The upper desalinated layer in the Kara Sea

An area of about 40000 km² of desalinated upper layer waters with a salinity of less than 25 psu was found during cruise 54 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in the southwestern part of the Kara Sea (September 2007). Close to the boundary of this region located near the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya, the salinity was less than 16 psu. The thickness of the desalinated layer was about 10 m. The results of the chemical analysis revealed that the observed desalination of the sea water was produced, first of all, by the Yenisei River, while the contribution of the Ob River’s waters was secondary. However, the most desalinated region near the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya was separated from the Ob-Yenisei estuary and corresponded to a quasi-isolated lens. It is likely that the formation of this lens, as well as the major part of the desalinated upper layer waters, occurred in June when the flood of the Yenisei was maximal, while the further drift of the desalinated waters to the west of the Ob-Yenisei estuary was forced by the prevailing northern wind. The additional desalination (by 2–3 psu and even more) of the upper layer waters near the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya might be related to the melting of the Novozemelskiy ice massif. The regularities of the temporal evolution of the upper desalinated layer, as well as the influence of this layer on the hydrological structure and dynamics of the southwestern Kara Sea, are discussed.     

Phytoplankton of the surface desalted lens of the Kara Sea

The phytoplankton of a surface strongly desalinated water lens was investigated on the basis of materials collected during the 57th cruise of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldish in September of 2007. The lens with a salinity of <18 psu had area of approximately 19 thousand square kilometers and was located in the northwestern part of the Kara Sea near the eastern coast of Novaya Zemlya. It was a specific biotope that had been isolated from the surrounding waters for more than three months. In the investigated area, 66 algae species were identified. The maximal species diversity was found in the upper layers of the desalinated lens, where the species number was 1.5 to 3 times higher than in other parts of the water column. The phytoplankton numbers in the upper layers of the lens were 1.5 to 4.5 times higher than in its lower part and generally higher than below the picnocline. Diatoms were the most abundant group in the upper layers of the lens, while flagellates dominated in numbers in the subpicnocline part of the water column. The maximal values of the phytoplankton biomass were observed everywhere in the upper layers of the lens, where they were 1.2 to 3.7 times higher than in the lower part of the lens and 1.3 to 7.2 times higher than in the layer below the picnocline. Dinoflagellates generally gave the most contribution to the total phytoplankton biomass. The phytoplankton of the desalinated surface lens in the northwestern part of the Kara Sea by its composition and quantitative parameters had the nearest resemblance to a phytocenosis that we observed two weeks later at a shallow desalinated shelf closely adjacent to the Ob estuary.     

A new parameterization of surface drag in the marginal sea ice zone

A parameterization of subgridscale surface fluxes over the marginal sea ice zone which has been used earlier in several studies is modified and applied to a nonhydrostatic mesoscale model. The new scheme accounts for the form drag of ice floes and is combined with a so-called flux averaging method for the determination of surface fluxes over inhomogeneous terrain. Individual fluxes over ice and water are calculated as a function of the blending height. It is shown by comparison with observations that the drag coefficients calculated with the new parameterization agree well with data. The original scheme strongly overestimates the form drag effect. An improvement is mainly obtained by an inclusion of stratification and by use of a more adequate coefficient of resistance for individual ice floes. The mesoscale model is applied to off-ice flows over the polar marginal sea ice zone. The model results show that under certain meteorological conditions the form drag can have a strong influence on the near-surface wind velocity and on the turbulent fluxes of momentum. Four case studies are carried out. The maximum influence of form drag occurs in the case with strong unstable stratification and with wind oblique to the ice edge. Under these conditions the wind stress on sea ice is modified by at least 100% for ice concentrations less than 50% if form drag is taken into account.     

