Techniques and instrumentation for study of natural electromagnetic induction at sea

Electromagnetic fluctuations in the ocean have external sources above (ionospheric) and below (secular variation of the earth's magnetic field), and internal, purely oceanic sources associated with interaction between water velocity fields and the earth's field. Energy diagrams indicative of the electromagnetic activity in the sea are presented. From the latter, estimates of the resolution required in electromagnetic research at sea can be made. Absolute minima of 1 γ and 0.05 μV/m are necessary for magnetic and electric fields, respectively. Because the ocean shields overhead sources at frequencies above a few hundred c/h and because motional fields have weak signatures, a resolution at least 10 times higher would considerably enhance the scope of such research.The response of electric field instruments to motionally induced fields depends upon whether they are fixed or drifting, but both types respond similarly to fields of external origin.The most stringent limitation to electric field sampling in the sea is the difficulty in achieving low-noise electrical continuity between measuring circuits and sea water. Even the best matched silver—silver chloride electrodes introduce variable electrochemical signals hard to maintain below a millivolt. These mask very low frequency signals unless sophisticated techniques such as electrode switching are used.     

Oceanic electric currents induced by fluid convection

In addition to the electric potentials induced by the gyral motions in the oceans, horizontal electric fields and currents result from the exchange of water between the depths and the surface in the presence of the main geomagnetic field. In this note a simple model representing such a circulation is considered, and the spatial distribution of the corresponding induced electric fields is calculated. A surface velocity of 2 knots could induce electric currents up to 10^?4 Amp/m². These steady currents in the ocean could be comparable with the normal oceanic daily variation. Since a proportion of the electric current would return through the earth below the sea floor, this calculation provides an upper limit to this component. An indication is also given of the magnetic field distortion and associated electric currents which occur in a highly conducting (Jovian) ocean.     

3-D Global Induction in the Oceans and Solid Earth: Recent Progress in Modeling Magnetic and Electric Fields from Sources of Magnetospheric,Ionospheric and Oceanic Origin

Electromagnetic induction in the Earth’s interior is an important contributor to the near-Earth magnetic and electric fields. The oceans play a special role in this induction due to their relatively high conductivity which leads to large lateral variability in surface conductance. Electric currents that generate secondary fields are induced in the oceans by two different processes: (a) by time varying external magnetic fields, and (b) by the motion of the conducting ocean water through the Earth’s main magnetic field. Significant progress in accurate and detailed predictions of the electric and magnetic fields induced by these sources has been achieved during the last few years, via realistic three-dimensional (3-D) conductivity models of the oceans, crust and mantle along with realistic source models. In this review a summary is given of the results of recent 3-D modeling studies in which estimates are obtained for the magnetic and electric signals at both the ground and satellite altitudes induced by a variety of natural current sources. 3-D induction effects due to magnetospheric currents (magnetic storms), ionospheric currents (Sq, polar and equatorial electrojets), ocean tides, global ocean circulation and tsunami are considered. These modeling studies demonstrate that the 3-D induction (ocean) effect and motionally-induced signals from the oceans contribute significantly (in the range from a few to tens nanotesla) to the near-Earth magnetic field. A 3-D numerical solution based on an integral equation approach is shown to predict these induction effects with the accuracy and spatial detail required to explain observations both on the ground and at satellite altitudes. On leave from Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences, 142190 Troitsk, Moscow region, Russia.     

Intercomparison of oceanic and atmospheric forced and coupled mesoscale simulations. Part I: Surface fluxes

A mesoscale non-hydrostatic atmospheric model has been coupled with a mesoscale oceanic model. The case study is a four-day simulation of a strong storm event observed during the SEMAPHORE experiment over a 500 × 500 km² domain. This domain encompasses a thermohaline front associated with the Azores current. In order to analyze the effect of mesoscale coupling, three simulations are compared: the first one with the atmospheric model forced by realistic sea surface temperature analyses; the second one with the ocean model forced by atmospheric fields, derived from weather forecast re-analyses; the third one with the models being coupled. For these three simulations the surface fluxes were computed with the same bulk parametrization. All three simulations succeed well in representing the main oceanic or atmospheric features observed during the storm. Comparison of surface fields with in situ observations reveals that the winds of the fine mesh atmospheric model are more realistic than those of the weather forecast re-analyses. The low-level winds simulated with the atmospheric model in the forced and coupled simulations are appreciably stronger than the re-analyzed winds. They also generate stronger fluxes. The coupled simulation has the strongest surface heat fluxes: the difference in the net heat budget with the oceanic forced simulation reaches on average 50 Wm⁻² over the simulation period. Sea surface-temperature cooling is too weak in both simulations, but is improved in the coupled run and matches better the cooling observed with drifters. The spatial distributions of sea surface-temperature cooling and surface fluxes are strongly inhomogeneous over the simulation domain. The amplitude of the flux variation is maximum in the coupled run. Moreover the weak correlation between the cooling and heat flux patterns indicates that the surface fluxes are not responsible for the whole cooling and suggests that the response of the ocean mixed layer to the atmosphere is highly non-local and enhanced in the coupled simulation.     

