An example of drastic natural changes in the intertidal biota and the implications for monitoring programmes

During a period of about two years at Parkmore Point, Co. Kerry, Ireland, fucoids drastically decreased in the mid and upper shore, meanwhile barnacle abundance increased on the upper shore and mussels increased on the lower shore. Causes could not be determined but human interference was excluded due to remoteness, and changes were so localized as to exclude climatic factors. These drastic natural changes emphasize the need for guarded interpretation of monitoring data from areas suspected of pollution.     

Phanerozoic paleogeography,paleoenvironment and lithofacies maps of the circum-Atlantic margins

A series of maps was constructed, depicting the plate tectonic configuration, paleogeography, paleoenvironment and lithofacies for Phanerozoic time intervals from Cambrian through the Neogene. These are world maps comprising 300 continental plates and terranes, but are reprojected here to illustrate the circum-Atlantic margins. The relative position of the continents through time was largely derived from PLATES and PALEOMAP software.These maps illustrate the Phanerozoic geodynamic evolution of the Earth. They show the relationship of the continental configuration, lithofacies, tectonics, and climate, from the time of the disassembly of Rodinia to the assembly and break-up of Pangea. From a regional perspective, the facies in basins along the circum-Atlantic margin reflect various stages of rifting and passive margin development. Inversion caused by ridge push played an important role in the basin evolution and has influenced the distribution of lithofacies at various times. The power of the maps is realized in their application as an aid to the visualization of the relationship of regional basin development, sedimentation and erosion to the deposition of potential source-rock, reservoir and seals.The individual maps illustrate the conditions present during the maximum marine transgressions of sea-level within the Sauk, Tippecanoe, Kaskaskia, Absaroka, Zuni, and Tejas megasequences of Sloss. Relative sea level cyclicity, chronostratigraphy, and regional unconformities provide the basis for partitioning these higher frequency depositional cycles into 32 subdivisions (supersequences) ranging in duration from 11 to 39 my. In this report 14 of these time slices are used to illustrate the environments and lithologies resulting from changes in the geographic position of the terranes which constitute the present Atlantic margins. The text attempts to fill in details of the progressive change between mapped intervals. Data for the maps were derived from geologic reports, maps and stratigraphic columns and other paleogeographic interpretations regarding tectonics, basin formation, and deposition. The lithofacies are depicted by 21 patterns.     

Development of marine biota in the Paleozoic in response to abiotic factors

An analysis of the biota development in response to the changing abiotic factors shows that long relatively stable periods of transgression, high-energy hydrodynamics, and diverse ecological niches are favorable for a growth of biodiversity and the abundance of organisms. Biota reduction is determined by sharp environmental changes, particularly by multiple alteration of opposite development trends (transgression-regression, warming-cooling, and others). In addition, events harmful for the development of organisms such as global anoxia in the oceans, powerful eruptions of trap basalts and volcanism, and collision of the earth with extraterrestrial bodies negatively influence the biota evolution. The impact of different factors is particularly notable during biotic crises. The abiotic factors influencing the biota development are determined by three fundamental causes: terrestrial, orbital, and extraterrestrial. Frequently, these causes and relevant factors were synchronous or almost synchronous in terms of geological time. Inasmuch as there is no cause-effect relationship between them, we can assume that large-scale environmental changes are determined by general extraterrestrial factors originating beyond the solar system.     

Evolution of the Mesozoic oceanic biota: Response to abiotic factors

An analysis of the biota evolution during the Mesozoic in response to abiotic factors shows that the most important among them are the climate, sea-level position, dynamics and structure of the water column, its chemistry, volcanism, tectonics (horizontal and vertical movements of lithospheric blocks), and collision of the earth with astronomical bodies (impact events). Stable conditions and a variety of ecological niches promoted the growth in the biodiversity. Their changes that resulted in mass extinctions of organisms stimulated evolution. The analysis of the materials available leads to one of the most important inferences that all the terrestrial processes, the biospheric included, develop in close and continuous relation with the extraterrestrial processes that occur beyond the solar system in the space to which our planet belongs.     

