High pressure-high temperature laboratory apparatus for the measurement of deep sea sediment physical properties

Laboratory equipment has been built which will measure the permeability and thermal conductivity of deep-sea sediments at their in-situ conditions of hydrostatic pressure, temperature, and void ratio. The apparatus has the capability of uniaxially consolidating a sediment sample to simulate compaction within the sediment column, while exposing the specimen to hydrostatic pressures ranging from atmospheric to 62 MPa and to temperatures from 22 to 220°C. The equipment includes a hypodermic needle mounted vertically through the base of the pressure vessel from which thermal conductivity is determined by the needle probe method. The system also features a combination of dead-weight testers which produces a small hydraulic gradient across the sample and permits the measurement of sediment permeability at large hydrostatic pressures.The physical property data generated from this apparatus will be important in understanding the mechanisms of heat transfer through the ocean floor and in analysing the coupled flow of heat and pore fluid in the vicinity of a heat source, such as a radioactive waste canister, buried in the seabed.     

Aggregation of the Arctic copepod Calanus hyperboreus over the ocean floor of the Greenland Sea

According to combined observations from vertical plankton tows, dredging with epibenthic nets 1 m above the ocean floor, video recordings and acoustic data from a scanning sonar obtained during descent and during deployment on the ocean floor, the calanoid copepod Calanus hyperboreus was aggregated in high concentrations near the ocean floor of the Greenland Sea between 2300 and 2500 m during late July and August. Concentrations were highest very close to the ocean floor and decreased rapidly further upward. These nearly mono-specific aggregations were apparently drifting in cloud-like formations with a horizontal extension of ca. 270 m with the near-bottom currents. Maximum abundances observed were up to 2 orders of magnitude higher than in the water column. The biomass in the bottom 20 m layer was around 18% of the biomass in the rest of the water column. Stage composition, reduced metabolic rates and insensibility to mechanical stimuli indicate that these C. hyperboreus were representing the resting population. The fact that high concentrations were observed during deployments lasting >1 d and in 3 years suggests that aggregation near the ocean floor is a regular, rather than an extraordinary, pattern in the life history of C. hyperboreus in the Greenland Sea, but there is need for comparison with other seas and eventually other Calanus species.     

Physical oceanographic conditions in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico in summer 2000–2002

The circulation and distribution of water properties in the water column of the Gulf of Mexico influence the flux of carbon to the benthic environment. The eddy field of the upper 1000 m creates environmental conditions that are favorable for biological productivity in an otherwise oligotrophic subtropical ocean. This eddy field results in the transport of nutrients and organic matter into the photic zone through cross-margin flow of shelf waters, upwelling in cyclones, and uplift from the interaction of anticyclones with bathymetry. These conditions then allow the productivity that becomes a possible source of carbon to the benthos.Data from four cruises during summers of 2000–2002 are used to describe the currents and water property distributions in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, which consists of water depths greater than 400 m. Comparisons are made to historical data sets to provide an understanding of the persistence of the characteristics of the Gulf and the processes that occur there.The currents in the Gulf are surface intensified, have minimum in 800–1000 m depths, and also exhibit bottom intensification, especially near sloping topography. Historical time series records show current speeds near-bottom reach 50–100 cm s⁻¹. At basin scales, these currents tend to flow cyclonically (counter-clockwise) along the bathymetry. These near-bottom, episodic, high-speed currents provide a mechanism for the transport of organic material, in both large and small particle sizes, from one benthic area to another.The distributions of temperature, salinity, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen during the study appear to be unchanged from historical findings. The source waters for the deep Gulf are the water masses brought into the Gulf by the Loop Current system. The properties in the upper 100–200 m are the most variable of the water column, consistent with their proximity to wind mixing, river discharge mixing, and atmospheric influences. Below 1500 m, there are no major horizontal variations in these water properties.     

