecology and fisheries research.

“This study provides the first publicly available global ocean front dataset covering the past 42 years,” the team said in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Earth System Science Data in June.

“Our open-access dataset and detection algorithm can provide a valuable tool for studies on ocean dynamics, marine ecology, biogeochemistry, ocean management, climate change and as a training dataset for artificial intelligence in both regional and global oceans.”

Ocean fronts are the meeting points or lines between two bodies of water with different properties, such as temperature, density or salinity. The fronts create areas where the exchange of energy and nutrients is stronger than elsewhere in the ocean.