Evidence for Century-Timescale Acceleration in Mean Sea Levels and for Recent Changes in Extreme Sea Levels

Two of the most important topics in Sea Level Science are addressed in this paper. One is concerned with the evidence for the apparent acceleration in the rate of global sea level change between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and, thereby, with the question of whether the twentieth century sea level rise was a consequence of an accelerated climate change of anthropogenic origin. An acceleration is indeed observed in both tide gauge and saltmarsh data at different locations around the world, yielding quadratic coefficients ??c?? of order 0.005 mm/year², and with the most rapid changes of rate of sea level rise occurring around the end of the nineteenth century. The second topic refers to whether there is evidence that extreme sea levels have increased in recent decades at rates significantly different from those in mean levels. Recent results, which suggest that at most locations rates of change of extreme and mean sea levels are comparable, are presented. In addition, a short review is given of recent work on extreme sea levels by other authors. This body of work, which is focused primarily on Europe and the Mediterranean, also tends to support mean and extreme sea levels changing at similar rates at most locations.     

Levels of endocrine disrupting compounds in South China Sea

The occurrence of estrogens in the aquatic environment has become a major concern worldwide because of their strong endocrine disrupting potency. In this study, concentrations of four estrogenic compounds, estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), estriol (E3) were determined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analyses in surface water from South China Sea, and distributions and potential risks of their estrogenic activity were assessed. The estrogenic compounds E1, E2 and E3 were detected in most of the samples, with their concentrations up to 11.16, 3.71 and 21.63 ng L⁻¹. However, EE2 was only detected in 3 samples. Causality analysis, EEQ values from chemical analysis identified E2 as the main responsible compounds. Based on the EEQ values in the surface water, high estrogenic risks were in the coastal water, and low estrogenic risks in the open sea.     

Differences between Mean Sea Levels for the Pacific,Atlantic and Indian Oceans From Topex/Poseidon Altimetry

Geopotential values W of the mean equipotential surfaces representing the mean ocean topography were computed on the basis of four years (1993 - 1996) TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data: W = 62 636 854.10m ² s ^–2 for the Pacific (P), W = 62 636 858.20m ² s ^–2 for the Atlantic (A), W = 62 636 856.28m ²s^–2 for the Indian (I) Oceans. The corresponding mean separations between the ocean levels were obtained as follows: A – P = – 42 cm, I– P = – 22 cm, I – A = 20 cm, the rms errors came out at about 0.3 cm. No sea surface topography model was used in the solution.     

海中取淤的海堤安全距离分析

在距离海堤较近的海中取淤会引起海堤较大的变形。针对某围海造地工程,选择常规的斜坡堤进行分析。采用理想弹塑性模型,改变取淤位置与堤脚的距离进行计算。结果表明如果以10 mm为控制标准,取淤距离保持300 m是比较合适的。放松对位移的要求,取淤距离可以更近一些。     

Levels and profiles of PCBs and OCPs in marine benthic species from the Belgian North Sea and the Western Scheldt Estuary

Various benthic invertebrates (flying crab, common shrimp, and red starfish), small fish (sand goby), benthic flatfish (dab, plaice, and sole) and gadoids (bib and whiting) were collected in the Belgian North Sea and along the Scheldt Estuary, both representing areas impacted by various contaminants to different degrees. The levels of 25 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and 15 organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), which included penta- and hexachlorobenzene, alpha-, beta-, and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane isomers, chlordanes, and DDT and metabolites, were determined. Sum of PCBs and OCPs in benthic invertebrates and goby ranged from 1.5 to 280 ng/g wet weight (ww) and from 0.27 to 23 ng/g ww, respectively. The fish livers revealed total PCB and OCP levels ranging from 20 to 3200 ng/g ww and from 6.0 to 410 ng/g ww, respectively. Levels of both contaminant groups were significantly higher in samples from the Scheldt Estuary compared to the Belgian North Sea. For most species a highly inverse correlation was found between the concentration of contaminants and the distance to Antwerp (r between 0.812 and 0.901, p < 0.05), pointing to a higher degree of exposure further upstream. PCB and OCP exposures are highly correlated (r between 0.836 and 1.000, p < 0.05), which suggests that the pollution can be classified as historical. However, because urban and industrial centres may still be emitting these compounds, more recent point and non-point sources cannot be ruled out.     