自返式微型地热探针水下运动及贯入特性分析

自返式微型地热探针水下运动特性以及其贯入深度关系到其能否正常入泥工作,针对自返式微型地热探针的结构,对其进行简化,建立物理模型。并针对海洋流场及海洋底质,抽取关键参数,建立探针投放过程中的流场模型和底质模型。将所建立模型导入数据分析软件,先分析探针在投放过程中竖直方向和水平方向的相关运动特性,然后拟合为探针下行过程中下行深度和横向漂移的轨迹图,可见其水平方向最大位移约为106 m。在理论上论证了探针在下行过程中的姿态稳定性。通过计算论证了自返式微型探针在依靠自身重力的情况下,自动贯入海底沉积物进行热流测量工作方式的可行性。并在最后通过海上试验,对分析结果进行了实践验证。     

洋际通道的体积和热输运的年平均结构及季节变化：MOM4P1积分1400年的结果

The annual mean volume and heat transport sketches through the inter-basin passages and transoceanic sections have been constructed based on 1 400-year spin up results of the MOM4p1. The spin up starts from a state of rest, driven by the monthly climatological mean force from the NOAA World Ocean Atlas(1994). The volume transport sketch reveals the northward transport throughout the Pacific and southward transport at all latitudes in the Atlantic. The annual mean strength of the Pacific-Arctic-Atlantic through flow is 0.63×106 m3/s in the Bering Strait. The majority of the northward volume transport in the southern Pacific turns into the Indonesian through flow(ITF) and joins the Indian Ocean equatorial current, which subsequently flows out southward from the Mozambique Channel, with its majority superimposed on the Antarctic Circumpolar Current(ACC). This anti-cyclonic circulation around Australia has a strength of 11×106 m3/s according to the model-produced result. The atmospheric fresh water transport, known as P-E+R(precipitation minus evaporation plus runoff), constructs a complement to the horizontal volume transport of the ocean. The annual mean heat transport sketch exhibits a northward heat transport in the Atlantic and poleward heat transport in the global ocean. The surface heat flux acts as a complement to the horizontal heat transport of the ocean. The climatological volume transports describe the most important features through the inter-basin passages and in the associated basins, including: the positive P-E+R in the Arctic substantially strengthening the East Greenland Current in summer; semiannual variability of the volume transport in the Drake Passage and the southern Atlantic-Indian Ocean passage; and annual transport variability of the ITF intensifying in the boreal summer. The climatological heat transports show heat storage in July and heat deficit in January in the Arctic; heat storage in January and heat deficit in July in the Antarctic circumpolar current regime(ACCR); and intensified heat transport of the ITF in July. The volume transport of the ITF is synchronous with the volume transport through the southern Indo-Pacific sections, but the year-long southward heat transport of the ITF is out of phase with the heat transport through the equatorial Pacific, which is northward before May and southward after May. This clarifies the majority of the ITF originating from the southern Pacific Ocean.     

基于连续帧间差分的抛弃式探头三维下沉运动处理方法研究

抛弃式探头由无人机装载,能够在较远目标区域和危险海域开展海洋水文环境剖面参数的测量。通过安装不同传感器,可以实现对温度、盐度的剖面测量,其深度的测量采用数学方法计算得到。针对双摄像机水箱实验获得的5个不同攻角实验结果,分析了常用的运动目标的检测方法,最终选择基于连续帧间差分法,确定探头的三维坐标位置,进而得到探头下沉运动的三维运动轨迹和速度曲线等信息。探头从水面释放后攻角在下沉过程中不断调整,改变运动姿态,同时伴随自身的旋转,抵消水平方向阻力作用,初始攻角产生的深度测量误差主要体现在加速过程,探头达到匀速运动后测量误差不变,在不考虑横流的情况下,探头最后以匀速垂直下落运动。     

Ocean circulation and exchanges through the northern Bering Sea—1979–2001 model results