The structure,dynamics, and transformation of the estuary lenses in run-off seawater on the shelf of Guinea

Peculiarities of the dynamics and the structure formation in the estuary run-off lenses have been analysed based on field data obtained at the Guinean coast (the central eastern Atlantic Ocean). Attention was paid to the processes of restratification, internal mixing, and exchange in the areas of the frontal zone of the run-off lens and the tidal frontal zone. The stabilization of the front of the estuary run-off lens by means of the periodic washing out of its forepart by tidal upwelling is described. The mechanisms of the energy transformation in the leading part of the lens have been revealed. Effects of run-off and loczalization of transformed waters in the small-scale frontal zones are found. The energy estimations represented will be useful in considering analogous phenomena in other coastal regions.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

The distinguishing of the Ob and Yenisei waters in the desalinated lenses of the Kara Sea in 1993 and 2007

In 1993 and 2007 when the expeditions of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology were performed in the Kara Sea, a significant part of its aquatic area was occupied by lenses of desalinated water. The fresh-water is supplied by the runoff of the Ob and Yenisei rivers, as well as by meltwaters. The report considers the features of the freshwater chemical transformation in the sea. It is shown that the contribution of meltwaters is small in the highly desalinated lenses (with salinity below 15‰) and the freshwater is supplied by the riverine runoff. It is also shown that, under definite conditions, it is possible to determine the relative shares of the Ob and Yenisei waters using the chemical parameters (the silicon and alkalinity). The data of 1993 when two lenses as such were found in the sea were confirmed; at that, the waters of the Yenisei and Ob rivers were prevailing in the western and northeastern lenses, respectively. In 2007, one lens was found in the treated area of the sea. It is shown that the chemical characteristics of the freshwater in the lens appeared to be sufficiently different from those of the Ob river but similar to the Yenisei river’s characteristics according to the data of 1993. A map of the Ob’s and the Yenisei’s water spreading over the sea’s aquatic area is presented.     

Variability of the carbonate system parameters in the coast-shelf zone of the East Siberian Sea during the autumn season

The publication presents the results of the studies on the carbonate system of the waters of the East Siberian Sea performed aboard R/V Ivan Kireev in September 2003–2004. It is shown that the aquatic area considered may be subdivided into two biohydrochemical provinces. The western part of the sea is a CO₂ supplier to the atmosphere, while its eastern part is a sink for CO₂. This is caused by the fact that the western part of the East Siberian Sea was affected by the waters of the southeastern part of the Laptev Sea, which were desalinated by riverine runoff, turbid, and enriched in the bioactive organic matter supplied into the water due to the coastal (and bottom) erosion. In the eastern part, cold waters of Pacific origin prevailed (saline, transparent, and productive), which caused a pronounced decrease in the partial pressure of CO₂(pCO₂) in the surface layer. In the frontal zone delimiting the desalinated shelf waters and those of the Pacific origin, the direction of the CO₂ flux between the atmosphere and the sea changed (from evasion to invasion). The interannual variability of the carbonate system parameters in the coastal-shelf zone of the East Siberian Sea was determined by the intensity of the propagation of the waters of different origins over the sea aquatic area caused by the atmospheric circulation, as well as by the riverine runoff intensity and the dynamics of erosion processes.     

Fine structure of the temperature field and the transfrontal exchange in the East Kamchatka current

CTD data are used to study the relationship between the temperature field fine structure and the location of the frontal zones and synoptic eddies in the region adjacent to the eastern coast of the Kamchatka peninsula. High levels of fine structure activity were observed in the frontal zone of the East Kamchatka current and in the peripheries of anticyclonic eddies. Estimates of the coefficient of the horizontal turbulent exchange and the transfrontal (lateral) heat flux are derived.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Structure of the zooplankton communities in the region of the Ob River’s estuarine frontal zone