Estimation of changes in characteristics of the climate and carbon cycle in the 21st century accounting for the uncertainty of terrestrial biota parameter values

ensemble simulations with the A.M. Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS) climate model (CM) for the 21st century are analyzed taking into account anthropogenic forcings in accordance with the Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A2, A1B, and B1, whereas agricultural land areas were assumed to change in accordance with the Land Use Harmonization project scenarios. Different realizations within these ensemble experiments were constructed by varying two governing parameters of the terrestrial carbon cycle. The ensemble simulations were analyzed with the use of Bayesian statistics, which makes it possible to suppress the influence of unrealistic members of these experiments on their results. It is established that, for global values of the main characteristics of the terrestrial carbon cycle, the SRES scenarios used do not differ statistically from each other, so within the framework of the model, the primary productivity of terrestrial vegetation will increase in the 21st century from 74 ± 1 to 102 ± 13 PgC yr⁻¹ and the carbon storage in terrestrial vegetation will increase from 511 ± 8 to 611 ± 8 PgC (here and below, we indicate the mean ± standard deviations). The mutual compensation of changes in the soil carbon stock in different regions will make global changes in the soil carbon storage in the 21st century statistically insignificant. The global CO₂ uptake by terrestrial ecosystems will increase in the first half of the 21st century, whereupon it will decrease. The uncertainty interval of this variable in the middle (end) of the 21st century will be from 1.3 to 3.4 PgC yr⁻¹ (from 0.3 to 3.1 PgC yr⁻¹). In most regions, an increase in the net productivity of terrestrial vegetation (especially outside the tropics), the accumulation of carbon in this vegetation, and changes in the amount of soil carbon stock (with the total carbon accumulation in soils of the tropics and subtropics and the regions of both accumulation and loss of soil carbon at higher latitudes) will be robust within the ensemble in the 21st century, as will the CO₂ uptake from the atmosphere only by terrestrial ecosystems located at extratropical latitudes of Eurasia, first and foremost by the Siberian taiga. However, substantial differences in anthropogenic emissions between the SRES scenarios in the 21st century lead to statistically significant differences between these scenarios in the carbon dioxide uptake by the ocean, the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere, and changes in the surface air temperature. In particular, according to the SRES A2 (A1B, B1) scenario, in 2071–2100 the carbon flux from the atmosphere to the ocean will be 10.6 ± 0.6 PgC yr⁻¹ (8.3 ± 0.5, 5.6 ± 0.3 PgC yr⁻¹), and the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere will reach 773 ± 28 ppmv (662 ± 24, 534 ± 16 ppmv) by 2100. The annual mean warming in 2071–2100 relatively to 1961–1990 will be 3.19 ± 0.09 K (2.52 ± 0.08, 1.84 ± 0.06 K).     

Abundance,biomass and composition of the sea ice biota of the Greenland Sea pack ice

During two cruises to the Greenland Sea, we studied the abundance and biomass of the sea ice biota in summer and late autumn. The mean calculated biomass of the sympagic community was 0.2 g C m⁻² ice. Algae contributed on average 43% to total biomass, followed by bacteria (31%), heterotrophic flagellates (20%), and meiofauna (4%). Diatoms were the main primary producers (60% of total algal biomass), but flagellated cells contributed significantly to the algal biomass. Among the meiofauna, ciliates, nematodes, acoel turbellarians and crustaceans were dominant. Calculated potential ingestion rates of meiofauna (0.6 g C m⁻² (120 d)⁻¹) are on the same order of magnitude as annual primary production estimates for Arctic multi-year sea ice. We therefore assume that grazing can control biomass accumulation of primary producers inside the sea ice.     

SPH Numerical Modeling for the Wave-Thin Structure Interaction

In this paper, a numerical model of 2D weakly compressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (WCSPH) is developed to simulate the interaction between waves and thin structures. A new color domain particle (CDP) technique is proposed to overcome difficulties of applying the ghost particle method to thin structures in dealing with solid boundaries. The new technique can deal with zero-thickness structures. To apply this enforcing technique, the computational fluid domain is divided into sub domains, i.e., boundary domains and internal domains. A color value is assigned to each particle, and contains the information of the domains in which the particle belongs to and the particles can interact with. A particle, nearby a thin boundary, is prevented from interacting with particles, which should not interact with on the other side of the structure. It is possible to model thin structures, or the structures with the thickness negligible with this technique. The proposed WCSPH module is validated for a still water tank, divided by a thin plate at the middle section, with different water levels in the subdomains, and is applied to simulate the interaction between regular waves and a perforated vertical plate. Finally, the computation is carried out for waves and submerged twin-horizontal plate interaction. It is shown that the numerical results agree well with experimental data in terms of the pressure distribution, pressure time series and wave transmission.     

