Mesoscale features and phytoplankton biomass at the GoodHope line in the Southern Ocean during austral summer

Two sets of high-resolution subsurface hydrographic and underway surface chlorophyll a (Chl a) measurements are used, in conjunction with satellite remotely sensed data, to investigate the upper layer oceanography (mesoscale features and mixed layer depth variability) and phytoplankton biomass at the GoodHope line south of Africa, during the 2010–2011 austral summer. The link between physical parameters of the upper ocean, specifically frontal activity, to the spatially varying in situ and satellite measurements of Chl a concentrations is investigated. The observations provide evidence to show that the fronts act to both enhance phytoplankton biomass as well as to delimit regions of similar chlorophyll concentrations, although the front–chlorophyll relationships become obscure towards the end of the growing season due to bloom advection and ‘patchy’ Chl a behaviour. Satellite ocean colour measurements are compared to in situ chlorophyll measurements to assess the disparity between the two sampling techniques. The scientific value of the time-series of oceanographic observations collected at the GoodHope line between 2004 to present is being realised. Continued efforts in this programme are essential to better understand both the physical and biogeochemical dynamics of the upper ocean in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.     

The AMT data management experience

As the UK's national marine data centre, a key responsibility of the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is to provide data management support for the scientific activities of complex multi-disciplinary long-term research programmes. Since the initial cruise in 1995, the NERC funded Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) project has undertaken 18 north–south transects of the Atlantic Ocean. As the project has evolved there has been a steady growth in the number of participants, the volume of data, its complexity and the demand for data. BODC became involved in AMT in 2002 at the beginning of phase II of this programme and since then has provided continuous support to the AMT and the wider scientific community through the rescue, quality control, processing and access to the data. The data management is carried out by a team of specialists using a sophisticated infrastructure and hardware to manage, integrate and serve physical, biological and chemical data. Here, we discuss the approach adopted, techniques applied and some guiding principles for management of large multi-disciplinary programmes.     

Phytoplankton pigments and functional types in the Atlantic Ocean: A decadal assessment, 1995–2005

The phytoplankton pigment composition (chlorophylls and carotenoids) from 17 Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) cruises over the period 1995–2005 was analysed to determine the distributions of pigments and plankton in the Atlantic Ocean between 50°N and 50°S. Data were quality assured by statistical methods, including regression of total chlorophyll a (TChla) versus accessory pigments (AP) and comparison of the AMT-TChla with contemporary SeaWiFS-TChla (cruises AMT-05 to -17). Comparisons of province-mean TChla (±SD) for in situ and satellite data showed good agreement for each cruise. ‘Taxa-specific’ pigments were used to define phytoplankton functional types (PFTs) for each of the biogeochemical provinces along the AMT. Pigment ratios (e.g. TChla/AP) were analysed for each cruise and for each province as indices (characteristic properties) of particular PFTs. Mostly robust positive correlations were observed between TChla and pigment ratios for different PFTs, for some provinces and most cruises. These were consistent with previous observations. Generally there were no significant trends of mean TChla or pigment ratios within provinces over the period 1995–2005, although the previously reported perturbation due to the 1997–1998 ENSO was evident.     

潮汐对瞬态气候响应模拟的影响研究

In this study, the impact of oceanic processes on the sensitivity of transient climate change is investigated using two sets of coupled experiments with and without tidal forcing, which are termed Exp_Tide and Exp_Control,respectively. After introducing tidal forcing, the transient climate response(TCR) decreases from 2.32 K to 1.90 K,and the surface air temperature warming at high latitudes decreases by 29%. Large ocean heat uptake efficiency and heat storage can explain the low TCR in Exp_Tide. Approximately 21% more heat is stored in the ocean in Exp_Tide(1.10×10~(24) J) than in Exp_Control(0.91×10~(24) J). Most of the large ocean warming occurs in the upper 1 000 m between 60°S and 60°N, primarily in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans. This ocean warming is closely related to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation(AMOC). The initial transport at mid-and high latitudes and the decline in the AMOC observed in Exp_Tide are both larger than those observed in Exp_Control. The spatial structures of AMOC are also different with and without tidal forcing in present experiments. The AMOC in Exp_Tide has a large northward extension. We also investigated the relationship between AMOC and TCR suggested by previous studies using the present experiments.     

Seasat data applications by commercial users

Abstract

The Seasat Program was initiated as a proof‐of‐concept mission to evaluate the effectiveness of remotely sensed oceanographic phenomena from a satellite platform. From inception, this program has been user‐oriented. These users, within the academic, government, and commercial ocean communities, have served as the architects of the program and are continuing to be involved in the validation and application of the satellite‐derived data. While an early failure of the satellite deprived the user communities of a real‐time multiseasonal data set, the program did yield a rare and valuable archive of data now being analyzed and validated by a variety of users.