The studies were carried out on September 27–30, 2007, in the area of the Ob estuarine frontal zone and over the adjacent inner Kara Sea shelf. Based upon the latitudinal changes in the salinity, the 100 nautical mile wide estuarine frontal zone was marked out. The frontal zone was inhabited by a specific zooplankton community dominated by species that occurred outside the frontal zone in only minor amounts. The biomass of the mesozooplankton averaging 984 mg/m³ in the frontal zone exceeded by 1.5 and 6 times the corresponding values in the inner desalinated area of the estuary and the adjacent areas of the Kara Sea shelf. At the inner southern periphery of the frontal zone, at maximal latitudinal salinity gradients (>2 psu per mile), the maximal development of the mesoplankton with the mean biomass for the water column of 3.1 g/m³ (37 g/m²) and up to 5.8 g/m³ in the subpycnocline layer was observed. The latitudinal extension of the biomass in the maximum zone did not exceed 10 miles. More than 90% of the maximum was composed of herbivorous zooplankton with the strong domination of the copepod Limnocalanus macrurus. The daily consumption within the zooplankton maximum area was estimated at 820 mgC/m² per day. This value exceeds by two orders of magnitude the local primary production. At that level of consumption, the available phytoplankton biomass was consumed by grazers in less than 8 hours (!). A zooplankton aggregation at the southern periphery of the estuarine front exists due to the advection of phytoplankton from the adjacent river zone. The aggregation forms a natural pelagic biofilter where new allochthonous organic matter delivered by the river flow is accumulated and high secondary production is formed on its basis. An anomalously high concentration of planktic predatory Parasagitta elegans with biomass of over 1 g/m³ (46% of the total zooplankton biomass) was associated with the outer northern periphery of the estuarine frontal zone.     

Hydrochemical features of the Kara Sea aquatic area in summer 2015

During cruise 65 of the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh in the Kara Sea, three transects were executed: one eastwards from the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago and two in the St. Anna and Voronin troughs. It was noted that the continental runoff affected the entire surveyed aquatic area, even at the northern extremity of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago. The transect along the St. Anna Trough showed the presence of a slope frontal zone overlaid at the surface by a desalinated layer. The Voronin Trough was characterized by sliding of slope waters. The hydrochemical parameters show that the surveys were carried out during a recession of biological activity of the waters and that the peak bloom was over by that time. The hydrochemical structure of waters conformed to early autumn conditions, but before the beginning of intense cooling of surface waters.     

深海钢悬链立管触地点动力响应分析

研究深海钢悬链立管(SCR)在海洋环境载荷作用下的动力响应.利用非线性弹簧模拟立管与海床触地点的耦合模型,通过模态分析得到钢悬链立管的动力特性参数;时域动力响应分析获得不同工况下触地点及典型部位的位移、弯矩和应力时程.比较分析表明:浮体垂荡运动对触地点的应力状态影响较大,触地点附近存在钢悬链立管动力响应过程中的位移极值点和弯矩极值点.所提方法为触地点区域模拟分析提供了新思路,给出的分析结论对钢悬链立管设计有一定借鉴意义.     

Formation of the coastal current in the Black Sea caused by spatially inhomogeneous wind forcing upon the upper quasi-homogeneous layer

A poorly known mechanism of formation of a warm coastal current by spatially nonstationary and nonuniform wind forcing in the northeastern part of the Black Sea is described. Owing to the blocking influence of the Caucasian Mountains, the northeasterly wind (nordost) west and east of Tuapse is characterized by a spatially nonuniform speed distribution over the Russian sector of the sea. In the first half of the year, during the nordost wind, the intense wind forcing upon the upper quasi-homogeneous layer (UQL) leads to its fast cooling due to the turbulent entrainment of cold waters from the shallow seasonal thermocline. Satellite data and measurements from ships obtained at the end of June-beginning of July 2006 showed that, during two days, the temperature of the UQL west of Tuapse dropped by 7–10°C, whereas, east of Tuapse where the wind was weak, it practically did not change. As a result, a narrow frontal zone between the warm (less dense) and cold (denser) upper layer waters oriented quasi-normally to the shore was formed. A hydrodynamic analysis showed that, in such situation, an intense jet of a near-shore density current is developed that transports warm waters to the northwest at a velocity of 40–60 cm/s. This estimate agrees well with satellite data and observations from ships. The satellite data allowed us to find that this jet reached the Kerch Strait region in a few days. During the time of its existence (approximately 2 weeks), the jet transports a large volume of water and can change the functioning regime of the coastal ecosystem. The mechanism of the near-shore current formation revealed may also function in other seas and oceanic regions.     