Ra in the Black Sea and Sea of Marmara

Water column distributions of²²⁶Ra were determined at stations in the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea as part of the 1988 Joint U.S.—Turkish Black Sea Expedition. Black Sea surface water²²⁶Ra concentrations were a factor of three to four lower than measurements made 20 years earlier. The most likely cause is increased removal of²²⁶Ra and Ba [35] due to increased surface biological activity; a secondary effect is decreased fluvial discharge and related dimunition of inputs by desorption from fluvial suspended sediments. The amount of²²⁶Ra missing from the surface waters of the Black Sea over this period is accounted for in the high-porosity surficial “fluff” sediment layer.

Throughout the Black Sea, depth profiles of²²⁶Ra exhibited pronounced maxima of approximately 25 dpm/100 L at aboutσ_θ = 16.2–16.3, in the vicinity of a bacterial maximum, but slightly shallower than the total dissolved Mn and Fe maxima (σ_θ = 16.4–16.5) reported by Lewis and Landing [38]. While the²²⁶Ra maximum may, in part, be linked to the cycling of Mn and Fe oxyhydroxides near theO₂H₂S interface, its distribution appears to be more plausibly explained as a result of the microbial breakdown of particulate organic matter and the subsequent release and partial dissolution of associated barite in this region.

A simple steady-state two-☐ model has been used to obtain a semiquantitative understanding of the behavior of²²⁶Ra in the Black Sea. By incorporating reasonable estimates for the input and removal of²²⁶Ra in the Black Sea, an excellent agreement between predicted and observed (1988)²²⁶Ra concentrations was achieved. The model suggests that the dominant variables controlling the distribution of²²⁶Ra in the Black Sea are riverine input and cycling with Ba.     

Levels of Probability of Exceedance for Current Code Spectra in China

Long-period acceleration spectra determined by seismic safety evaluation for project sites are generally lower than that given by relative code spectra. In this paper, we discuss the recurrence periods corresponding to the code spectra of different periods, by using ground motion attenuation laws for sites of types Ⅰand Ⅲ. We show the results that the longer the periods of code spectra are commonly the more conservative the seismic level is. As for the project examples in this paper, when the periods are longer than 3.7 or 5.2 seconds for sites of types Ⅰ or Ⅲ, the recurrence periods corresponding to the code spectra are longer than 5000 years. We suggest that some problems need to be further discussed, including the reliability of the present attenuation laws, the performance of those project structures that suffer long period seismic waves and have been designed according to the conservative codes, and the effects of ground motion parameters such as velocity and displacement on seismic design.     

Observational evidence for estuarine circulation in the German Wadden Sea

Observational evidence is presented, which corroborates the hypothesis of the general presence of estuarine circulation in the Wadden Sea as put forward in a previous study (Burchard et al., 2008). Current velocity data from moored ADCPs (in the Hörnum Deep south of Sylt Island, 2002-2009) and ship cruises (in several locations in the German Wadden Sea, 2000-2008) were analysed. As a general result, the vertical current profiles above the benthic boundary layer are usually more homogeneous during flood than during ebb, with a pronounced dependence on the cross-shore horizontal density difference. This tidal asymmetry consequently must lead to a residual outflow of Wadden Sea waters in the upper part and a residual inflow of water in the lower part of the water column, thus giving a generic explanation for the obvious net import of suspended sediments from the German Bight into the Wadden Sea.     

我国现行规范谱的超越概率标准

工程场地的地震安全性评价给出的加速度反应谱在长周期部分一般均低于相应的规范谱。本文用Ⅰ类和Ⅲ类场地的地震动参数衰减规律,讨论加速度反应谱与不同周期规范谱值对应的重现期。结果表明,对加速度而言,基本情况是规范反应谱周期越长越保守。当峰值加速度对应的重现期为475年时,对于本文的工程算例,Ⅰ类和Ⅲ类场地的加速度反应谱分别于3.7s和5.2s以后超过重现期5000年。本文认为,对目前使用的衰减规律的可靠性,对一致概率谱与规范谱的关系,对按保守谱设计的工程在长周期地震波作用下的表现以及对速度、位移等在抗震设计中的作用等问题应作深入研究。     

A climatological data set of temperature and salinity for the Baltic Sea and the North Sea

Ocean Dynamics - A climatological monthly mean data set for temperature and salinity in the area of the North Sea and Baltic Sea is presented. More than 3.1 million temperature observations (2.9...