We have developed and run a model with sufficiently high resolution (9 km and 45 levels) and a large enough spatial domain to allow for realistic representation of flow through the narrow and shallow straits in the northern Bering Sea. This is potentially important for quantification of long-term mean and time-dependent ocean circulation, and water mass and property exchanges between the Pacific and Arctic Oceans. Over a 23 year interval (1979–2001), mean transport through Bering Strait is estimated to be 0.65 Sv. Comparison of our model results with published observations indicates that ocean circulation is not only variable at seasonal to interdecadal scales but it is also responsive to short-term atmospheric forcing. One of such events occurred during the winter of 2000–2001 with reversed oceanic flow in some areas and much reduced sea-ice cover. Analyses of eddy kinetic energy fields identify some high biological productivity regions of the Chirikov Basin coincident with persistent high energy (up to 2700 cm² s⁻² in the surface layer and up to 2600 cm² s⁻² at mid-depth) throughout the annual cycle. Model output in the Bering Strait region is validated against several time series of moored observations of water mass properties. Comparison with shipboard observations of near-bottom salinity from late winter through autumn indicates that the model reasonably represents the major water-mass properties in the region. The modeled vertical water-column structure in the northern Bering Sea allows increased understanding of the mechanisms of water transformation and transport northward through Bering Strait into the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. We conclude that the long-term model results for the northern Bering Sea provide important insights into the ocean circulation and fluxes and they are a useful frame of reference for limited observations that are short-term and/or cover only a small geographic region.     

Diel Vertical Migration of the Marine Cladoceran Podon Leuckarti: Variations with Reproductive Stage

Diel vertical migration (DVM) of the marine cladoceran Podon leuckarti was investigated with reference to their reproductive stages and size. Males and females, except for gamogenic females with an advanced resting egg (GA), aggregated at the near-bottom layer or at the surface during the day and dispersed into the water column at night. Both the near-bottom aggregation and the surface aggregation during daytime are suggested to be behavior that reduces the predation risk from visual predators. However, GA aggregated in the near-bottom layer during daytime and avoided the surface layer. The near-bottom aggregation might be more effective behavior for GAs to reduce risk of visual predation than the surface aggregation because of the conspicuous resting egg they carried. These results show that carrying an advanced resting egg influenced the DVM of P. leuckarti.     

Further studies on the feeding habits ofSagitta nagae alvariño in Suruga Bay,central Japan

The feeding ofSagitta nagae was analyzed in connection with food chains in the pelagic and near-bottom communities of Suruga Bay. The following results are obtained: (1)S. nagae feeds on dominant copepod species both in the free water (upper water layers) and the near-bottom habitats; (2)S. nagae did not show any food-size selection in the range of 0.2 to 1.2 mm in cephalothorax width and height of copepods; (3) Feeding activity ofS. nagae in the free water is highest at night, while in the near-bottom habitat the species feeds more actively during the day than at night; and (4)S. nagae migrates between the bottom and free water and plays an important role in shallow water by connecting the near-bottom community with the pelagic community.     

Annual cycle of stratification and tidal fronts in the Bohai Sea: A model study

In general, competition between buoyancy mechanisms and mixing dynamics largely determines the water column structure in a shelf sea. A three dimensional baroclinic ocean model forced by surface heat fluxes and the 2.5 order Mellor-Yamada turbulence scheme is used to simulate the annual cycle of the temperature in the Bohai Sea. The difference between the sea surface temperature (SST) and sea bottom temperature (SBT) is used to examine the evolution of its vertical stratification. It is found that the water column is well-mixed from October to March and that the seasonal thermocline appears in April, peaks in July and then weakens afterwards, closely following the heat budget. In addition, the Loder parameter based on the topography and tidal current amplitude is also computed in order to examine tidal fronts in the BS, which are evident in summer months when the wind stirring mechanism is weak.     

海洋中的天气式涡旋

将由海洋中各物理过程产生的海水特性分布非均匀性，分为小、中、天气式和全球4种时、空尺度。对比副势带急民生罗斯贝波变形半径，阐明海洋天气式涡旋小于和慢于大气中的数十倍。对比在高空锋带下方，低怪大气锋中出现地面涡，揭示海洋蛇曲中不产生高空锋带类似物及近海底锋；大洋中自由涡虽能集中于海洋上半部，便与大气中低空正、反气旋正相反。因而，锋流环和洋中涡能对局地天气起作用，流环能成为海洋子午向热传递的重要机制。     

A rigid, cable-lowered instrument frame for measuring turbulenceand internal waves in the Arctic

