Atmospheric circulation and storm events in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea

Extreme sea storms are dangerous and a potential source of damage. In this study, we examine storm events in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, the atmosphere circulation patterns associated with the sea storm events, and their changes in the present (1961–2000) and future (2046–2065) climates. A calendar of storms for the present climate is derived from results of wave model SWAN (Simulating WAves Nearshore) experiments. On the basis of this calendar, a catalog of atmospheric sea level pressure (SLP) fields was prepared from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis dataset for 1961–2000. The SLP fields were subjected to a pattern recognition algorithm which employed empirical orthogonal decomposition followed by cluster analysis. The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data is used to evaluate the occurring circulation types (CTs) within the ECHAM5-MPI/OM Atmosphere and Ocean Global Circulation Model (AOGCM) for the period 1961–2000. Our analysis shows that the ECHAM5-MPI/OM model is capable of reproducing circulation patterns for the storm events. The occurrence of present and future ECHAM5-MPI/OM CTs is investigated. It is shown that storm CTs are expected to occur noticeably less frequently in the middle of the 21^st century.     

Startle response of captive North Sea fish species to underwater tones between 0.1 and 64 kHz

World-wide, underwater background noise levels are increasing due to anthropogenic activities. Little is known about the effects of anthropogenic noise on marine fish, and information is needed to predict any negative effects. Behavioural startle response thresholds were determined for eight marine fish species, held in a large tank, to tones of 0.1-64 kHz. Response threshold levels varied per frequency within and between species. For sea bass, the 50% reaction threshold occurred for signals of 0.1-0.7 kHz, for thicklip mullet 0.4-0.7 kHz, for pout 0.1-0.25 kHz, for horse mackerel 0.1-2 kHz and for Atlantic herring 4 kHz. For cod, pollack and eel, no 50% reaction thresholds were reached. Reaction threshold levels increased from approximately 100 dB (re 1 microPa, rms) at 0.1 kHz to approximately 160 dB at 0.7 kHz. The 50% reaction thresholds did not run parallel to the hearing curves. This shows that fish species react very differently to sound, and that generalisations about the effects of sound on fish should be made with care. As well as on the spectrum and level of anthropogenic sounds, the reactions of fish probably depend on the context (e.g. location, temperature, physiological state, age, body size, and school size).     

Farming as a livelihood source for the urban poor of Nakuru, Kenya

Farming among urban dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa is a common phenomenon. The present study, carried out in a medium-sized town in Kenya, not only confirmed this but also showed that farming by urban dwellers in the rural areas was even more important for these households’ livelihoods than farming in town. However, those who could benefit most from farming, i.e. the urban poor, appeared to be underrepresented among urban farming households and those urban poor who did farm, either in urban or in rural areas, performed worse than the farming non-poor. The importance of farming as a livelihood source is illustrated by the fact that in years with very little or no harvest due to drought, many of the poor farming households faced food shortages.     

Non-Integrability and Structure of the Resonance Zones in a Class of Galactic Potentials

The structure of the resonance zone in nearly integrable Hamiltonian systems is studied by a more general method than the pendulum approximation. This method applies to the case of a non-degenerate integrable part in the Hamiltonian. This problem may be overcome in a class of galactic-type polynomial potentials, in the case where the higher-order term is by itself integrable. An illustrative example is worked out.     

Permo-Triassic hypabyssal mafic intrusions and associated tholeiitic basalts of the Kolyuchinskaya Bay,Chukotka (NE Russia): Links to the Siberian LIP

In order to test tectonic hypotheses regarding the evolution of the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate prior to the opening of the Amerasian basin, we investigated rocks exposed near Kolyuchinskaya Bay, eastern Chukotka. Hypabyssal mafic rocks and associated basaltic flows enclose terrigenous sediments, minor cherts and limestones in pillow interstices. The hypabyssal mafic rock yields a U–Pb zircon age of 252 ± 4 Ma and indicates intrusion of basic magma at the Permo-Triassic boundary, contemporaneous with voluminous magmatism of the Siberian large igneous province (LIP). The lava flows and hypabyssal mafic rocks of the Kolyuchinskaya Bay region have trace elements, Sm–Nd and Rb–Sr isotope compositions identical to the tholeiitic flood basalts of the main plateau stage of the Siberian LIP, but differ from the latter in the major-element variations. We conclude that compositional variations in the hypabyssal rocks studied reflect their generation in an extensional environment that might be related to the Siberian super-plume activity at the time. Although the genetic and temporal links between intrusive mafic rocks and lavas are not well proved, compositional variations of the eruptive rocks still indicate their generation in an extensional environment.     