A unique program of evaluation exists to assess the impact of satellite‐derived oceanographic observations in several segments of the commercial sector. Commercial users from such segments as marine transportation, ocean mining, offshore oil and gas exploration and operations, marine Fisheries, and marine safety are analyzing Seasat data to understand the operational and economic impact of such data on their various business activities.

Early results from these studies show that satellite observations alone can provide commercial users with historical data for new and remote areas of operation which, to obtain by in situ measurements, would require enormous expenditures of funds for oceanographic instrumentation. More significantly, these studies are showing that timely oceanographic and weather forecasts, improved by the use of satellite‐derived observations of winds, waves, and surface temperatures, can result in more efficient and safe operations, yielding industry savings of millions of dollars annually.     

遥感海洋初级生产力的生物－地理动力学问题

卫星遥感为大尺度海洋观测提供了一种可行方法。卫星资料应用于海洋初级生产力研究中最重要的是建立由海洋水色遥感资料得出的色素浓度计算初级生产力的合适算法。由于植物生理学方面的问题，建立一个合适的初级生产力算法有一定的困难。了解和确立水体中浮游植物的生理速率参数与分布结构动态是必要的。本文在分析水下光场和藻类光合作用光谱响应基础上，阐述了海洋初级生产力遥感中的生物－地理动力学问题。     

Nitrous oxide and methane in the Atlantic Ocean between 50°N and 52°S: Latitudinal distribution and sea-to-air flux

We discuss nitrous oxide (N₂O) and methane (CH₄) distributions in 49 vertical profiles covering the upper ∼300 m of the water column along two ∼13,500 km transects between ∼50°N and ∼52°S during the Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) programme (AMT cruises 12 and 13). Vertical N₂O profiles were amenable to analysis on the basis of common features coincident with Longhurst provinces. In contrast, CH₄ showed no such pattern. The most striking feature of the latitudinal depth distributions was a well-defined “plume” of exceptionally high N₂O concentrations coincident with very low levels of CH₄, located between ∼23.5°N and ∼23.5°S; this feature reflects the upwelling of deep waters containing N₂O derived from nitrification, as identified by an analysis of N₂O, apparent oxygen utilization (AOU) and NO₃⁻, and presumably depleted in CH₄ by bacterial oxidation. Sea-to-air emissions fluxes for a region equivalent to ∼42% of the Atlantic Ocean surface area were in the range 0.40–0.68 Tg N₂O yr⁻¹ and 0.81–1.43 Tg CH₄ yr⁻¹. Based on contemporary estimates of the global ocean source strengths of atmospheric N₂O and CH₄, the Atlantic Ocean could account for ∼6–15% and 4–13%, respectively, of these source totals. Given that the Atlantic Ocean accounts for around 20% of the global ocean surface, on unit area basis it appears that the Atlantic may be a slightly weaker source of atmospheric N₂O than other ocean regions but it could make a somewhat larger contribution to marine-derived atmospheric CH₄ than previously thought.     

Qualitative correlation of marine mammals with physical and biological parameters in the Ligurian Sea

In support of its acoustic risk mitigation policy, NATO SACLANT Undersea Research Centre (SACLANTCEN) is sponsoring a series of sea trials, entitled "Sirena" to collect a multiyear integrated oceanographic, biological, and hydrographic data set, the goal being to explain, based on these parameters, the distribution of marine mammals found in specific locations. By understanding how ocean dynamics affects the distribution and behavior of whales and the organisms forming the food web upon which the whales feed, it may be possible to conduct acoustic exercises in areas of low cetacean density. The first two Sirena multidisciplinary cruises were conducted in the Ligurian Sea in late summer time frame during 1999 and 2000. The focus of this analysis is to determine whether remotely sensed satellite data can indicate nutrient-rich regions in areas where the oceanography is known and to determine if these regions of higher productivity, coupled with knowledge of cetacean presence from all available sources, could be used as an indicator of marine mammal presence for acoustic risk mitigation purposes. For the two years of data examined, cooler sea-surface temperature data correlated with high levels of chlorophyll production as seen by remotely sensed images. This remotely sensed data correlated well with measured subsurface values of the same parameters. Coincident sightings of three species of marine mammals indicated that fin and sperm whales generally preferred the deep, nutrient-rich portion of the basin while Cuvier's beaked whales preferred a submarine canyon where there is a frontal influence, as indicated from satellite data and historical oceanography. This paper is intended as a contribution to the longer term objective of developing the means to accurately predict cetacean presence from physical oceanographic characteristics.     