The Arctic Internal Wave experiment (AIWEX) is discussed. For 1985, four instrument clusters, each measuring temperature, conductivity, and three orthogonal components of current velocity, were mounted on a 5.5-m-long rigid frame which was lowered by cable to depths as much as 70-m below the ice/ocean interface. The frame was used for both turbulent boundary layer studies in the near-surface mixed layer and for high-frequency internal studies in the Arctic halocline. The instrument clusters comprised fast-response temperature and conductivity sensors and partially ducted impeller-type current meters. Data from each cluster were sampled six times per second, along with frame depth, magnetic heading, and tilt. Deployment of an improved version of the internal wave frame is planned for CEAREX in the Fram Strait in the spring of 1989     

Computer aided piloting of a deeply towed vehicle

An instrumented vehicle is towed at the end of a 5 km long cable, gathering data about the deep sea floor and near-bottom water column. Although bottom-moored acoustic transponders are used to determine the vehicle and ship positions precisely and in real time, predicting the ship manoeuvers required to bring the vehicle over an area of interest on the sea floor is far from trivial for the ship driver. Computer software has been developed which recommends courses for the ship to steer so that the vehicle will pass near a desired target. In trials at sea, the computer steered the vehicle 80, 40 and 85 m from pre-selected targets. Analysis of the causes of the misses suggests future developments which may reduce the miss distance, provide information on current structure of the water column, and reduce the level of skill and attention required of the vehicle pilot.     

Cascades of dense water around the world ocean

Dense water overflow off continental shelves (cascading) is one of the contributing processes of shelf-deep ocean exchange, and of topical interest to climate studies and nutrient fluxes. Dense water originating from cooling, evaporation, freezing and salinization on a shallow shelf spills over the shelf edge and may develop as near-bottom gravity current or an intermediate-depth intrusion. It is difficult to observe in nature due to its intermittent character.This paper provides an extensive inventory of observed cases of water cascades around the World Ocean, summarises their locations and individual properties, and provides statistics of the identified cases. The search for cascading was carried out using oceanographic databases and a literature review. This study identified 61 confirmed cases world-wide, including 25 cases in the Arctic seas, 12 at mid-latitudes, seven in sub-tropical and tropical regions, and 17 off the Antarctic shelves. Eighteen cascades had not been reported before. We analyze a set of numerical parameters of dense water cascades, allowing us to quantify, compare and contrast the properties of water cascades. The overall average density contrast between the confirmed cascades and ambient water is 0.37 (kg/m³); it can be as much as 2 (kg/m³) on some Arctic shelves. Frequently initiated by strong cooling at the surface, cascades often remain colder through the descent, thus supplying the deep ocean with colder and fresher water. In non-dimensional variables, the data from all climate zones fit well to a unique curve, which represents a relationship between a cascade’s internal structure and the parameters describing its forcing. On average, the down-slope volumetric flux provided by dense water cascades is estimated as 0.05 to 0.08 Sv per 100 km of shelf edge.Regional terms: Arctic, Antarctic, North Atlantic Ocean, Barents Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Skagerrak, Tasman Sea, Sea of Okhotsk     

海水温盐深剖面测量技术综述

温盐深是反应海洋物理学特性的重要参数,是海洋水文观测的基本要素。CTD剖面仪(Conductivity-Temperature-Depth profiler)是进行海水温盐剖面观测的主要仪器,利用CTD剖面仪可精确测得水下不同深度上海水的温度和电导率参数,进而能够推算出海水盐度、密度、声速等相关信息,对于海洋经济开发、海上国防建设、海洋环境保护等都具有非常重要的意义。本文介绍了温盐深剖面测量技术的基本原理与发展现状,对几种典型的温盐深测量设备及各种海洋观测平台中搭载的CTD传感器进行了介绍,论述了CTD传感器的标定和测试技术,并对其发展趋势进行了分析。     

Distribution of deep near-inertial waves observed in the Kuroshio Extension

The distribution of deep near-inertial waves (NIWs) is investigated using data mainly from an array of 46 near-bottom acoustic current meter sensors spanning a 600 km × 600 km region as part of the Kuroshio Extension System Study during 2004–2006. The deep NIW distribution is interpreted in the context of both upper-layer and near-bottom mapped circulations. The wintertime-mean mixed-layer NIW energy input, modeled from observed wind stress, has the same range of values north and south of the Kuroshio Extension in this region. Yet, the wintertime-mean deep NIW energy distribution reveals a sharp factor-of-5 decrease from north to south of the Kuroshio jet. This direct observational evidence shows that the Kuroshio Extension blocks the equatorward propagation of NIWs. The NIW energy that does reach the sea floor within the subset of wintertime observations in the subtropical gyre arrives with patchy spatial and temporal distribution. Elevated NIW energy in deep water is associated with anticyclones in the deep barotropic flow and unassociated with upper layer eddies.     

