Seasonal dynamics in pelagic fish abundance in a Baltic Sea coastal area

The spring-spawning Baltic Sea herring spawn in coastal areas that also serve as nursery areas for the young fish during their first summer. In a bay known as a herring spawning and nursery area, the pelagic fish abundance was quantified using hydroacoustics every second week from late spring to autumn in 2000 and 2001. A dense system of survey transects allowed determination of the acoustic index (the nautical area scattering coefficient) for fish abundance with high precision. The variation, expressed as the geostatistical coefficient of variation, was on average 5% both years and ranged from 3–11% (2000) and 3–8% (2001). Through the hydroacoustic data intra-annual dynamics in acoustic fish abundance, densities and size composition could be followed, which showed similar trends in both years. In spring and early summer acoustic fish densities were low, followed by a drastic, 20-fold increase in late summer. Hydroacoustic data and biological samples suggest that the increase was caused mainly by the recruitment of young-of-the-year herring to the acoustically assessable pelagic fish community. This age class is commonly not well represented in catches when using traditional sampling gears such as gill nets and trawls, and hydroacoustics may help to improve quantitative estimates of small juvenile fish in order to increase the understanding of biological processes in coastal nursery areas.     

Seakeeping assessment of fishing vessels in conceptual design stage

The main idea of this paper is to identify functional relations between seakeeping characteristics and hull form parameters of Mediterranean fishing vessels. Multiple regression analysis is used for quantitative assessment through a computer software that is based on the SQL Server Database. The seakeeping attributes under investigation are the transfer functions of heave and pitch motions and of absolute vertical acceleration at stern, while the ship parameters influencing motion dynamics have been classified into two groups: displacement (Δ) and main dimensions (L, B, T), coefficients that define the details of the hull form (C_WP, C_VP, LCB, LCF, etc.).Four multiple regression models having different parameter combinations are here investigated and discussed, giving way to the so-called ‘Simple Model’, ‘Intermediate Model’, ‘Enhanced 1 Model’ and ‘Enhanced 2 Model’. The obtained results are more than satisfactory for seakeeping predictions during the conceptual design stage.     

Reliability-based comparative study for mooring lines design criteria

The characteristic environmental load effect for the design of mooring systems of floating units can be defined by means of three procedures: (a) the one associated to an extreme sea state with a given return period, (b) the worst one from a set of sea states on a contour line associated to a return period or (c) the extreme one based on response statistics for a long-term period. This work presents the result of a reliability-based partial safety factor calibration study for a LRFD mooring line design criteria considering the three approaches mentioned above. The calibration exercise is applied to three FPSOs considering North Sea environmental conditions and different water depths: 200, 800 and 3000 m. The mooring systems investigated take into account mooring lines made up of chains and polyester ropes. It is shown that, among all cases investigated, the design procedure based on the long-term response is the one that presents less scattered reliability indices around the target level.     

Baroclinic Buoyancy-Inertia Joint Stability Parameter

At present, the barotropic buoyant stability parameter has been derived from a vertical virtual displacement of a water parcel. The barotropic inertial stability parameter in the eccentrically cyclogeostrophic, basic current field was derived in 2003 from a horizontal cross-stream virtual displacement of a parcel. By expressing acceleration of a parcel due to a virtual displacement, which is arbitrarily sloping within a vertical section across the basic current, in terms of natural coordinates, we derived the vertical component of baroclinic buoyant stability parameter B ₂ ², the horizontal component of baroclinic inertial stability parameter I ₂ ², the baroclinic joint stability parameter J ², its buoyant component B ² and its inertial component I ². B ² is far greater than I ₂ ², and when neglecting relative vorticity except for vertical shear, a downward convex curve of J ² plotted against the slope of a virtual displacement follows a trend of B ² curve. If a parcel displaces along a horizontal surface or an isopycnal surface, however, B ² vanishes, and J ² becomes equal to I ². Actual parcel is apt to displace not only along the bottom slope, but also along the sea surface and an isopycnal interfacial surface, which is approximately equivalent to an isentropic surface, preferred by lateral mixing and exchange of momentum. Such actual displacement makes B ² vanishing, and grants I ² an important role. The present analysis of I ² examining effects due to curvature and horizontal and vertical shear vorticities are useful in deepening our understanding of baroclinic instability in actual oceanic streams.     