Study on the current structure of the thermohaline front in the southeastern entrance of the Yellow Sea during winter

A thermohaline front is located at the southeastern entrance of the Yellow Sea in winter, and it is generated by the intrusion of warm saline water into the Yellow Sea caused by a strong northerly wind. Recently, a westward transversal current traveling away from the west coast of Korea toward the open sea area along the front was reported. The westward transversal current is dominant in the surface layer during the temperature inversion period. The formation and structure of this current are examined using a numerical vertical ocean-slice model. When two different water masses meet, a front is formed and adjusted geostrophically. In this frontal zone, a horizontal pressure gradient flow by the vertically inclined isopycnal occurs under the thermal wind process in a baroclinic effect, and the cold fresh coastal water moves westward along the front in the upper layer. The barotropic effect across the front and the bottom friction effect strengthen the westward component of the velocity. The velocity of the bottom layer decreases remarkably in the increase of the bottom drag coefficient. This means that the bottom friction with the strong background tidal current causes a reduction in the current in the bottom layer.     

Variability of the horizontal gradients of the air and the water surface temperatures in the vernal frontal zone period of Lake Ladoga

Every year, the during springtime heating conditions, the seasonal thermal frontal zone appears in Lake Ladoga. It features high horizontal water temperature gradients. The coastal waters, stably stratified in density, interact with the waters of the open lake that are unstably stratified because of the free convection developing in the temperature range between 0°C and the maximum density of the water at 4°C. In Lake Ladoga, the advance of the vernal frontal zone lasts about 7?C8 weeks from mid-May to the beginning of July. Both the water temperature and air temperature distributions over the water??s surface show that large spatial temperature ranges exist in the vernal front reaching more than 11°C. We investigated the spatial horizontal gradients of the water??s surface and the air temperature using a spatial grid with a resolution of 5 km. The surface water temperature and the air temperature gradients were compared with each other as well as with the temperatures in the region of varying depths. During the spring peak of the frontal activity in Lake Ladoga, most of the fronts feature mean temperatures greater than 4°C. This indicates that the thermal bar marks the offshore edge of the most extensive frontal zone.     

Characteristics and variability of the inner front of the southeastern Bering Sea

The inner front of the southeastern Bering Sea shows marked spatial variability in frontal characteristics created by regional differences in forcing mechanisms. Differences in forcing mechanisms (sea ice advance/retreat and storm strength and timing) and early spring water properties result in strong interannual variability in biological, chemical, and physical features near the front. We have developed a simple model based on surface heat flux and water-column mixing to explain the existence of cold belts (Cont. Shelf Res. 19(14) (1999) 1833) associated with such fronts. Hydrography, fluorescence and nutrient observations show that pumping of nutrients into the euphotic zone occurs, and this can prolong primary production at the inner front. The effectiveness of this process depends on two factors: the existence of a reservoir of nutrients in the lower layer on the middle shelf and the occurrence of sufficient wind and tidal energy to mix the water column.     

Numerical Simulation of Water Exchange Characteristics of the Jiaozhou Bay Based on A Three-Dimensional Lagrangian Model