基于卫星测高与卫星测温的表层流产品生成方法应用评估

提高海洋表层流的精度与分辨率对于相关应用领域至关重要.研究引入海表面温度(sea surface temperature,SST)信息对高度计导出流场的改进效果,计算了 2018年每日无间隔的全球海洋表层流速度.通过增加热量守恒方程约束,引入卫星测温产品,在地转流基础上生成表层流产品,并与现场漂流浮标速度比较,评估了使...     

Research on the Propagation Acting of the Equatorial Planetary Waves on the Western Equatorial Pacific Warm Pool Heat

1 IntroductionIn the Equatorial Pacific, due to the difference between the atmospheric circulation and air-sea interaction, the near-surface seawater heat structure in the eastern and western Pacific presents two ℃obviously different characteristics: warm pool ( > 28 ) in the western equatorial Pacific and cold ℃tongue ( < 24 ) in the eastern equatorial Pacific. The water bodies of these two heat structures would give rise to change in spatial distribution under the action of the equato…     

Temporal variability of near-bottom particle resuspension and dynamics at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, Northeast Atlantic

In order to study particle behaviour and its time-variability in the near-bottom layer on the Porcupine Abyssal Plain (48°50′N, 16°30′W, 4850 m), long-term measurements were made of currents, and nephelometry and particle samples were collected using an autonomous lander between mid-1996 and mid-1998. Water samples, collected in the Bottom Nepheloid Layer within 1000 m of the bottom, were filtered for suspended particles whose contents of organic carbon, nitrogen and pigments were determined. This study was co-ordinated with a water column flux study and a detailed programme of benthic studies to understand how the abyssal boundary layer responds to and modifies inputs of organic matter from the water column (MAST3/BENGAL programme).There were strong seasonal fluctuations in the near-bottom (2 m above the bottom, mab) particle flux, whose variation were correlated in time with the water column fluxes. During the periods of peak flux, the near-bottom flux was sometimes higher than that recorded higher up in the water column, but not always at other times. These excesses were attributed to the resuspension events, since we observed a correlation between current speed and nephelometry. However, in summer the peak in the particle resuspension flux could not be explained by the variations in the tidal amplitude. Instead we attribute it to the large quantities of fresh large particles (aggregations) that had just arrived on the bottom; it was probably linked to the feeding activity and sediment reworking by the rich and varied benthic and benthopelagic megafauna.In both 1997 and 1998, the nephelometry signal (directly related to fine particle concentration) and its variability increased after the peaks in large particle flux with a time-lag of 2–3 months. We assume that this time lag corresponds to the time it takes for the large fresh particles, once they have settled on the bottom, to be disaggregated into smaller particles, and hence become subject to resuspension in the quiet current conditions then prevailing in the BENGAL area. The suspended particle analyses confirm the vertical structure of the Bottom Nepheloid Layer, the lower part of which corresponds to the Bottom Mixed Layer (BML) where resuspension and mixing are higher.     

The characteristic distribution of silica over the East China Sea shelf slope

The localized near-bottom water with silica content higher than that in the adjacent shelf water was observed to exist at the eastern margins of the East China Sea continental shelf. The core of the high silica water possessed the silica content corresponding to that in the Kuroshio at depths greater than on the shelf. The mixing analysis of water masses using temperature (T) and silica (Si) showed that the core water can be produced through the vertical mixing of intermediate water of the Kuroshio deeper than 100 m. This study provides us a conclusion that the intermediate water of the Kuroshio is strongly mixed on the shelf slope and then upwelled to form the ridge-like distribution of water masses with low temperature and high silica content at the shelf edge.