An Efficient Tide-Surge Interaction Model for the Coast of Bangladesh

The numerical method of lines(MOLs) in coordination with the classical fourth-order Runge-Kutta(RK(4, 4))method is used to solve shallow water equations(SWEs) for foreseeing water levels owing to the nonlinear interaction of tide and surge accompanying with a storm along the coast of Bangladesh. The SWEs are developed by extending the body forces with tide generating forces(TGFs). Spatial variables of the SWEs along with the boundary conditions are approximated by means of finite difference technique on an Arakawa C-grid to attain a system of ordinary differential equations(ODEs) of initial valued in time, which are being solved with the aid of the RK(4, 4)method. Nested grid technique is adopted to solve coastal complexities closely with least computational cost. A stable tidal solution in the region of our choice is produced by applying the tidal forcing with the major tidal constituent M2(lunar semi-diurnal) along the southern open-sea boundary of the outer scheme. Numerical experimentations are carried out to simulate water levels generated by the cyclonic storm AILA along the coast of Bangladesh. The model simulated results are found to be in a reasonable agreement with the limited available reported data and observations.     

防波堤损坏特点与其成因的关系

利用日本《被灾防波堤集览》、葡萄牙锡尼斯防波堤、日本六小河原港防波堤、中国大连渔港、台湾基隆港等61件典型损坏案例及其它参考文献所涉及的140余件案例,讨论了防波堤损坏平面形态与断面部位的特征。根据防波堤损坏特点,从波浪水动力学特性、结构、地基和施工多方面分析了损坏原因与损坏特性之间的关系,从而深化对防波堤工作机理的认识。     

Extension of the Frequency-Domain pFFT Method for Wave Structure Interaction in Finite Depth

To analyze wave interaction with a large scale body in the frequency domain, a precorrected Fast Fourier Transform (pFFT) method has been proposed for infinite depth problems with the deep water Green function, as it can form a matrix with Toeplitz and Hankel properties. In this paper, a method is proposed to decompose the finite depth Green function into two terms, which can form matrices with the Toeplitz and a Hankel properties respectively. Then, a pFFT method for finite depth problems is developed. Based on the pFFT method, a numerical code pFFT-HOBEM is developed with the discretization of high order elements. The model is validated, and examinations on the computing efficiency and memory requirement of the new method have also been carried out. It shows that the new method has the same advantages as that for infinite depth.     

An experimental method for determining the frequency-dependent added mass and added mass moment of inertia for a floating body in heave and pitch motions

Most of the existing relevant materials have been obtained from experiments, in which evaluating the added mass at the resonant frequency corresponding to the peak of a frequency-response curve obtained from the “forced” vibration analysis is the most popular technique. In this paper, a simple experimental method was presented where the “free” vibration responses instead of the “forced” ones were used to determine the values of m_ah and I_ap. The main part of the experimental system is composed of a floating body (model) and a spring–shaft shaker. The “free” vibration of this main part was induced by imposing on it an initial displacement (and/or an initial velocity), and from the time histories of displacements information such as the “damped” natural frequencies, damping ratios, sectional added mass coefficients (C_V and C_P) were obtained. Since the displacements of the spring–shaft shaker are “translational” and those of the floating body due to pitch motions are “angular”, a technique for the transformation between the associated parameters of the two components of the main part was presented.     

闽江口近百年来海底地貌演变与成因

运用GIS工具研究了闽江口近百年来地貌演变的特征。20世纪上半叶,闽江口表现为较强的淤积,此后淤积速率逐渐降低,1980年代后期到20世纪末河口区以侵蚀为主,河口浅滩主要发育在河口区南部。闽江口南、北支河道具有不同的泥沙输送特征,基本可概括为北出南积,既北支河道向海输送大部分径流和泥沙,泥沙沉积在河口及三角洲前缘地区,河口区泥沙可再悬浮,通过涨潮流向南支输送,与南支水道带出的泥沙一道促使了南支口外浅滩的发育。1975年以后入海泥沙呈减少的趋势,其主要与水库建设和下游河道采沙等活动密切相关,泥沙供应的变化进一步引起了河口海底的侵蚀。     

中西太平洋金枪鱼围网高产渔区年间变化及其原因分析

金枪鱼类是中西太平洋海域重要的经济鱼种,其中鲣产量约占到总产量的50%。本研究利用1995-2010年16年的中西太平洋（20°S~20°N,120°E~155°W）鲣围网生产统计数据和Niño3.4海区（5°S~5°N,120°~170°W）海表温度异常数据,对这16年鲣产量最高的十大渔区（5°×5°）进行时空格局分析,讨论渔场分布差异及CPUE与ENSO指数的关系。结果表明:16年间十大作业渔区主要分布在5°S~5°N、130°~175°E区域,这十大渔区产量占总产量的比重达47.5%,其中5°S~0°、155°~160°E,0°~5°N、130°~135°E,0°~5°N、135°~140°E及5°S~0°、160°~165°E等4个渔区产量占高产渔区产量的比重均超过10%,是中西太平洋重要的鲣产区。高产渔区的分布受海表温度影响较大,在厄尔尼诺时期,高产渔区分布明显偏东,主要分布在155°~180°E海域;在拉尼娜时期,高产渔区分布明显偏西,主要分布在130°~160°E海域。     

A note on the length/mass relationship and mass conversion factors for Agulhas sole Austroglossus pectoralis

The relationship between mass and length and the landed mass/whole mass conversion factors for Agulhas sole Austroglossus pectoralis were investigated and compared to the results of an earlier study. Earlier length/mass relationships overestimate the mass of small soles but underestimate that of large soles. The mass conversion factor of the present study also differed from the earlier results.     

