Effects of changes in canopy interception on stream runoff response and recovery following clear-cutting of a Japanese coniferous forest in Fukuroyamasawa Experimental Watershed in Japan

Understanding changes in evapotranspiration during forest regrowth is essential to predict changes of stream runoff and recovery after forest cutting. Canopy interception (Ic) is an important component of evapotranspiration, however Ic changes and the impact on stream runoff during regrowth after cutting remains unclear due to limited observations. The objective of this study was to examine the effects of Ic changes on long-term stream runoff in a regrowth Japanese cedar and Japanese cypress forest following clear-cutting. This study was conducted in two 1-ha paired headwater catchments at Fukuroyamasawa Experimental Watershed in Japan. The catchments were 100% covered by Japanese coniferous plantation forest, one of which was 100% clear-cut in 1999 when the forest was 70 years old. In the treated catchment, annual runoff increased by 301 mm/year (14% of precipitation) the year following clear-cutting, and remained 185 mm/year (7.9% of precipitation) higher in the young regrowth forest for 12–14 years compared to the estimated runoff assuming no clear-cutting. The Ic change was −358 mm/year (17% of precipitation) after cutting and was −168 mm/year (6.7% of precipitation) in the 12–14 years old regrowth forest compared to the observed Ic during the pre-cutting period. Stream runoff increased in all seasons, and the Ic change was the main fraction of evapotranspiration change in all seasons throughout the observation period. These results suggest that the change in Ic accounted for most of the runoff response following forest cutting and the subsequent runoff recovery in this coniferous forest.     

Observation of the flare of 12 June 1982 by Norikura coronagraph and Hinotori

Flare activity was observed near the limb with two coronagraphs at the Norikura Solar Observatory and the Soft X-ray Crystal Spectrometer (SOX) aboard HINOTORI. A prominence activation occurred and then Hα brightenings were seen on the disk near the prominence. The prominence became very bright and its electron density increased to 10^12.8 cm^?3 in 1/2 hour. Loop prominence systems appeared above the Hα brightenings about half an hour after the onset of the flare, and were observed in the coronal lines CaXV 5694Å, FeXIV 5303Å, and FeX 6374Å. Shifted and asymmetric profiles of the emission line of 5303Å were sometimes observed, and turbulent phenomena occurred even in the thermal phase. The energy release site of the flare at the onset would be lower than 20 000 km above the solar limb.     

He–Ar and Nd–Sr isotopic compositions of late Pleistocene felsic plutonic back arc basin rocks from Ulleungdo volcanic island, South Korea: Implications for the genesis of young plutonic rocks in a back arc basin

We report analyses of noble gases and Nd–Sr isotopes in mineral separates and whole rocks of late Pleistocene (< 0.2 Ma) monzonites from Ulleungdo, South Korea, a volcanic island within the back arc basin of the Japan island arc. A Rb–Sr mineral isochron age for the monzonites is 0.12 ± 0.01 Ma. K–Ar biotite ages from the same samples gave relatively concordant ages of 0.19 ± 0.01and 0.22 ± 0.01 Ma. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar yields a similar age of 0.29 ± 0.09 Ma. Geochemical characteristics of the felsic plutonic rocks, which are silica oversaturated alkali felsic rocks (av., 12.5 wt% in K₂O + Na₂O), are similar to those of 30 alkali volcanics from Ulleungdo in terms of concentrations of major, trace and REE elements. The initial Nd–Sr isotopic ratios of the monzonites (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70454–0.71264, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.512528–0.512577) are comparable with those of the alkali volcanics (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr = 0.70466–0.70892, ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd = 0.512521–0.512615) erupted in Stage 3 of Ulleungdo volcanism (0.24–0.47 Ma). The high initial ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr values of the monzonites imply that seawater and crustally contaminated pre-existing trachytes may have been melted or assimilated during differentiation of the alkali basaltic magma.A mantle helium component (³He/⁴He ratio of up to 6.5 RA) associated with excess argon was found in the monzonites. Feldspar and biotite have preferentially lost helium during slow cooling at depth and/or during their transportation to the surface in a hot host magma. The source magma noble gas isotopic features are well preserved in fluid inclusions in hornblende, and indicate that the magma may be directly derived from subcontinental lithospheric mantle metasomatized by an ancient subduction process, or may have formed as a mixture of MORB-like mantle and crustal components. The radiometric ages, geochemical and Nd–Sr isotopic signatures of the Ulleungdo monzonites as well as the presence of mantle-derived helium and argon, suggests that these felsic plutonic rocks evolved from alkali basaltic magma that formed by partial melting of subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the back arc basin located along the active continental margin of the southeastern part of the Eurasian plate.     