Surface phytoplankton pigment distributions in the Atlantic Ocean: an assessment of basin scale variability between 50°N and 50°S

We present an overview of the spatial distributions of phytoplankton pigments along transects between the UK and the Falkland Islands. These studies, undertaken as a component of the UK Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) programme, provided the first post-launch validation data for the NASA SeaWiFS satellite. Pigment data are used to characterise basin-scale variations in phytoplankton biomass and community composition over 100° of latitude, and to compliment the definition of hydrographic oceanic provinces. A summary of the key pigment characteristics of each province is presented.Concentrations of total chlorophyll a (totCHLa = chlorophyll a, CHLa + divinyl CHLa, dvCHLa) were greatest in high latitude temperate waters (>37°N and >35°S), and in the Canary Current Upwelling system. In these regions, the total carotenoid (totCAR) budget was dominated by photosynthetic carotenoids (PSCs). High accessory pigment diversity was observed of which fucoxanthin (FUC), 19'–hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin (HEX), and diadinoxanthin (DIAD) were most abundant, indicating proliferation of large eukaryotes and nanoflagellates. In contrast, tropical and sub-tropical waters exhibited concentrations of totCHLa below 500 ng l⁻¹, with the North Atlantic Sub-tropical East gyre (NASE, 26.7–35°N), South Equatorial Current (SeqC, 7–14.6°S) and South Atlantic tropical Gyre (SATG, 14.6–26°S) characterised by totCHLa of <100 ng⁻¹. These waters exhibited relatively limited pigment diversity, and the totCAR budget was dominated by photoprotecting pigments (PPCs) of which zeaxanthin (ZEA), a marker of prokaryotes (cyanobacteria and prochlorophytes), was most abundant. DvCHLa, a marker of prochlorophytes was detected in waters at temperatures >15°C, and between the extremes of 48°N and 42°S. DvCHLa accounted for up to two-thirds of totCHLa in oligotrophic provinces demonstrating the importance of prochlorophytes to oceanic biomass.Overall, HEX was the dominant PSC, contributing up to 75% of totCAR. HEX always represented >2% of totCAR and was the only truly ubiquitous carotenoid. Since HEX is a chemotaxonomic marker of prymnesiophytes, this observation reflects the truly cosmopolitan distribution of this algal class. ZEA was found to be the most abundant PPC contributing more than one third of the total carotenoid budget in each transect.Greatest seasonality was observed in highly productive waters at high latitudes and in shallow continental shelf waters and attributed to proliferation of large eukaryotes during spring. Concentrations of the prokaryote pigments (ZEA + dvCHLa) also exhibited some seasonality, with elevated concentrations throughout most of the transect during Northern Hemisphere spring.     

Monsoon-driven biogeochemical processes in the Arabian Sea

Although it is nominally a tropical locale, the semiannual wind reversals associated with the Monsoon system of the Arabian Sea result annually in two distinct periods of elevated biological activity. While in both cases monsoonal forcing drives surface layer nutrient enrichment that supports increased rates of primary productivity, fundamentally different entrainment mechanisms are operating in summer (Southwest) and winter (Northeast) Monsoons. Moreover, the intervening intermonsoon periods, during which the region relaxes toward oligotrophic conditions more typical of tropical environments, provide a stark contrast to the dynamic biogeochemical activity of the monsoons. The resulting spatial and temporal variability is great and provides a significant challenge for ship-based surveys attempting to characterize the physical and biogeochemical environments of the region. This was especially true for expeditions in the pre-satellite era.Here, we present an overview of the dynamical response to seasonal monsoonal forcing and the characteristics of the physical environment that fundamentally drive regional biogeochemical variability. We then review past observations of the biological distributions that provided our initial insights into the pelagic system of the Arabian Sea. These evolved through the 1980s as additional methodologies, in particular the first synoptic ocean color distributions gathered by the Coastal Zone Color Scanner, became available. Through analyses of these observations and the first large-scale physical–biogeochemical modeling attempts, a pre-JGOFS understanding of the Arabian Sea emerged. During the 1990s, the in situ and remotely sensed observational databases were significantly extended by regional JGOFS activities and the onset of Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor ocean color measurements. Analyses of these new data and coupled physical–biogeochemical models have already advanced our understanding and have led to either an amplification or revision of the pre-JGOFS paradigms. Our understanding of this complex and variable ocean region is still evolving. Nonetheless, we have a much better understanding of time–space variability of biogeochemical properties in the Arabian Sea and much deeper insights about the physical and biological factors that drive them, as well as a number of challenging new directions to pursue.     