Decomposition of the mass transport in narrow estuaries

The mass transport as measured in the Rotterdam Waterway Estuary and in the tidal salinity flume of the Delft Hydraulics Laboratory is analysed to obtain insight into the magnitude of the dispersive mass transport in narrow estuaries. It is found that the magnitude of the dispersive mass transport in the real time one-dimensional advection-diffusion equation varies considerably over the tidal cycle, that the ratio between the magnitude of the dispersive mass transport by the net vertical circulation and by the vertical oscillatory shear in the tidally averaged one-dimensional advection-diffusion equation decreases when the degree of stratification in the flume is decreased, and that the dispersive mass transport in the Rotterdam Waterway and in the tidal salinity flume is affected significantly by the mixing processes at sea near the estuary mouth.     

Eddy mass transport for the Southern Ocean in an eddy-permitting global ocean model

The eddy-induced mass transport is diagnosed for the Southern Ocean in an eddy-permitting global ocean model (OCCAM). The focus is on the transport by transient eddies in the deep ocean. The transport streamfunction is calculated in four different combinations of coordinate system. Depending on the coordinate system employed, the strength of transient eddy transport varies from 6 Sv meridional transport in latitude-density coordinates to 20 Sv across-streamline transport in streamline-depth coordinates. It is shown that transient eddies as well as standing eddies are necessary for cancelling the Deacon cell.In the Antarctic bottom water density layer, the major contribution of the transient eddies towards net equatorward transport occurs (a) as a strong transport over the narrow Drake Passage and (b) as a weaker but systematic transport over a broader region in the southeast Pacific where the Antarctic circumpolar current breaks up into multiple jets. In contrast, in the North Atlantic deep water density layer the net poleward eddy transport is spread out almost everywhere. This suggests that attention to eddies should not be restricted to places where the eddy transport has large magnitude.     

Chlorinated hydrocarbons in the open mediterranean ecosystem and implications for mass balance calculations

Studies on the biogeochemical cycling of organic contaminants in the Mediterranean have demonstrated the importance of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as relatively stable markers of recent anthropogenic influence in ocean systems. This paper presents results of hydrocarbon analyses of deep water profiles, sediments and their associated surface flocculent layers, and zooplankton samples collected in the western basin. Seawater concentrations were higher than those previously reported for the eastern basin and were consistent with the presence of industrial sources in the northwestern segment. In the water column, the percent of PCBs associated with filterable particles was related to the ambient concentrations of total suspended matter, distance from coastal input sources and on depth. The occurrence of deep water residues primarily in the dissolved phase and observations of subsurface maxima in seawater concentrations during a season of high surface productivity were consistent with the predictions of vertical transport models based on residues associated with sinking particles and equilibrium partitioning. Flocculent layers at the sea/sediment interface contained two and three orders of magnitude, respectively, more PCBs and petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) than their associated surface sediments. The flocculent particles also contained several biogenic hydrocarbons presumably originating from plankton and relatively soluble and labile contaminants such as hexachlorohexane isomers (HCH) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB), thus confirming that the majority of the flux of hydrocarbons to sediments is carried on rapidly settling large particles. By combining the sediment and flocculents data with published sedimentation rates for the deep basins of the Mediterranean, a yearly flux rate of PCBs to the open sea sediments was estimated as 13 μg m⁻² yr⁻¹ or less than half of the rate measured in a coastal sediment trap experiment. Analytical results are placed in the context of other distribution data for PCBs and long-term flux studies to construct a partial mass balance budget for this semi-enclosed sea. The computed coastal inventory showed that about 35% remains suspended in the water column while the majority of residues are deposited in coastal sediments. However in the open sea, the deep water column may contain up to 70% of the total inventory and may be a continually increasing reservoir of stable organic contaminants reaching the ocean. The budget shows that priority for improved research and monitoring efforts in ocean systems should be given to continued advancement in techniques for the precise measurement of deep water concentrations and for measuring current atmospheric inputs and sedimentation rates in order to develop more accurate ocean flux models.