Design of Mooring System for Oil Storage Vessels

The floating oil storage system has been proposed as a new facility for Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in China. Mooring is one of the key technologies to ensure the safety, reliability, and performance of the oil storage system. This paper describes the concept, analysis, design and reliability of the mooring system. For mooring system design of these oil vessels, analysis is essential of the behavior of the vessel in connection with mooring facilities of nonlinear resilience. A nonlinear mathematical model for analyzing a moored vessel is established and solved. Some results of numerical simulations are presented. Assessment of the safety regarding the mooring system in terms of failure probability is carried out. Another simulation model for calculating the failure probability of the mooring system is proposed. The design parameters that have an influence on the characteristics of the failure probability have been identified. The simulation results show that the mooring system has an annual reliab     

Long-term changes in summer phytoplankton communities of the open northern Baltic Sea

Changes in the biomass and species composition of phytoplankton may reflect major shifts in environmental conditions. We investigated relationships between the late summer biomass of different phytoplankton taxa and environmental factors, and their long-term (1979–2003) trends in two areas of the Baltic Sea, the northern Baltic proper (NBP) and the Gulf of Finland (GF), with statistical analyses. An increasing trend was found in late summer temperature and chlorophyll a of the surface water layer (0–10 m) in both areas. There was also a significant decrease in summer salinity and an increase in winter dissolved inorganic nitrogen to phosphorus (DIN:DIP) ratio in the NBP, as well as increases in winter DIN concentrations and DIN:SiO₄ ratio in the GF. Simultaneously, the biomass of chrysophytes and chlorophytes increased in both areas. In the NBP, also the biomass of dinophytes increased and that of euglenophytes decreased, whereas in the GF, cyanobacteria increased and cryptophytes decreased. Redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated that summer temperature and winter DIN concentration were the most important factors with respect to changes in the phytoplankton community structure. Thus, the phytoplankton communities seem to reflect both hydrographic changes and the ongoing eutrophication process in the northern Baltic Sea.     

水下滑翔机器人运动分析与载体设计

水下滑翔机器人是一种新型水下机器人,具有噪声低、航行距离远、续航时间长、成本低等特点。分析了水下滑翔机器人的驱动机理和运动实现,给出了水下滑翔机器人典型运动的仿真结果,并以正在设计的一水下滑翔机试验样机为研究对象,描述了样机的整体结构布局,详细研究了浮力调节机构、俯仰调节机构和横滚调节机构的实现方法,并就样机中各执行机构的设计实现进行了论述。     

渤海中、南部表层沉积硅藻的定量分析

对取自渤海中、南部海底表层的44个沉积物样品进行了硅藻分析。样品中共含硅藻20属41种,主要是潮间带、沿岸性底栖或浮游种类,其中尤以具槽直链藻Melosira sulc-ata和小环藻Cyclotella最多见。对本区的表层沉积硅藻用多元统计方法进行分区,共划分出三区、两亚区,井与其他海区进行了比较。     

基于麦克斯韦理论的海底大地电磁探测技术

麦克斯韦理论为海底大地电磁探测技术奠定了坚实基础。大地电磁场的测量通常测取Ex，Ey，Hx，Hy,Hz。大地电磁仪的设计要点包括：高灵敏度、智能化、同步采集数据、锚系硬连接、承压密封和合理的下沉速度所观测的数据经计算机处理后，可获得被测海域的地球物理信息。     

GIS和RS技术在城市规划设计中的应用探讨

数字技术时代的到来,城市规划行业面临机遇和挑战。本文针对国内目前3S技术在城市规划管理层次应用较广而在规划设计方面应用薄弱这一现状,结合规划设计相关案例介绍GIS和RS技术在规划设计方面的辅助应用。案例选用ArcGIS软件介入规划设计的全过程,进行现状地形分析、三维模拟等辅助分析,并与Sketchup建模充分结合制作大范围三维漫游动画,辅助推敲规划建筑与周边环境相互关系,同时还充分利用GoogleEarth与Sketchup和ArcGIS之间的接口,将规划方案和建筑模型导入全球卫星影像,从而更好地辅助规划决策和公众参与等。