Remote sensing of ocean sound speed profiles by a perceptron neuralnetwork

A method is developed to estimate ocean sound speed profiles through synthesis of remotely measured environmental data and historical statistics of sound speed obtained at a remotely sensed location. Sound speed profiles are represented by an expansion of empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) of the historical sound speed variation, while the remotely sensed environmental data provide real-time information to determine the expansion coefficients. Environmental inputs are limited to sea surface temperature available from satellite infrared sensors, acoustic time-of-flight and ocean bottom temperature measurable from bottom mounted acoustic and thermal transducers. A multilayer perceptron neural network is implemented to learn the functional transformation from the measured environmental input to the desired EOF coefficient output on a set of representative sound speed profiles. Sea surface temperature, time-of-year, and time-of-flight from the acoustic multipath that maximally samples the vertical sound speed are found to be the dominant inputs. The trained network is computationally efficient and produces estimates for untrained environmental inputs with a mean error of 1.1-4.4 m/s     

Defining the seaward extent of New Zealand's coastal zone

The seaward extent of New Zealand's coastal zone (defined here in a biophysical sense as the area of terrigenous influence) was determined from remotely sensed ocean colour and turbidity data. The cross-shore behavior of the colour and turbidity fields were quantified at a number of transects around the coastline and the locations where these fields changed from coastal to oceanic signatures were identified. Results from these analyses suggest that the coastal zone can extend several hundreds of kilometers offshore. Furthermore, the seaward extent determined from these analyses was not correlated to the underlying bathymetry of the continental shelf and slope; features commonly used to define the offshore extent of coastal zones. The estimated seaward limits determined from the analyses of the remotely sensed data were compared to limited available in situ data and predictions from a numerical circulation model. Observations of coastal zooplankton species several hundreds of kilometers offshore suggest good agreement with the predicted seaward extent of coastal zones determined from the remotely sensed data. Offshore transport of surface particles predicted by the circulation model also suggested that pelagic organisms and suspended inorganic particles may be advected offshore at least several hundreds of kilometers.     

基于CCMP卫星遥感海面风场数据的渤海风浪模拟研究

CCMP（Cross Calibrated Multi-Platform）风场数据是一种具有较高的时间、空间分辨率和全球海洋覆盖能力的新型卫星遥感资源。在充分分析CCMP海面风场数据可靠性的基础上,以该卫星遥感海面风场数据为强迫输入项,运用第三代浅水波浪模式SWAN对渤海一次风浪过程进行了模拟,将模拟的结果与T/P、Jason卫星高度计观测得到的有效浪高数据进行比较分析,发现两者相关性达到0.78,模拟结果平均偏高0.3 m。试验表明CCMP卫星遥感风场数据能满足海洋浪高预报需求,能在海洋数值预报和海洋环境研究中发挥重要作用。     

A general ecosystem model for applications to primary productivity and carbon cycle studies in the global oceans

We have developed a general 1-D multi-component ecosystem model that incorporates a skillful upper ocean mixed layer model based on second moment closure of turbulence. The model is intended for eventual incorporation into coupled 3-D physical–biogeochemical ocean models with potential applications to modeling and studying primary productivity and carbon cycling in the global oceans as well as to promote the use of chlorophyll concentrations, in concert with satellite-sensed ocean color, as a diagnostic tool to delineate circulation features in numerical circulation models. The model is nitrogen-based and the design is deliberately general enough and modular to enable many of the existing ecosystem model formulations to be simulated and hence model-to-model comparisons rendered feasible. In its more general form (GEM10), the model solves for nitrate, ammonium, dissolved nitrogen, bacteria and two size categories of phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus, in addition to solving for dissolved inorganic carbon and total alkalinity to enable estimation of the carbon dioxide flux at the air–sea interface. Dissolved oxygen is another prognostic variable enabling air–sea exchange of oxygen to be calculated. For potential applications to HNLC regions where productivity is constrained by the availability of a trace constituent such as iron, the model carries the trace constituent as an additional prognostic variable. Here we present 1-D model simulations for the Black Sea, Station PAPA and the BATS site. The Black Sea simulations assimilate seasonal monthly SST, SSS and surface chlorophyll, and the seasonal modulations compare favorably with earlier work. Station PAPA simulations for 1975–1977 with GEM5 assimilating observed SST and a plausible seasonal modulation of surface chlorophyll concentration also compare favorably with earlier work and with the limited observations on nitrate and pCO₂ available. Finally, GEM5 simulations at BATS for 1985–1997 are consistent with the available time series. The simulations suggest that while it is generally desirable to employ a comprehensive ecosystem model with a large number of components when accurate depiction of the entire ecosystem is desirable, as is the prevailing practice, a simpler formulation such as GEM5 (N²PZD model) combined with assimilation of remotely sensed SST and chlorophyll concentrations may suffice for incorporation into 3-D prediction models of primary productivity, upper ocean optical clarity and carbon cycling.     