Electromagnetic evidence for lateral inhomogeneities within the Earth's upper mantle

The composition of the upper mantle is of great significance to our understanding of plate tectonics and global evolution. Information about the physical properties of the Earth at upper mantle depths, including lateral variations in electrical conductivity, can be deduced from measurements of the electric and magnetic fields at the Earth's surface. Electromagnetic methods appear to give poorer resolution than do some other methods, for example seismics, but as they are sensitive to quite different properties of a medium they provide a different and complementary class of information.The basic theory of electromagnetic sounding methods is briefly reviewed below, and evidence regarding lateral conductivity inhomogeneities in the Earth's upper mantle is examined. While lateral electrical conductivity inhomogeneities appear to be the rule rather than the exception, the interpretation of electromagnetic data still presents difficulties and the results from many regions are not as yet unambiguous. Where the data are of sufficient resolution, a rapid increase in electrical conductivity can usually be identified within the upper mantle. The depth to this highly conductive zone is different in different tectonic environments, but is broadly consistent between analogous but widely separated tectonic environments. A comparatively shallow conducting region is found beneath the ocean lithosphere. The depth of this region is dependent on lithospheric age. Many of the more shallow conducting regions in both continental and oceanic environments are associated with high heat flow values and seismic low velocity zones. These highly conducting regions may be zones of partial melt.     

Along-shelf evolution and sea levels across the continental slope

If wind-stress or a horizontal oceanic density gradient acts over an ocean basin with an adjacent continental shelf and slope, sea-surface slopes and currents are set up along the shelf and slope with a return flow in the ocean. The currents evolve from zero at blocked ends of the shelf and basin. Such evolution is essentially barotropic (even for baroclinic forcing) and is relevant to all flow adjustments after longshore changes of depth profile or forcing. The distance over which this evolution takes place is investigated analytically for simple geometries, and numerically for a range of shelf, slope and ocean widths, shelf/ocean depth ratios, frictional decay rates and oscillatory frequencies. A close correspondence is found with the decay distance (group velocity x decay time) for a lowest mode continental shelf wave, often exceeding 1000 km. This correspondence is used to interpret some published model calculations of shelf and slope currents or return flows resulting from wind-stress or alongshore pressure gradients.Where a slope current is evolving, coastal sea levels do not follow oceanic levels. Implications for coastal/oceanic level differences are discussed. Oceanic sea-level features of shorter scale than the above 1000 km (say) do not penetrate fully to the coast. However, coastal sea levels averaged around small islands without broad shelves well represent surrounding oceanic levels.     

Analogue model measurements for a horizontal magnetic dipole embedded within a conducting medium

The validity of an analogue model method employing a horizontal magnetic dipole source situated within a conducting layer for the cases of a poorly conducting model earth and a highly conducting model ocean is studied by comparing model magnetic field measurements with theoretical calculations. The model is then used to study one example for each case; the response of a conducting cylinder simulating an ore body embedded in the earth, and the response of a conducting wedge simulating a shelving ocean.     

Induction arrows for a buried conducting plate

A scaled electromagnetic analogue model is used to study the behaviour of single station induction arrows over a conducting plate embedded in a homogeneous poorly conducting medium. For a profile crossing the edge of the conducting plate, the in-phase arrow, for all locations, points towards the bulk of the good conductor while the quadrature arrow reverses direction directly over the edge, consistently pointing towards the edge. The results also show that both the in-phase and quadrature arrow lengths are reduced with increasing conductor thickness and depth of burial. The model results are applied to examples of a uniform depth ocean and a conducting sill embedded in a poorly conducting Earth.     

The electric field existing at stratospheric elevations as determined by tropospheric and ionospheric boundary conditions

Summary The feasibility of inferring ionospheric electric fields from measurements at balloon altitudes has been studied by analytical and numerical analysis, using a twodimensional model atmosphere with exponentially varying conductivity, and taking into account electric fields of tropospheric origin.This paper was presented byU. Fahleson.     

Ionospheric reflection coefficients at vlf from sferics measurements

Summary A method for calculating the complex ionospheric reflection coefficients at vlf using sferic waveforms is presented. The mathematical analysis was carried out for a number of different waveforms to illustrate the method. Reflection coefficients determined from sferics observations were compared with those calculated using an ionospheric model. In most cases, the agreement with theory is fairly good although in some cases, reflection coefficients exceeding unity were obtained. The discrepancies are believed to result from horizontally polarized flashes rather than limitations in the ionospheric model.     

The influence of initial conditions and open boundary conditions on shelf circulation in a 3D ocean-shelf model of the North East Atlantic

Data from climatology (World Ocean Atlas) and two large scale operational ocean models (Forecasting Ocean Assimilation Model (FOAM), UK Met. Office and the Navy Coastal Ocean Model (NCOM), US Naval Research Laboratory) are used to give initial and open boundary conditions for a northeast Atlantic implementation of the Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Ocean Model System (POLCOMS). We study the effects of using the different datasets on the temperature fields and the circulation. On the continental shelf, comparisons of POLCOMS output with Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer sea surface temperature data suggest that the effect of using different ocean model initial and boundary conditions is small and that, after 15 months of model time, the impact of the different initial conditions is negligible. Stronger evidence of influence is seen in the deeper oceanic regions of the domain. Volume fluxes through sections governing flow into and out of the North Sea, through the Irish Sea and along the shelf edge show that the impact of the different boundary conditions is small on the shelf but significant elsewhere. These results are contrasted with the use of climatology to assess the value of these Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment ocean model products.     

Magnetic effects of sea tides

The tidal motion of sea water across the earth's magnetic field is known to induce small electric currents to flow in the oceans and the surrounding land. There has been recently a great deal of interest in this phenomenon. Here we consider a model ocean in the form of an infinitely long channel with a tidal wave passing along it. It is shown that for the lunar tidal frequency of 12.45 hours the solution of this problem for typical ocean depths exhibits characteristics which are essentially due to the high frequency. The solution therefore differs appreciably from low-frequency solutions which are therefore only applicable as models of the shallow seas. In our model we observe concentrations of electric current near the coast and phase changes relative to the oceanic tide. A new “equivalent field exclusion principle” is presented and used to explain some of the results we have obtained. The method used is simple and applies readily to waves of any frequency, and results are given for waves of higher frequencies. The amplitude and phase lag of the magnetic field of a channel simulating the Atlantic Ocean are discussed.     

On ionospheric phenomena during pre-storm and main phase of a very intense geomagnetic storm

An investigation to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for the pre-storm and main phase ionospheric phenomena during November 20–21, 2003, is presented using heliophysical, interplanetary, geomagnetic, and global ionospheric data. The results show that the ionospheric responses in the main phase do not indicate prompt penetration electric fields as the main ionospheric driver. The results also show that the pre-storm phenomena do not originate from a local time effect. The simultaneous occurrence of ƒoF2 enhancements at two widely separated longitudinal zones appeared to suggest a role played by the magnetospheric electric field. However, the analysis of hmF2 at the stations could not confirm the notion that these fields are the main drivers of pre-storm phenomena. An investigation of flare effects on the pre-storm phenomena also revealed that solar flares are not the main drivers. The present results appear to suggest that the pre-storm ionospheric phenomena could be a result of some underlying mechanisms that are working together with varying degree of importance.     

利用日本GPS网探测2011年Tohoku海啸引发的电离层扰动

海平面的海啸波会产生大气重力波进而引发电离层扰动.本文利用日本GPS总电子含量数据来探测2011年3月11日Tohoku海啸引发的电离层扰动.观测结果表明,在日本上空的电离层中存在两种重力波信号,分别由海平面的海啸波以及地震破裂过程产生.地震产生的电离层重力波分布在震中周围（包括海洋上空以及远离海洋的区域）,而海啸引发的电离层重力波主要分布在海洋上空.地震产生的电离层重力波具有不同的水平速度,包括约210 m·s^-1以及170 m·s^-1,其频率为1.5 mHz;而海啸引发的电离层重力波水平速度快于前者,约为280 m·s^-1,其频率为1.0 mHz.此外,海啸引发电离层重力波与海平面上的海啸波有相似的水平速度、方向、运行时间、波形以及频率等传播特征.本文的研究将电离层中的海啸信号与地震信号区分开来,进一步确认电离层对海啸波的敏感性.     

An analogue model for studying magnetic variations induced by ocean waves

The scale factors to permit a laboratory analogue model study of the problem of magnetic fields induced by ocean waves in the earth's field are derived. An analogue model employing surface fluid waves in mercury to simulate ocean waves is described. In the analogue model, magnetic field measurements were made 1 cm above a 2 cm deep model mercury ocean for a wave period of 0.21 s. This model simulates measurements 38 m above the surface of a shallow ocean 78 m deep for a wave period of 13 s. The validity of the analogue modelling technique is established by the good agreement obtained in comparing the analogue model measurements of the induced magnetic fields with fields using Podney's expression for an ocean of finite depth.     

On the three-dimensional oceanic density distribution in a millennium integration with an AO-GCM

 The three-dimensional time-mean density distribution in the ocean is determined not only by the time-mean fluxes of heat and freshwater at the sea surface, but also by time-mean vertical currents and time-mean density fluxes due to oceanic transients excited by fluctuating fluxes at the sea surface. The effects of these various processes on the global density fields are assessed using a balance equation of the variance of spatial density anomalies and a millennium integration with an atmosphere–ocean general circulation model. It is found that spatial density anomalies are generated by the time-mean heat fluxes at the sea surface and destroyed by the time-mean surface freshwater flux, by sinking of dense water and rising of less dense water, and finally by density fluxes associated with transients. The last two processes take place essentially in the oceanic interior. Since density fluxes of transient eddies act to reduce the existing density differences between the Atlantic/Southern Oceans and the other oceans, their presence could affect the global density balance, and from that the thermohaline circulation and the stability of this circulation. Received: 4 October 2001 / Accepted: 10 October 2002 Responsible Editor: Richard J. Greatbatch Acknowledgements I thank Ulrich Cubasch and his colleagues for providing me with the ECHAM3/LSG integration, Peter Müller and Richard Greatbatch for valuable suggestions.     

The rates of tritium input to the world oceans

Mean annual rates of tritium input into the ocean averaged over 5° latitude bands are presented for the major oceans, for the period 1952–1975. The rates are obtained by converting tritium concentrations in marine precipitation into net oceanic tritium input, by means of a hydrological model. The tropospheric tritium pattern is specified on the basis of available observations, and climatological means from the literature are used for the rates of evaporation and precipitation and for the relative humidity in ship's height, that enter the model. Tritium input by water vapor exchange exceeds that by precipitation about three-fold. Tritium input by river runoff and by net tropospheric tritium outflow from the continents is also accounted for. This contribution is small except for the northern Indian Ocean and the North Atlantic.The inputs have hemispheric maxima near 50° latitude. The northern hemisphere inputs were strongly peaked in 1963–1964, whereas temporal changes in the southern hemisphere were much more gradual. By 1972, about 75% of the total oceanic input had been received by the northern ocean. For the Pacific, the computed total input agrees with the actual tritium inventory within the limits of uncertainty (about ±20%). The global tritium inventory is estimated at 1.9 GCi in 1972, which corresponds to an average tritium yield of 0.9 kg tritium per megaton TNT equivalent of nuclear fusion.     

Oceanic electromagnetic studies: A review

The review covers the main results of the oceanic electromagnetic studies presented during last 4–5 years. Seafloor electromagnetic observations are dedicated to studies in solid Earth geophysics and oceanography. Thus, a large range of objectives and targets are under investigation. Technological and theoretical advances provide an increase of quantity and quality of the collected seafloor data. The host conductivity models for oceanic crust and mantle are being developed; the possibility of obtaining useful structural constraints in heterogeneous environment are discussed. Significant oceanographic results were derived from electromagnetic field observations; these appeared to be a new powerful method for study of long-term large-scale ocean variability.     

On the initiation of subduction zones

Analysis of the relation between intraplate stress fields and lithospheric rheology leads to greater insight into the role that initiation of subduction plays in the tectonic evolution of the lithosphere. Numerical model studies show that if after a short evolution of a passive margin (time span a few tens of million years) subduction has not yet started, continued aging of the passive margin alone does not result in conditions more favorable for transformation into an active margin.Although much geological evidence is available in supporting the key role small ocean basins play in orogeny and ophiolite emplacement, evolutionary frameworks of the Wilson cycle usually are cast in terms of opening and closing of wide ocean basins. We propose a more limited role for large oceans in the Wilson cycle concept. In general, initiation of subduction at passive margins requires the action of external plate-tectonic forces, which will be most effective for young passive margins prestressed by thick sedimentary loads. It is not clear how major subduction zones (such as those presently ringing the Pacific Basin) form but it is unlikely they form merely by aging of oceanic lithosphere. Conditions likely to exist in very young oceanic regions are quite favorable for the development of subduction zones, which might explain the lack of preservation of back-arc basins and marginal seas.Plate reorganizations probably occur predominantly by the formation of new spreading ridges, because stress relaxation in the lithosphere takes place much more efficiently through this process than through the formation of new subduction zones.