Further evidence for non-reemergence of winter SST anomalies in the North Pacific eastern subtropical mode water area

Following our previous study (Sugimoto and Hanawa, 2005b), we further investigate the reason why reemergence of winter sea surface temperature anomalies does not occur in the North Pacific eastern subtropical mode water (NPESTMW) area, despite its occurrence in the North Pacific subtropical mode water and North Pacific central mode water areas. We use vertical temperature and salinity profiles of the World Ocean Circulation Experiment Hydrographic Program and Argo floats with high vertical and temporal resolution, together with heat flux data through the sea surface. We point out first that one of the causes for non-occurrence of reemergence is that the thickness of NPESTMW is very thin. In addition to this basic cause, two major reasons are found: a vigorous mixing in the lower portion of NPESTMW and less heat input from the atmosphere in the warming season. Since, in the lower portion of NPESTMW and deeper, the stratification is favorable for salt-finger type convection to occur compared with the other mode water areas, vigorous mixing takes place. This is confirmed by both a large Turner Angle there and the existence of staircase structures in vertical temperature and salinity profiles. From the viewpoint of heat input, the NPESTMW area gradually gains heat in the warming season compared with other mode water areas. As a result, NPESTMW cannot be capped so quickly by the shallow summer mixed layer, and water properties of NPESTMW are to be gradually modified, even in the upper portion.     

Geomorphological evidence for upslope canyon-forming processes on the northern KwaZulu-Natal shelf,SW Indian Ocean,South Africa

A geomorphological and statistical analysis of slope canyons from the northern KwaZulu-Natal continental margin is documented and compared with submarine canyons from the Atlantic margin of the USA. The northern KwaZulu-Natal margin is characterized by increasing upslope relief, concave slope-gradient profiles and features related to upslope growth of the canyon forms. Discounting slope-gradient profile, this morphology is strikingly similar to canyon systems of the New Jersey slope. Several phases of canyon incision indicate that downslope erosion is also an important factor in the evolution of the northern KwaZulu-Natal canyon systems. Despite the strong similarities between the northern KwaZulu-Natal and New Jersey slope-canyon systems, key differences are evident: (1) the concavity of the northern KwaZulu-Natal slope, contrasting with the ∼linear New Jersey slope; (2) the relative isolation of the northern KwaZulu-Natal canyons, rather than the dense clustering of the New Jersey canyons; and (3) the absence of strongly shelf-breaching canyons along the northern KwaZulu-Natal margin. In comparison with the New Jersey margin, we surmise a more youthful stage of canyon evolution, a result of either the canyons themselves being younger or the formative processes being less active. Less complicated patterns of erosion resulting from reduced sediment availability have developed in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The reduction in slope concavity on the New Jersey margin may be the result of grading of the upper slope by intensive headward erosion, a process more subdued—or less evident—on the KwaZulu-Natal margin.     

印度东南部海岸拉梅斯沃勒姆滨外保克湾底层水特征对底栖有孔虫的影响

有孔虫生活在海洋和半咸水环境。底栖有孔虫的存在很大程度上受物理因素（深度、温度、光量、水体扰动）、化学因素（盐度、溶解氧和可用元素）和生物因素（食物供给量和底层沉积物特征）的制约。研究人员对印度东、西岸现代底栖有孔虫生态学和分布状态进行了研究。Ｎａｉｄｕ等在对Ｖｉｓａｋｈａｐａｔｎａｍ港复合体有孔虫进行分析后提出 ,可以将有孔虫作为海洋污染的指示物。ＳｒｅｅｎｉｖａｓａＲａｏ等采用Ｑ模式系数分析对尼赞伯德讷姆湾有孔虫的分布进行了研究 ,确认此区域存在４种组合 ,受不同环境条件的影响。Ｋｈａｒｅ等对门格…     

Jellyfish patch formation investigated by aerial photography and drifter experiment

Jellyfish patch formation is investigated by conducting a drifter experiment combined with aerial photography of a sustained patch of the moon jellyfish in Hokezu Bay, Japan. Jellyfish patches are aggregations of individuals that are caused by a combination of swimming (active influence) and advection by currents (passive influence). The drifter experiment involved the injection of 49 drifters around a distinct surface patch of jellyfish within an area of approximately 300 m × 300 m. The drifters’ motion, caused only by the passive influence, was recorded in a series of 38 aerial photographs taken over approximately 1 h. The ambient uniform current field larger than the patch scale was estimated from the movement of the centroid position of drifters, while the distribution of horizontal divergence and relative vorticity around the patch was estimated from the time-derivative in areas of triangles formed by the drifters. The centroid positions of both drifters and patches moved stably toward the bay head at different speeds. The difference vector between the patch and drifter centroids was directed to the sun, and was opposite to the ambient current. The distributions of vorticity and divergence around patches exhibited inhomogeneity within the patch scale, and the drifters in this nonuniform current field aggregated near the convergence area within 1 h. The results suggest that horizontal patch formation is predominantly influenced by passive factors at the surface of Hokezu Bay. Furthermore, the upward swimming against downwelling may make sustained patch in surface layer.     