Carbon flows in the benthic food web at the deep-sea observatory HAUSGARTEN (Fram Strait)

The HAUSGARTEN observatory is located in the eastern Fram Strait (Arctic Ocean) and used as long-term monitoring site to follow changes in the Arctic benthic ecosystem. Linear inverse modelling was applied to decipher carbon flows among the compartments of the benthic food web at the central HAUSGARTEN station (2500 m) based on an empirical data set consisting of data on biomass, prokaryote production, total carbon deposition and community respiration. The model resolved 99 carbon flows among 4 abiotic and 10 biotic compartments, ranging from prokaryotes up to megafauna. Total carbon input was 3.78±0.31 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹, which is a comparatively small fraction of total primary production in the area. The community respiration of 3.26±0.20 mmol C m⁻² d⁻¹ is dominated by prokaryotes (93%) and has lower contributions from surface-deposit feeding macro- (1.7%) and suspension feeding megafauna (1.9%), whereas contributions from nematode and other macro- and megabenthic compartments were limited to <1%. The high prokaryotic contribution to carbon processing suggests that functioning of the benthic food web at the central HAUSGARTEN station is comparable to abyssal plain sediments that are characterised by strong energy limitation. Faunal diet compositions suggest that labile detritus is important for deposit-feeding nematodes (24% of their diet) and surface-deposit feeding macrofauna (∼44%), but that semi-labile detritus is more important in the diets of deposit-feeding macro- and megafauna. Dependency indices on these food sources were also calculated as these integrate direct (i.e. direct grazing and predator–prey interactions) and indirect (i.e. longer loops in the food web) pathways in the food web. Projected sea-ice retreats for the Arctic Ocean typically anticipate a decrease in the labile detritus flux to the already food-limited benthic food web. The dependency indices indicate that faunal compartments depend similarly on labile and semi-labile detritus, which suggests that the benthic biota may be more sensitive to changes in labile detritus inputs than when assessed from diet composition alone. Species-specific responses to different types of labile detritus inputs, e.g. pelagic algae versus sympagic algae, however, are presently unknown and are needed to assess the vulnerability of individual components of the benthic food web.     

The errors in surface runoff prediction by neglecting the relationship between infiltration rate and overland flow depth

Many simplifications are used in modeling surface runoff over a uniform slope. A very common simplification is to determine the infiltration rate independent of the overland flow depth and to combine it afterward with the kinematic-wave equation to determine the overland flow depth. Another simplication is to replace the spatially variable infiltration rates along the slope i(x, t) due to the water depth variations h(x,t) with an infiltration rate that is determined at a certain location along the slope. The aim of this study is to evaluate the errors induced by these simplications on predicted infiltration rates, overland flow depths, and total runoff volume. The error analysis is accomplished by comparing a simplified model with a model where the interaction between the overland flow depth and infiltration rate is counted. In this model, the infiltration rate is assumed to vary along the slope with the overland flow depth, even for homogeneous soil profiles. The kinematic-wave equation with interactive infiltration rate, calculated along the slopy by Richard's equation, are then solved by a finite difference scheme for a 100-m-long uniform slope. In the first error analysis, we study the effect of combining an ‘exact’ and ‘approximate’ one-dimensional infiltration rate with the kinematic-wave equation for three different soil surface roughness coefficients. The terms ‘exact’ and ‘approximate’ stand for the solution of Richard's equation with and without using the overland flow depth in the boundary condition, respectively. The simulations showed that higher infiltration rates and lower overland flow depths are obtained during the rising stage of the hydrograph when overland flow depth is used in the upper boundary condition of the one-dimensional Richard's equation. During the recession period, the simplified model predicts lower infiltration rates and higher overland flow depths. The absolute relative errors between the ‘exact’ and ‘approximate’ solutions are positively correlated to the overland flow depths which increase with the soil surface roughness coefficient. For this error analysis, the relative errors in surface runoff volume per unit slope width throughout the storm are much smaller than the relative errors in momentary overland flow depths and discharges due to the alternate signs of the deviations along the rising and falling stages. In the second error analysis, when the spatially variable infiltration rate along the slope i(x, t) is replaced in the kinematic-wave equation by i(t), calculated at the slope outlet, the overland flow depth is underestimated during the rising stage of the hydrograph and overestimated during the falling stage. The deviations during the rising stage are much smaller than the deviations during the falling stage, but they are of a longer duration. This occurs because the solution with i(x, t) recognizes that part of the slope becomes dry after rainfall stops, while overland flow still exists with i(t) determined at the slope outlet. As obtained for the first error analysis, the relative errors in surface runoff volume per unit slope width are also much smaller than the relative errors in momentary overland flow depths and discharges. The relation between the errors in overland flow depth and discharge to different mathematical simplifications enables to evaluate whether certain simplifications are justified or more computational efforts should be used.     

