Monitoring the Kuroshio Extension with Dynamically Constrained Synthesis of the Acoustic Tomography, Satellite Altimeter and in situ Data

A finite-difference quasigeostrophic (QG) model of an open ocean region has been employed to produce a dynamically constrained synthesis of acoustic tomography and satellite altimetry data with in situ observations. The assimilation algorithm is based upon the 4D variational data interpolation scheme controlled by the model's initial and boundary conditions. The data sets analyzed include direct and differential travel times measured at the array of five acoustic transceivers deployed by JAMSTEC in the region of the Kuroshio Extension in 1997, Topex/Poseidon altimetry, CTD soundings, and ADCP velocity profiles. The region monitored is located within the area 27.5°–36.5°N, 143°–155°. The results of assimilation show that mesoscale variability can be effectively reconstructed by five transceivers measuring direct and reciprocal travel times supported by relatively sparse in situ measurements. The misfits between model and data lie within the observational error bars for all the data types used in assimilation. We have compared the results of assimilation with the statistical inversion of travel time data and analyzed energy balances of the optimized model solution. Energy exchange between the depth-averaged and shear components of the observed currents reveals a weak decay of the barotropic mode at the rate of 0.2 ± 0.7⋅10⁻⁵ cm²/s³ due to topographic interaction. Mean currents in the region are unstable with an estimate of the available potential energy flux from the mean current to the eddies of 4.7 ± 2.3⋅10⁻⁵ cm²/s³. Kinetic energy transition has the same sign and is estimated as 2.8 ± 2.5⋅10⁻⁵ cm²/s³. Potential enstrophy is transferred to the mesoscale at a rate of 5.5 ± 2.7⋅10⁻¹⁸ s⁻³. These figures provide observational evidence of the properties of free geostrophic turbulence which were predicted by theory and observed in numerical experiments. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A new, automatic hydrothermal fluid sampler using a shape-memory alloy

A new hydrothermal fluid sampler has been developed to provide more maneuverability in underwater operation. The sampler characteristically employs a shape-memory alloy, which senses high temperature and actuates the suction mechanism. A shape-memory alloy is also used to switch the intake valve of the sampler, the intention being to avoid missampling when the inlet is in low temperature water. Prototype samplers were designed to collect the fluids hotter than 80°C. Test sampling was performed at hydrothermal vents (1372–1374 m deep) in the submarine volcano, Suiyo Seamount, Izu-Bonin Arc, northwestern Pacific. Observed fluid temperature was between 138 and 298°C, while the ambient seawater temperature was 3.1°C. Each prototype collected about 100 ml fluid as designed. The magnesium concentration in the samples indicated a seawater content of 47.5–90.8%, which indicates the entrainment of ambient seawater. Microscopic observatinn revealed the occurrence of microorganisms in the sample fluids at a population density of 10⁵ to 10⁶ cells ml⁻¹, which is 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than those in seawater at that depth. The use of the newly developed fluid sampler will greatly facilitate the collection of vent-associated microorganisms, which are of potential biological and biotechnological interest.     

Short-term variabilities of upper ocean current in the warm pool region during TOGA/COARE IOP

Oceanic current data in the warm pool region of the western equatorial Pacific measured by upward-looking moored Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers at two equatorial sites (147°E and 154°E) and two off-equatorial sites (2°N and 2°S, 156°E) during TOGA/COARE Intensive Observing Period (IOP) from November 1992 to February 1993 are used to examine short-term variabilities in the upper layer above 160–240 m. In time series of the zonal and meridional currents in many layers, spectral peaks are found at periods around 2 days and 4 days in addition to high energies in a period range longer than 10 days. The signal with the period of about 2 days has significantly high energies at all sites, and its magnitude is higher for the meridional current than for the zonal one. This signal is especially active in the first half of IOP from November to December in 1992. In this period, the quasi-2-day signal in the current field is coherent between northern (2°N) and southern (2°S) stations, but it has no evident relationship with that in the surface wind field around the stations. The quasi-4-day signal with the period of about 4 days has highest energies in layers above 160 m at the southern station, and is coherent between northern and southern stations. Besides, the signal at the station of 2°S has a significantly high coherence with that in the wind at the southern station, suggesting that it is a local phenomenon.     