Predictability of Interannual Variability in the Kuroshio Transport South of Japan Based on Wind Stress Data over the North Pacific

It is expected that a roughly two-year forecast of the Kuroshio transport variation can be made from a past record of wind stress data over the ocean, since it takes nearly ten years for the first-mode baroclinic Rossby wave to traverse the entire basin in the midlatitude North Pacific (∼30°N). We therefore investigated the predictability using an ocean general circulation model driven by the wind stress data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis. Referring to a hindcast experiment as the control run, we carried out fifteen forecast experiments, the initial conditions of which are taken from the hindcast experiment at intervals of two years during the period from the end of 1969 to the end of 1997. Each of the forecast experiments is driven only by wind stress in the year preceding each experiment. The forecasted Kuroshio transport anomaly south of Japan agrees better with the hindcasted one during the first two years of the forecast in most cases. In some cases, however, significant disagreements occur, most of which are likely due to larger unpredictable variations caused by wind stress anomalies near Japan. At the end of forecast year 2, the anomaly correlation coefficient is about 0.7, and rms of the forecast error is smaller than rms of the hindcasted anomaly. These results indicate that the prediction of the interannual variability in the Kuroshio transport could be made two years in advance at a statistically significant level. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Rifting to Spreading Process along the Northern Continental Margin of the South China Sea

Understanding the development from syn-rift to spreading in the South China Sea (SCS) is important in elucidating the western Pacific's tectonic evolution because the SCS is a major tectonic constituent of the many marginal seas in the region. This paper describes research examining the transition from rifting to spreading along the northern margin of the SCS, made possible by the amalgamation of newly acquired and existing geophysical data. The northernmost SCS was surveyed as part of a joint Japan-China cooperative project (JCCP) in two phases in 1993 and 1994. The purpose of the investigation was to reveal seismic and magnetic characteristics of the transitional zone between continental crust and the abyssal basin. Compilation of marine gravity and geomagnetic data of the South China Sea clarify structural characteristics of its rifted continental and convergent margins, both past and present. Total and three component magnetic data clearly indicate the magnetic lineations of the oceanic basin and the magnetic characteristics of its varied margins. The analyses of magnetic, gravity and seismic data and other geophysical and geological information from the SCS led up to the following results: (1) N-S direction seafloor spreading started from early Eocene. There were at least four separate evolutional stages. Directions and rates of the spreading are fluctuating and unstable and spreading continued from 32 to 17 Ma. (2) The apparent difference in the present tectonism of the eastern and western parts of Continent Ocean Boundary (COB) implies that in the east of the continental breakup is governed by a strike slip faulting. (3) The seismic high velocity layer in the lower crust seems to be underplated beneath the stretched continental crust. (4) Magnetic anomaly of the continental margin area seems to be rooted in the uppermost sediment and upper part of lower crust based on the tertiary volcanism. (5) Magnetic quiet zone (MQZ) anomaly in the continental margin area coincides with COB. (6) The non-magnetic or very weakly magnetized layer is probably responsible for MQZ. One of the causes of demagnetization of the layer is due to hydrothermal alteration while high temperature mantle materials being underplated. Another explanation is that horizontal sequences of basalt each with flip-flop magnetization polarity cancel out to the resultant magnetic field on the surface. We are currently developing a synthetic database system containing datasets of seismicity, potential field data, crustal and thermal structures, and other geophysical data to facilitate the study of past, contemporary and future changes in the deep sea environment around Japan; i.e. trench, trough, subduction zones, marginal basins and island arcs. Several special characteristics are an object-oriented approach to the collection and multi-faceted studies of global data from a variety of sources.     