Multifractal filtering method for extraction of ocean from remotely sensed imagery

Traditional methods of extracting the ocean wave eddy information from remotely sensed imagery mainly use the edge detection technology such as Canny and Hough operators. However, due to the complexities of ocean eddies and image itself, it is sometimes difficult to successfully detect ocean eddies using these methods. A mnltifractal filtering technology is proposed for extraction of ocean eddies and demonstrated using NASA MODIS, SeaWiFS and NOAA satellite data set in the typical area, such as ocean west boundary current. Results showed that the new method has a superior performance over the traditional methods.     

An analysis on the error structure and mechanism of soil moisture and ocean salinity remotely sensed sea surface salinity products

For the application of soil moisture and ocean salinity（SMOS） remotely sensed sea surface salinity（SSS） products,SMOS SSS global maps and error characteristics have been investigated based on quality control information.The results show that the errors of SMOS SSS products are distributed zonally,i.e.,relatively small in the tropical oceans,but much greater in the southern oceans in the Southern Hemisphere（negative bias） and along the southern,northern and some other oceanic margins（positive or negative bias）.The physical elements responsible for these errors include wind,temperature,and coastal terrain and so on.Errors in the southern oceans are due to the bias in an SSS retrieval algorithm caused by the coexisting high wind speed and low temperature; errors along the oceanic margins are due to the bias in a brightness temperature（TB） reconstruction caused by the high contrast between L-band emissivities from ice or land and from ocean; in addition,some other systematic errors are due to the bias in TB observation caused by a radio frequency interference and a radiometer receivers drift,etc.The findings will contribute to the scientific correction and appropriate application of the SMOS SSS products.     

Multifractal filtering method for extraction of ocean eddies from remotely sensed imagery

1 IntroductionCurrently, the ocean eddy plays an important rolein energy flowand matter exchange in ocean. The ex-traction and analysisof the oceaneddave beeninves-tigated bylots of people in pastdecades. Currentmeth-ods to deal with the ocean eddy include static and dy-namic methods. The static method is to analyze indi-rectly ocean eddies using the spatial feature distribu-tion, change, growthand decline of the watermass (Suet al., 1996; Guo et al., 1995; Guo and Ge, 1997);the dynamic meth…     

基于船载走航观测高光谱颗粒物吸收系数反演浮游植物粒级结构*

利用高光谱监测数据反演浮游植物种群组成是当前海洋光学和水色遥感的研究热点。文章采用大西洋经向断面航次中走航式观测系统测量的海水总颗粒物吸收光谱数据, 尝试建立了两种模型对浮游植物粒级结构(Phytoplankton size class, 简称PSC)进行反演和比较讨论。一类模型是基于总颗粒物吸收光谱高斯分解获得的典型波段高斯带强度与色素浓度之间的关系, 建立了偏最小二乘回归模型(Partial Least Squares regression model, 简称PLS回归模型); 另一类模型是采用长波波段吸收基线高度推算海水总叶绿素a浓度, 进而根据Brewin等(2010)生物量算法推算PSC的三组分模型(简称三组分模型)。模型比较验证结果显示, 两类模型对海水总叶绿素浓度的反演都有较高的精度, 相对偏差ME在15%左右; 对于三个粒级浮游植物对应的叶绿素浓度(Pico级C_p, Nano级C_n, Micro级C_m)的反演效果也相当, PLS回归模型反演的ME分别为28.4%、31.9%和41%, 三组分模型反演的ME分别为31%、35.9%、37.7%。研究结果初步表明了采用高光谱吸收系数反演浮游植物种群结构的潜在优势, 可为不同海域走航式高光谱观测系统的推广应用提供思路。     

多重分形方法在涡旋遥感信息处理提取中的应用研究

目前提取遥感影像中的涡旋信息主要用边缘探测技术,例如Canny算子和Hough算子等,然而由于涡旋信息和遥感影像本身的复杂性和模糊性,用传统的方法不能取得理想的提取结果.基于多重分形技术,利用海洋涡旋信息的物理特征时空形态的自相似性来提取涡旋,用NASA MODIS,Sea WiFS和NOAA在典型海区如边界流的卫星影像进行试验,研究结果表明,用多重分形方法获取的涡旋信息非常有利于对海洋涡旋的深刻认识和分析研究.