Sea-Surface Temperatures and the History of Monsoon Upwelling in the Northwest Arabian Sea during the Last 500,000 Years

Arabian Sea sediments record changes in the upwelling system off Arabia, which is driven by the monsoon circulation system over the NW Indian Ocean. In accordance with climate models, and differing from other large upwelling areas of the tropical ocean, a 500,000-yr record of productivity at ODP Site 723 shows consistently stronger upwelling during interglaciations than during glaciations. Sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) reconstructed from the alkenone unsaturation index (U^K′₃₇) are high (up to 27°C) during interglaciations and low (22-24°C) during glaciations, indicating a glacial-interglacial temperature change of >3°C in spite of the dampening effect of enhanced or weakened upwelling. The increased productivity is attributed to stronger monsoon winds during interglacial times relative to glacial times, whereas the difference in SSTs must be unrelated to upwelling and to the summer monsoon intensity. The winter (NE) monsoon was more effective in cooling the Arabian Sea during glaciations then it is now.     

An empirical model for the calculation of spinel-melt equilibria in mafic igneous systems at atmospheric pressure: 2. Fe-Ti oxides

In order to develop models simulating the crystallization of Fe-Ti oxides in natural lavas, we have processed published experimental data on magnetite-melt and ilmenite-melt equilibria. These data include 62 Mt-melt and 75 Ilm-melt pairs at temperatures 1040–1150 °C, oxygen fugacities from IW to NNO+2, and bulk compositions ranging from ferrobasalts to andesites and dacites. Five major cations (Fe³⁺, Fe²⁺, Ti⁴⁺, Mg²⁺ and Al³⁺) were considered for the purpose of describing Fe-Ti oxide saturation as a function of melt composition, temperature and oxygen fugacity at 1 atmosphere pressure. The empirically calibrated mineral-melt expression based on multiple linear regressions is: ln D _i  = a/T + blog f _O2 + c + d ₁ X _Na + d ₂ X _K + d ₃ X _P, where D _i represents molar distribution coefficients of the given cations between Mt/Ilm and melt; X _Na, X _K, and X _P are the molar fractions of Na, K, and P in the melt. The empirically calibrated Mt-melt and Ilm-melt equilibria equations allowed us to develop two models for calculating crystallization temperatures of the Fe-Ti oxides in the melts with an accuracy of 10–15 °C, and compositions with an accuracy of 0.5–2 mol%. These models have been integrated into the COMAGMAT-3.5 program, improving our ability to study numerically the effects of temperature and oxygen fugacity on the stability and phase equilibria of Fe-Ti oxides. Application of this approach to the tholeiitic series of Chazhma Sill from Eastern Kamchatka (Russia) indicates oxygen fugacity conditions near NNO + 0.5. Numerical simulation of fractional crystallization of an iron-enriched basaltic andesite parent at these oxidizing conditions accurately reproduces the FeO-SiO₂ relations observed in the Chazhma suite. Received: 3 March 1998 / Accepted: 7 August 1998