Barotropic instability of a viscous boundary jet

The barotropic instability of a boundary jet on a beta plane is considered with emphasis on the effect of internal viscosity. An eigenvalue problem for the disturbance equations and its inviscid version are solved by the aid of numerical methods, and instability characteristics are determined as functions of the Reynolds numberR for various values of the beta-parameter. Typical disturbance structures (eigenfunctions) are also computed. Numerical examples show that the minimum critical Reynolds numberR _cr for instability is smaller than 100. At a Reynolds number of the order of hundreds, there appears a second mode of instability in addition to the first unstable mode originating atR _cr ; a kind of ‘resonance’ between the first and second eigenvalues occurs at the particular value ofR. The neutral stability curves are accordingly multi-looped. Although each of the two unstable modes asymptotically approaches its inviscid counterpart asR→∞, the asymptotic approach to the inviscid limit is rather slow and the effect of varyingR is conspicuous even atR∼O (10⁴). It is thus demonstrated that the Reynolds number is an essential stability parameter for real boundary jets. The main part of the material contained in this paper was presented at 1981-Autumn Assembly of the Oceanographical Society of Japan.     

On the Concentrations of the Dissolved Chemical Elements in the Estuary Water of the Chikugogawa River

When river water mixes with sea water in estuary area, the concentrations of the dissolved element in river water may be changed by either a simple physical mixing process or some complex chemical processes. It has been clarified in the Chikugogawa River estuary area that the change in concentrations of SO ₄ ²⁻ , BO ₃ ³⁻ , Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and F⁻ is only due to the mixing process but the change in concentrations of SiO ₃ ²⁻ and Al³⁺ is due to the chemical process in addition to the mixing process.      

Partitioning of elements between majorite garnet and melt and implications for petrogenesis of komatiite

Partitioning of elements between majorite garnet and ultrabasic melt has been studied at 16 GPa and 1950° C. Ca, Ti, La, Sm, Gd, Zr, Hf, Fe, Ni, Mn, K, and Na are enriched in the melt, whereas Al, Cr, V, Sc and Yb are concentrated in majorite garnet. Thus, majorite garnet fractionation by partial melting could produce chemical heterogeneities in these elements deviating from chondritic abundance. Using the partitioning behaviour of elements between majorite garnet and ultrabasic melt, the petrogenesis of komatiite is discussed. A simple model to explain the chemical varieties of komatiites is as follows. Aluminadepleted komatiite was generated by partial melting of the primitive mantle at 200–650 km depth, and alumina-enriched komatiite is the product of remelting of the residual solid at the same depths, whereas alumina-undepleted komatiite was formed by partial melting of the primitive upper mantle at depths shallower than 200 km. We suggest the possibility of large-scale chemical layering or heterogeneity in the early Archean upper mantle as an alternative model for komatiite genesis; shallower mantle depleted in majorite garnet and the underlying mantle enriched in majorite garnet. Alumina-depleted and alumina-enriched komatiites in the early Archean might be generated by a high degree of partial melting of the layered mantle. Such chemical layering could have been homogenized by the late Archean. This explains the observations that alumina-depleted and alumina-enriched komatiites were generally formed in the early Archean but alumina-undepleted komatiite was erupted in the late Archean.     

Volcanic earthquake swarms at Mt. Erebus, Antarctica

Mount Erebus is an active volcano in Antarctica located on Ross Island. A convecting lava lake occupies the summit crater of Mt. Erebus. Since December 1980 the seismic activity of Mt. Erebus has been continuously monitored using a radio-telemetered network of six seismic stations. The seismic activity observed by the Ross Island network during the 1982–1983 field season shows that: (1)Strombolian eruptions occur frequently at the Erebus summit lava lake at rates of 2–5 per day; (2)centrally located earthquakes map out a nearly vertical, narrow conduit system beneath the lava lake; (3)there are other source regions of seismicity on Ross Island, well removed from Mt. Erebus proper. An intense earthquake swarm recorded in October 1982 near Abbott Peak, 10 km northwest of the summit of Mt. Erebus, and volcanic tremor accompanying the swarm, may have been associated with new dike emplacement at depth.