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.     

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.     

Roles of Biogeochemical Processes in the Oceanic Carbon Cycle Described with a Simple Coupled Physical-Biogeochemical Model

To evaluate the contribution of biogeochemical processes to the oceanic carbon cycle and to calculate the ratio of calcium carbonate to organic carbon downward export, we have incorporated biological and alkalinity pumps in the yoked high-latitude exchange/interior diffusion-advection (YOLDA) model. The biogeochemical processes are represented by four parameters. The values of the parameters are tuned so that the model can reproduce the observed phosphate and alkalinity distributions in each oceanic region. The sensitivity of the model to the biogeochemical parameters shows that biological production rates in the euphotic zone and decomposition depths of particulate matters significantly influence horizontal and vertical distributions of biogeochemical substances. The modeled vertical fluxes of particulate organic phosphorus and calcium carbonate are converted to vertical carbon fluxes by the biological pump and the alkalinity pump, respectively. The downward carbon flux from the surface layer to the deep layer in the entire region is estimated to be 3.36 PgC/yr, which consists of 2.93 PgC/yr from the biological pump and 0.43 PgC/yr from the alkalinity pump, which is consistent with previous studies. The modeled rain ratio is higher with depth and higher in the Pacific and Indian Oceans than in the Atlantic Ocean. The global rain ratio at the surface layer is calculated to be 0.14 to 0.15. This value lies between the lower and higher ends of the previous estimates, which range widely from 0.05 to 0.25. This study indicates that the rain ratio is unlikely to be higher than 0.15, at least in the surface waters.     

Stress Sharing Behavior and Its Mechanism during Consolidation Process in Composite Ground Improved by Sand Compaction Piles with Low Replacement Area Ratio

In order to accurately design a sand compaction pile (SCP) with low replacement area ratio, it is important to understand the mechanical interaction between the sand pile and clay ground and its mechanism during consolidation process in composite ground. In this article, therefore, a series of numerical analyses on composite ground improved by SCP with low replacement area ratio were carried out. The applicability of numerical analyses, in which an elasto-viscoplastic consolidation finite element method was applied, were confirmed by comparing the results obtained from a series of laboratory model tests with the composite ground improved by SCP. Through the results of the numerical analyses, mechanical behavior of the sand pile and clay in composite ground during consolidation is elucidated, together with a stress sharing mechanism between sand pile and clay.     

Kuroshio extension variability explored through assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data into a quasi-geostrophic model

Mesoscale features in the eastward extension of the Kuroshio were investigated using assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) data into a three-layer quasi-geostrophic model. The T/P data exhibited an elongated state of the southern recirculation gyre in 1993–95 and 1997, between whose two periods the gyre had a contracted state in 1995–96. A few stationary eddies were located in the southern gyre during the contracted state. The baroclinic instability, which was indicated by the phase shift from the uppermost-to the lowest-layer anomalies toward the downstream side, was evident near the Kuroshio Extension (KE) path. Since the instability never appeared in the artificial model without bottom topography, the topographic barrier for the eastward flow in the lowest layer was a necessary condition for the instability. The instability synchronized with the transition in the western region of the KE axis from the elongated to the contracted states. This evolution was interpreted as if the baroclinic instability played some part in the KE states and was a trigger for the transition from the elongated to the contracted states.     

Aspherical correction for free vibration of elastically anisotropic solid by means of theXYZ algorithm

By applying the perturbation theory to theXYZ algorithm (a kind of variational method), the difference f in free vibration frequencies between sphere and ellipsoid was approximated as , where i and _i (i = x,y andz) (i=x, y andz) are aspherical coefficients and asphericities of the ellipsoid, respectively. We developed an analytic method to compute the aspherical coefficients719-4 by using theXYZ algorithm. A numerical example was given for an ellipsoidal olivine, and an attempt was made to estimate the asphericities of the specimen by a least-squares method, based on the relationship between frequency shift and asphericity.     

Carbonate deposits on submerged seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean

Abstract   The lithology of shallow-water carbonates collected from 19 sites on 16 seamounts in six areas of the northwestern Pacific Ocean using the Deep-sea Boring Machine System are described. The areas include the Amami Plateau, Daito Ridge, Oki-Daito Ridge, Urdaneta Plateau, Kyushu-Palau Ridge and Ogasawara Plateau. Chronological constraint is provided by calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphy, planktonic foraminiferal biostratigraphy, larger foraminiferal biostratigraphy and strontium (Sr) isotope stratigraphy. Large amounts of shallow-water carbonates accumulated on the seamounts during the Oligocene, a relatively cool period, whereas limited carbonate deposits formed during the Early Miocene, a relatively warm period. This might indicate that deposition of shallow-water carbonates on seamounts in the northwestern Pacific Ocean was not necessarily controlled by climatic conditions, but was related to volcanism and tectonics that served as foundations for reef/carbonate-platform formation. Remarkable differences in biotic composition exist between Cretaceous and Cenozoic shallow-water carbonates. Late Cretaceous shallow-water carbonates are distinguished by the occurrence of rudists, solenoporacean algae and microencrusters. Middle Eocene to Early Oligocene shallow-water carbonates are dominated by Halimeda or nummulitid and discocyclinid larger foraminifers. Scleractinian corals became common from the Oligocene onward. Nongeniculate coralline algae and larger foraminifers were common to abundant throughout the Eocene to the Pleistocene. The replacement of major carbonate producers in the shallow-water carbonate factory during post-Cretaceous time is in accordance with previous studies and is considered to reflect a shift in seawater chemistry.     

Stationary Rossby-waves in a two-layer model produced by a submarine ridge

Characteristics of stationary Rossby-waves are investigated by use of equations expressing conservation of potential vorticity for a quasi-geostrophic two-layer flow of an incompressible inviscid fluid on a beta-plane. A two-dimensional problem is discussed; the basic flow is directing eastward without horizontal shear, and the stationary Rossby-waves are produced by a two-dimensional bump extending in the north-south direction which is located on a sloping bottom with a constant north-south gradient.When the slope is steep, stream-lines are scarcely displaced being influenced by the bump. When the bottom has no north-south inclination, however, there is a case where group velocity of Rossby-waves produced by the bump directs westward and the stream-lines meander sinusoidally at the west of the bump. This phenomenon is called upstream influence. These two special cases have a possibility to explain two different mean paths for the Kuroshio namely, the path along the continental slope and the path with a stationary meander at the west of the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge.