Navy sonar and cetaceans: just how much does the gun need to smoke before we act?

Cetacean mass stranding events associated with naval mid-frequency sonar use have raised considerable conservation concerns. These strandings have mostly involved beaked whales, with common pathologies, including "bubble lesions" similar to decompression sickness symptoms and acoustic traumas. However, other cetacean species have also stranded coincident with naval exercises. Possible mechanisms for the strandings include a behavioral response that causes deep divers to alter their diving behavior, which then results in decompression sickness-like impacts. Current mitigation measures during military exercises are focused on preventing auditory damage (hearing loss), but there are significant flaws with this approach. Behavioral responses, which occur at lower sound levels than those that cause hearing loss, may be more critical. Thus, mitigation measures should be revised. A growing number of international bodies recognize this issue and have urged increasing scrutiny of sound-producing activities, but many national jurisdictions have resisted calls for increased protection.     

A critique of the UK’s JNCC seismic survey guidelines for minimising acoustic disturbance to marine mammals: Best practise?

The United Kingdom’s statutory conservation agency, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), developed guidelines in 1995 to minimise acoustic disturbance of marine mammals by oil and gas industry seismic surveys. These were the first national guidelines to be developed and have subsequently become the standard, or basis, of international mitigation measures for noise pollution during seismic surveys. However, relatively few aspects of these measures have a firm scientific basis or proven efficacy. Existing guidelines do not offer adequate protection to marine mammals, given the complex propagation of airgun pulses; the difficulty of monitoring in particular the smaller, cryptic, and/or deep-diving species, such as beaked whales and porpoises; limitations in monitoring requirements; lack of baseline data; and other biological and acoustical complications or unknowns. Current guidelines offer a ‘common sense’ approach to noise mitigation, but in light of recent research and ongoing concerns, they should be updated, with broader measures needed to ensure adequate species protection and to address data gaps.     

High thresholds for avoidance of sonar by free-ranging long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas)

The potential effects of exposing marine mammals to military sonar is a current concern. Dose–response relationships are useful for predicting potential environmental impacts of specific operations. To reveal behavioral response thresholds of exposure to sonar, we conducted 18 exposure/control approaches to 6 long-finned pilot whales. Source level and proximity of sonar transmitting one of two frequency bands (1–2 kHz and 6–7 kHz) were increased during exposure sessions. The 2-dimensional movement tracks were analyzed using a changepoint method to identify the avoidance response thresholds which were used to estimate dose–response relationships. No support for an effect of sonar frequency or previous exposures on the probability of response was found. Estimated response thresholds at which 50% of population show avoidance (SPL_max = 170 dB re 1 μPa, SEL_cum = 173 dB re 1 μPa² s) were higher than previously found for other cetaceans. The US Navy currently uses a generic dose–response relationship to predict the responses of cetaceans to naval active sonar, which has been found to underestimate behavioural impacts on killer whales and beaked whales. The navy curve appears to match more closely our results with long-finned pilot whales, though it might underestimate the probability of avoidance for pilot-whales at long distances from sonar sources.     

Modelling exposure of oceanic higher trophic-level consumers to polychlorinated biphenyls: Pollution ‘hotspots’ in relation to mass mortality events of marine mammals

Marine mammals in the past mass mortality events may have been susceptible to infection because their immune systems were suppressed through the bioaccumulation of environmental pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). We compiled mortality event data sets of 33 marine mammal species, and employed a Finely-Advanced Transboundary Environmental model (FATE) to model the exposure of the global fish community to PCB congeners, in order to define critical exposure levels (CELs) of PCBs above which mass mortality events are likely to occur. Our modelling approach enabled us to describe the mass mortality events in the context of exposure of higher-trophic consumers to PCBs and to identify marine pollution ‘hotspots’ such as the Mediterranean Sea and north-western European coasts. We demonstrated that the CELs can be applied to quantify a chemical pollution Planetary Boundary, under which a safe operating space for marine mammals and humanity can exist.     

Assessing underwater noise levels during pile-driving at an offshore windfarm and its potential effects on marine mammals

Marine renewable developments have raised concerns over impacts of underwater noise on marine species, particularly from pile-driving for wind turbines. Environmental assessments typically use generic sound propagation models, but empirical tests of these models are lacking. In 2006, two 5 MW wind turbines were installed off NE Scotland. The turbines were in deep (>40 m) water, 25 km from the Moray Firth Special Area of Conservation (SAC), potentially affecting a protected population of bottlenose dolphins. We measured pile-driving noise at distances of 0.1 (maximum broadband peak to peak sound level 205 dB re 1 μPa) to 80 km (no longer distinguishable above background noise). These sound levels were related to noise exposure criteria for marine mammals to assess possible effects. For bottlenose dolphins, auditory injury would only have occurred within 100 m of the pile-driving and behavioural disturbance, defined as modifications in behaviour, could have occurred up to 50 km away.     

Contaminants still high in top-level carnivores in the Southern California Bight: levels of DDT and PCBs in resident and transient pinnipeds

Highly industrialized areas, such as the Southern California Bight, often have high levels of contaminants in marine sediments, which can cause chronic exposure to organisms long after their use has ceased. tDDT and tPCB were analyzed in the blubber of 145 stranded pinnipeds that died at local marine mammal centers between 1994 and 2006. Resident species (California sea lion and Pacific harbor seal) had significantly higher concentrations of tDDT and tPCB than the transient species (northern elephant seal). Adult female California sea lions had significantly lower concentrations of tDDT and tPCB than pups, yearlings, and adult males. Concentrations of both tDDT and tPCB in California sea lions significantly declined over time, but did not change in northern elephant seals. Current concentrations of tDDT and tPCB in California sea lions and harbor seals are among the highest values reported worldwide for marine mammals and exceed those reported to cause adverse health effects.     

Revised ΔR values for the Barents Sea and its archipelagos as a pre-requisite for accurate and robust marine-based 14C chronologies

The calibration of marine ¹⁴C dates requires the incorporation of regionally specific marine reservoir offsets known as ΔR, essential for accurate and meaningful inter-archive comparisons. Revised, regional ΔR (‘ΔR_R’) values for the Barents Sea are presented for molluscs and cetaceans for the two latest iterations of the marine calibration curve, based on previously published pre-bomb live-collected and radiocarbon-dated samples (‘ΔR_L’; molluscs: n = 16; cetaceans: n = 18). Molluscan ΔR_R, determined for four broad regional oceanographic settings, are: western Svalbard (including Bjørnøya), −61 ± 37 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), 94 ± 38 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13); Franz Josef Land, −277 ± 57 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), −122 ± 38 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13); Novaya Zemlya, −156 ± 73 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), 0 ± 76 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13); northern Norway, −86 ± 39 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), 74 ± 24 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13). Molluscan ΔR_R values are considered applicable to other marine carbonate materials (e.g., foraminifera, ostracods). Cetacean ΔR_R are determined for toothed (n = 10) and baleen (n = 8) whales, and a combined toothed-baleen group (n = 18): toothed, −161 ± 41 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), 1 ± 41 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13); baleen, −158 ± 43 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), 8 ± 41 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13); combined baleen-toothed whales, −160 ± 41 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine20), 4 ± 49 ¹⁴C yrs (Marine13). Where identification and separation of baleen and toothed whales is impossible the combined ΔR_R term may be used. However, we explicitly discourage the application of existing cetacean ΔR_R terms to other marine mammals. Our new ΔR_R values are applicable for as long as those broad oceanographic conditions (circulation and ventilation) have persisted, i.e., through the Holocene. We recommend using the latest iteration of the marine calibration curve, Marine20, which seems to better capture the time-variant nature of R compared to Marine13. More ΔR_L datapoints for both molluscs and cetaceans would improve the accuracy and precision of ΔR_R. In the meantime, our new ΔR terms facilitate the calibration of marine ¹⁴C dates across the region, paving the way for meaningful and accurate late Quaternary histories and inter-regional comparisons.     

Do 2006/7/EC European Union Bathing Water Standards exclude the risk of contact with Salmonella or Candida albicans?

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the recent (2006) European Union Directive concerning the management of bathing water quality to exclude the presence of pathogens from complying waters. Coastal water samples were classified according to the Directive. 2.5% of ‘excellent’ water contained Salmonella and 39.2% Candida albicans 11.8% of samples in category ‘good’ were Salmonella positive and 35.2% were C.albicans positive. When the USEPA criterion for marine waters was applied to the same dataset, fewer samples complied, however 6.0% of the complying samples contained Salmonella. The results suggest that the bacterial indicator threshold levels for marine recreational water quality of the 2006/7/EC European Union Directive do not fully exclude contact of bathers with dangerous pathogens. Enterococci, if used as the sole index, appear to form a more reliable proxy of the risk of contact with Salmonella.     

Wind-wave transformations in an elongated bay

In order to determine wave transformations in an elongated bay, a numerical solution was used to interpret yearlong records of bottom pressure and wind velocity obtained at the mouth and head of Concepción Bay, on the Gulf of California side of the Baja California peninsula. Observed wind waves were predominantly produced by southeastward winds in the winter and north–northwestward winds in the summer. Typical mean wave periods at the bay entrance were between 3 and 5 s. In contrast, the waves at the head of the bay had predominant periods <3 s. The energetic long-period swell waves were dissipated somewhere in the bay as they were not observed at the head of the bay. This study centered in identifying the effects that caused swell waves to attenuate in the bay. The ‘Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN)’ model was used to determine the cause for such wave attenuation. Model results showed that swell waves were attenuated because of the combined effects of bottom friction, wave breaking, whitecapping, refraction and wave blocking by the coastline. Most of the attenuation (close to 90%), however, was caused by wave blocking owing to the change of coastline orientation of the bay. This wave blocking mechanism should therefore be explored further in embayments of complex coastline morphology.     

Effects of new antifouling compounds on the development of sea urchin

Tributyltin oxide (TBTO) has been used worldwide in marine antifouling paints as a biocide for some time. However, it produced toxic effects, especially in marine water/sediment ecosystems. Consequently, its use in antifouling paints has been prohibited in many countries. In this study, the toxicity of alternative and/or new antifouling biocides compared with TBTO is assessed by a biological method. The effects of these chemicals on marine species have not been well studied. This paper assesses, comparatively, the effects of eight biocides on sea urchin eggs and embryos. The chemicals assessed were TBTO, Irgarol 1051, M1 (the persistent degradation product of Irgarol), Diuron, zinc pyrithione, 'KH101', 'Sea-Nine 211', and copper pyrithione. For these chemicals, toxicity appears to be in the order zinc pyrithione > Sea-Nine 211 > KH101 > copper pyrithione > TBTO > Diuron approximately = Irgarol 1051 > M1. Here, we show that zinc pyrithione, Sea-Nine 211, KH101, and copper pyrithione are much more toxic to sea urchins than TBTO or the other chemicals.     

Volcanic seismicity at Montserrat,a comparison between the 2005 dome growth episode and earlier dome growth

In 2005 Soufrière Hills Volcano on Montserrat started its third major episode of dome growth since the current eruption started in 1995. The style of seismicity associated with dome growth has changed, in particular the events known as ‘hybrid’ earthquakes have reduced in numbers by an order of magnitude compared to previous dome growth episodes. In the past, hybrid earthquakes have been associated with magma ascent and so it is surprising to observe prolonged periods of rapid dome growth during which very few hybrid earthquakes are recorded. In addition, the frequency of the codas of hybrid earthquakes, as well as of some of the so called ‘long-period’ events, has changed. The changes in recorded seismicity have had a marked effect on the techniques used to monitor the state of the volcano and those events that continue to be recorded in large numbers (‘rockfall events’) have been used to assess the state of activity at the volcano.     

An averaged model for the Adriatic subplate

Two new techniques in surface wave analysis, the modified moving window method and the method of stacking and cleaning, are used to determine average group and phase velocities over the area covering the Adriatic Sea and the Northern and Central Apennines, while avoiding the anomalous region under the Po plain.The data indicate that the lateral homogeneity of the region is sufficiently good to allow for an averaged model of the lithosphere. Backus-Gilbert inversion of the data leads to an averaged model with a thick sedimentary cover (10–11 km), a normal continental Moho depth of about 35 km, and a velocity rise with depth below the crust.The extremely low group velocity data that are encountered both in the Apennine region and in the Adriatic Sea suggest a similarity between the crustal structure of this area and the Eastern Mediterranean....the olive-sandalled Apennine In the South dimly islanded. (Shelley)     

Luminescence dating of marine sediments from the Sea of Japan using quartz OSL and polymineral pIRIR signals of fine grains

Luminescence dating has long been used for chronological constraints on marine sediments due to the ubiquitous dating materials (quartz and feldspar grains) and its applicability over a relatively long time range. However, one of the main difficulties in luminescence dating on marine sediments is partial bleaching, which causes age overestimations. Especially, partial bleaching is typically difficult to be detected in the fine grain fraction (FG) of marine sediments. The recently developed feldspar post-IR IRSL (pIRIR) protocol can detect non-fading signals and thus avoid feldspar signal instability. In the current study, fine grains were extracted from a gravity core in the northern Sea of Japan, and the aim is to test the feasibility of using different luminescence signals with various bleaching rates to explore the bleaching conditions of fine grain fraction in marine sediments. The results suggest that the quartz OSL signal and polymineral pIRIR signals at stimulation temperatures of 150 °C and 225 °C (pIRIR₁₅₀ and pIRIR₂₂₅) of FG were well bleached prior to deposition. The OSL ages were used to establish a chronology for this sedimentary core and the resulting age-depth relationship is self-consistent and comparable with radiocarbon dates. We conclude that different luminescence signals with various bleaching rates can be used to test the bleaching conditions of fine grain fraction in marine sediments; and the luminescence dating can be applied to marine sediments with great potential.     

Changes in Magnetic Parameters After Sequential Iron Phase Extraction of Eastern Mediterranean Sapropel S1 Sediments

Iron is distributed over different minerals (i.e. silicates, pyrite, detrital oxides) that are present in a sediment sequence that formed under anoxic conditions. After post-depositional re-oxidation of the sediments pyrite is no longer present and diagenetic iron phases constitute an important portion of the iron in the oxidised part of the sapropel. They are very fine-grained making them amenable to analysis by means of sequential extraction and mineral-magnetic methods. The sequential extraction shows that besides iron in silicates, iron mainly occurs in amorphous oxides in the oxidised part of the S1 sapropel. Pyrite constitutes an important fraction in the still reduced part of the S1 sapropel. Some silicon is dissolved during the extraction for the amorphous oxides, suggesting that amorphous iron also occurs as ferro-silicate coatings. Mineral-magnetic analysis involved component analysis of the isothermal remanent magnetisation (IRM) and hysteresis loop measurements. Three coercivity phases could be identified in the IRM component analysis; these were interpreted as detrital magnetite, hematite, and biogenic magnetite. The diagenetically formed iron phases influence the parameters of the IRM components. Hysteresis measurements together with the IRM component analysis, indicate the importance of bacterial magnetite in the oxidised sapropel, particularly in the lower part of the active oxidation zone.     

Bioaccumulation of Cadmium, Copper and Zinc in some Tissues of Three Species of Marine Turtles Stranded Along the French Atlantic Coasts

Cadmium, copper and zinc have been analysed in some tissues and organs of Loggerhead, Kemp’s Ridley (only muscle for this species) and Leatherback turtles stranded along the Atlantic coasts of France. The pancreas analysed only in Leatherback turtles exhibited the highest metal concentrations, which is very surprising for an organ which does not play a role in the detoxification processes. The distribution of these elements in kidney, liver and muscle were quite similar to that found in marine mammals or seabirds. Nevertheless, mean cadmium concentrations in the kidney were as high as 13.3 μg g⁻¹ wet weight in the Loggerhead turtles and 30.3 μg g⁻¹ wet weight in the Leatherback turtles. Such high concentrations in the Leatherback turtles have never been recorded before. The main source of cadmium for marine turtles is probably the food. The Leatherback turtles are known to feed mainly on jellyfish in this area. Ten times higher cadmium concentrations have been determined in jellyfish compared to fish. This would imply a greater exposure to cadmium for Leatherback turtles, which probably need to eat great quantities of jellyfish to cover their needs.     

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in harbor sediments from Sea Lots, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were determined in nearshore marine surficial sediments from three locations in Trinidad. Sediments were sampled at Sea Lots on the west coast, in south Port-of-Spain Harbor, south of Sea Lots at Caroni Lagoon National Park, and on Trinidad’s east coast at Manzanilla. Total PCB concentrations in Sea Lots sediments ranged from 62 to 601 ng/g (dry weight {dw}), which was higher than at Caroni and Manzanilla, 13 and 8 ng/g dw, respectively. Total OCP concentrations at Sea Lots were ranged from 44.5 to 145 ng/g dw, compared with 13.1 and 23.8 n/g (dw), for Caroni and Manzanilla respectively. The concentrations of PCBs and of some OCPs in sediments from Sea Lots were above the Canadian interim sediment quality guidelines. To date, this data is the first report on the levels of PCBs and other organochlorine compounds from Trinidad and Tobago.     

Accuracy of deflections of vertical determined from discrete solution of the geodetic boundary value problem

Summary The general problem of determining the figure of the earth leads to the solution of the geodetic boundary value problem. By its discrete approximation we obtain the discrete disturbing potential that maintains all properties of the original problem. Thus, the discrete approximation of the disturbing potential can be used in studying the behaviour of the earth's gravity field outside the disturbing masses. The deflections of the vertical are one of the quantities describing the behaviour of the earth's gravity field. A method for their computation from the discrete solution of the geodetic boundary value problem is put forth and estimates for its accuracy are given.     

Paleomagnetism of Jurassic to Miocene sediments from the Apenninic carbonate platform (southern Apennines, Italy): evidence for a 60° counterclockwise Miocene rotation

The tectonic evolution of the Apennine belt/southern Tyrrhenian Sea system is addressed through a paleomagnetic study of Lias to Langhian sediments from the Apenninic carbonate platform (southern Apennines, Italy). Reliable paleomagnetic data gathered from 21 sites document a regional-scale post-Langhian 80° counterclockwise (CCW) rotation. Since previous studies of the Plio-Pleistocene clays spread over the orogen had shown a ∼20°CCW rotation, we conclude that the southern Apennines rotated by 60° during Middle-Late Miocene. Our data provide evidence that the southeastward drift of Calabrian block (and synchronous spreading of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea) induced ‘saloon door’ like deformation of the southern Apennines and Sicily, which underwent similar magnitude (although opposite in sign) orogenic rotations. A paleomagnetically derived paleogeographic reconstruction shows that at 15 Ma (Late Langhian) the Alpine-Apennine belt collided with a NNE-oriented carbonate platform corridor surrounded by oceanic basins. We speculate that both the end of the Corsica-Sardinia rotation and the eastward jump of the locus of back-arc extension (from the Liguro-Provençal to the Tyrrhenian Sea) may have been consequences of this event.     

Using tolerance intervals to assess recovery of mussel beds impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) have been measured in mussel tissues in early spring and summer since 1993 throughout Prince William Sound (PWS) and the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). Season-specific thresholds were established at reference sites to identify ‘above background’ total PAH levels. Thresholds were estimated using one-sided 99% tolerance limits. Thresholds were similar across reference sites but differed by an order of magnitude across seasons. Trends in total PAH since 1998 were assessed for sites impacted by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill or the Alyeska Marine Terminal. Summer samples exhibited no trends; early spring samples declined. In early spring, all sites were judged ‘recovered’ by 2004; in summer, one site in western Prince William Sound and two in the western GOA exceeded thresholds by 11 ng/g dry weight or less. Robust estimation methods prevented bias from observations affected by unknown releases or laboratory errors.     

Patos Lagoon outflow within the Río de la Plata plume using an airborne salinity mapper: Observing an embedded plume

Major river systems discharging into continental shelf waters frequently form buoyant coastal currents that propagate along the continental shelf in the direction of coastal trapped wave propagation (with the coast on the right/left, in the northern/southern hemisphere). The combined flow of the Uruguay and Paraná Rivers, which discharges freshwater into the Río de la Plata estuary (Lat. ∼36°S), often gives rise to a buoyant coastal current (the ‘Plata plume’) that extends northward along the continental shelf off Uruguay and Southern Brazil. Depending upon the prevailing rainfall, wind and tidal conditions, the Patos/Mirim Lagoon complex (Lat. ∼32°S) may also produce a freshwater outflow plume that expands across the inner continental shelf. Under these circumstances the Patos outflow plume can be embedded in temperature, salinity and current fields that are strongly influenced by the larger Plata plume. The purpose of this paper is to present observations of such an embedded plume structure and to determine the dynamical characteristics of the ambient and embedded plumes.