Satellite detection of red tide in Ariake Sound, 1998–2001

High resolution SeaWiFS data was used to detect red tide events that occurred in the Ariake Sound, Japan, a small embayment known as one of the most productive areas in Japan. SeaWiFS chlorophyll data clearly showed that a large red tide event, which damaged seaweed (Nori) cultures, started early in December 2000 in Isahaya Bay, expanded to the whole sound and persisted to the end of February 2001. The monthly average of SeaWiFS data from May 1998 to December 2001 indicated that the chlorophyll peaks appeared twice a year, in early summer and in fall, after the peaks of rain and river discharge. The SeaWiFS data showed that the red tide event during 2000–2001 winter was part of the fall bloom; however, it started later and continued significantly longer than other years. Satellite ocean color data is useful to detect the red tide; however the algorithms require improvement to accurately estimate chlorophyll in highly turbid water and in red tide areas.     

The chemical composition and nickel,cobalt, copper,zinc and lead contents of Nanao Bay sediments

The contents of major and some of the minor elements, nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc and lead were studied on sediments collected from three inlets of Nanao Bay located at eastern side of Noto Peninsula. Little variation was found on the average contents of silicon, iron, titanium, aluminum, manganese, magnesium and potassium among the sediments of West, South and North Bays in Nanao Bay. Whereas significant difference was found on the contents of calcium, chlorine, sulfur and nitrogen among sediments of three bays.As to the minor elements, the average contents of nickel (20±5 ppm), cobalt (5±1 ppm), copper (18±5 ppm) and lead (17±8 ppm) are relatively low but zinc content is high in these sediments comparing with those of coastal deposit around Japan Island. From the results obtained here, it became clear that no environmental contamination of nickel, cobalt, copper and lead, and a little organic pollution were found in Nanao Bay sediments.     

Full-range equation for wave boundary layer thickness

Full-range equation covering all the flow regimes in a wave boundary layer is proposed for the boundary layer thickness. The results are compared with the available experimental data and good agreement has been found. In case of wave boundary layers, there are three definitions of boundary layer thickness in use. Therefore, the full-range equation is derived for three of the definitions. The findings of this study may be useful in calculating suspended sediment transport in coastal environments and studying wave–current combined motion.     

Influences of Nutrient Outwelling from the Mangrove Swamp on the Distribution of Phytoplankton in the Matang Mangrove Estuary, Malaysia

Distributions of dissolved nutrients and Chl. a were investigated in the Sangga Besar River Estuary in the well-managed Matang Mangrove Forest in West Malaysia. In the estuary, spring tide concentrations of ammonium, silicate and phosphate were higher than those in the neap tide, which suggests that these nutrients are flushed from the mangrove area by the inundation and tidal mixing of the spring tide. Ammonium comprised over 50% of the dissolved inorganic nitrogen in the spring tide, while nitrite tended to dominate in the neap tide, indicating the predominance of nitrification inside the estuary in neap tides. Nutrient concentrations in the creek water were higher than those of estuarine water, indicating the nutrient outwelling from the mangrove swamp and ammonium regeneration from mangrove litter in the creek sediments. The maximum concentration of Chl. a in spring tides reached 80 g/l while it was below 20 g/l in the neap tides. These variations in the phytoplankton biomass and nutrients probably reflect the greater nutrient availability in the spring tide due to outwelling from the mangrove swamp and creek.