Based on theory of three-dimensional hydrodynamics,an Euler-Lagrangian particle model is established to study the transport and water exchange capability in the Jiaozhou Bay.The three-dimensional hydrodynamic model,driven by tide and wind,is used to study the effects of wetting and drying of eatuarine intertidal flats by the dry-wet grid technology based on the Estuarine,Coastal and Ocean Model (ECOM).The particle model includes the advection and the diffusion processes,of which the advection process is simulated with a certain method,and the diffusion process is simulated with the random walk method.The effect of the intertidal zone,the turbulent diffusion and the timescales of the water exchange are also discussed.The results show that a moving boundary model can simulate the transport process of the particle in the intertidal zone,where the particles are transported for a longer distance than that of the stationary result.Simulations with and without the turbulent random walk show that the effect of turbulent diffusion is very effective at spreading particles throughout the estuary and speeding up the particle movement.The spatial distribution of residence time is given to quantify the water exchange capability that has very important ramifications to water quality.The effect of wind on the water exchange is also examined and the southeasterly wind in summer tends to block the water exchange near the northeast coast,while the northerly wind in winter speeds up the transport process.These results indicate that the Lagrangian particle model is applicable and has a large potential to help understanding the water exchange capability in estuaries,which can also he useful to simulate the transport process of contaminant.     

Manifestations of water dynamics in the coastal zone in the field of breaking of wind waves

In the coastal zone, as a result of mixing of waters, it is difficult to identify turbulent phenomena with a spatial scale of 0.1–1 km accompanied by strong vertical flows according to the data of measuring temperature. On the basis of the data of direct measurements, it is shown that turbulent structures are well pronounced in the field of breaking of wind waves. We deduce empirical estimates of the response of the intensity of wave breaking to the magnitude of divergence of the current and develop a theoretical model of the influence of inhomogeneities of currents on wave breaking capable of describing the experimental data. Translated by Peter V. Malyshev and Dmitry V. Malyshev     

Seasonal variation in the transport of suspended matter in the East China Sea

Seasonal variation in the transport of suspended matter across the East China Sea is investigated with the use of results of field observations and diagnostic numerical experiments. Suspended matter is transported from the shelf edge to the inner shelf in summer and from the inner shelf to the shelf edge in autumn and winter due to the vertical circulation mainly induced by the monsoon wind. The maximum transport of suspended matter from the inner shelf to the shelf edge occurs in autumn.     

On transformation of the near-surface atmospheric boundary layer in the ocean temperature front area

A two-dimensional, quasi-analytical model for the formation of the internal atmospheric boundary layer in the ocean temperature front area is described, developed on the basis of integral relations for motion and thermal conductivity equations. The computed data are matched with wind speed observations, as well as with direct and indirect dynamic velocity measurements in the air, obtained across the Gulf Stream frontal zone.Translated by V. Puchkin.     

福建风能的区划和开发利用

根据有效风速（３￣２０ｍ／ｓ）的累积小时数、有效风能密度、风能季节变化以及３０ａ一遇的最大风速等指标，将福建省划分为风能丰富、较珂利用和贫乏４个区，７个副区。通过分区找出全省各地风能资源的差异，为充分开发和利用风能资源提供资料和依据。文中还提出了风能开发利用的设想和存在的问题。     

Preliminary results of measurements of atmospheric turbulence over the sea

We perform the experimental verification of the applicability of the theory of similarity to the wave boundary layer and the assessment of wave-induced perturbations of the air flow depending on various conditions of stratification of the atmosphere and the state of the sea. The measurements were carried out from a stationary platform located in the coastal part of the Black Sea. The experimental procedure is based on the simultaneous measurements of the profile and fluctuations of the wind speed at 5–6 levels in the 1.3–21-m layer, the elevations of the sea surface, the directions of waves and winds, and the mean gradients of temperature and humidity of air. The structure of the boundary layer in the region of measurements depends on the direction of the wind. For weak and moderate onshore winds (< 9 m/sec), the approximate balance is preserved between the production and dissipation of turbulent energy in the cases of unstable and neutral stratification. On the average, the estimates of friction velocity according to the profiles are higher than the dissipative estimates by 10% mainly due to the deficiency of dissipation near the surface. For the offshore wind, the structure of the boundary layer abruptly changes and is determined not by the local parameters but by strong turbulent eddies formed over the dry land. The intensity of low-frequency turbulent fluctuations and the gradient of wind velocity near the surface in the coastal zone are 1.5–2 times higher than for the open sea. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 3, pp. 42–61, May–June, 2007.