Baroclinic Buoyancy-Inertia Joint Stability Parameter

At present, the barotropic buoyant stability parameter has been derived from a vertical virtual displacement of a water parcel. The barotropic inertial stability parameter in the eccentrically cyclogeostrophic, basic current field was derived in 2003 from a horizontal cross-stream virtual displacement of a parcel. By expressing acceleration of a parcel due to a virtual displacement, which is arbitrarily sloping within a vertical section across the basic current, in terms of natural coordinates, we derived the vertical component of baroclinic buoyant stability parameter B ₂ ², the horizontal component of baroclinic inertial stability parameter I ₂ ², the baroclinic joint stability parameter J ², its buoyant component B ² and its inertial component I ². B ² is far greater than I ₂ ², and when neglecting relative vorticity except for vertical shear, a downward convex curve of J ² plotted against the slope of a virtual displacement follows a trend of B ² curve. If a parcel displaces along a horizontal surface or an isopycnal surface, however, B ² vanishes, and J ² becomes equal to I ². Actual parcel is apt to displace not only along the bottom slope, but also along the sea surface and an isopycnal interfacial surface, which is approximately equivalent to an isentropic surface, preferred by lateral mixing and exchange of momentum. Such actual displacement makes B ² vanishing, and grants I ² an important role. The present analysis of I ² examining effects due to curvature and horizontal and vertical shear vorticities are useful in deepening our understanding of baroclinic instability in actual oceanic streams.     

Preconditioned Optimizing Utility for Large-dimensional analyses (POpULar)

I present the derivation of the Preconditioned Optimizing Utility for Large-dimensional analyses (POpULar), which is developed for adopting a non-diagonal background error covariance matrix in nonlinear variational analyses (i.e., analyses employing a non-quadratic cost function). POpULar is based on the idea of a linear preconditioned conjugate gradient method widely adopted in ocean data assimilation systems. POpULar uses the background error covariance matrix as a preconditioner without any decomposition of the matrix. This preconditioning accelerates the convergence. Moreover, the inverse of the matrix is not required. POpULar therefore allows us easily to handle the correlations among deviations of control variables (i.e., the variables which will be analyzed) from their background in nonlinear problems. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of POpULar, we illustrate two effects which are often neglected in studies of ocean data assimilation before. One is the effect of correlations among the deviations of control variables in an adjoint analysis. The other is the nonlinear effect of sea surface dynamic height calculation required when sea surface height observation is employed in a three-dimensional ocean analysis. As the results, these effects are not so small to neglect.     

Summer distribution and geochemical composition of suspended-particulate matter in the east china sea

The distribution and geochemical composition of suspended-particulate matter (SPM) in the East China Sea (ECS) were investigated during the summer period of high continental runoff to elucidate SPM sources, distribution and cross-shelf transport. The spatial variability of SPM distribution (0.3–6.5 mg l⁻¹) and geochemical composition (POC, Al, Si, Fe, Mn, Ca, Mg and K) in the ECS was pronounced during summer when the continental fluxes of freshwater and terrestrial materials were highest during the year. Under the influences of Changjiang runoff, Kuroshio intrusion, surface production and bottom resuspension, the distribution generally showed strong gradients decreasing seaward for both biogenic and lithogenic materials. Particulate organic carbon was enriched in surface water (mean ∼18%) due to the influence of biological productivity, and was diluted by resuspended and/or laterally-transported materials in bottom water (mean 9.4%). The abundance of lithogenic elements (Al, Si, Fe, Mn) increased toward the bottom, and the distribution correlations were highly significant. Particulate CaCO₃ distribution provided evidence that the SPM of the bottom water in the northern part of the study area was likely mixed with sediments originally derived from Huanghe. A distinct benthic nepheloid layer (BNL) was present in all seaward transects of the ECS shelf. Sediment resuspension may be caused by tidal fluctuation and other forcing and be regarded as the principal agent in the formation of BNL. This BNL was likely responsible for the transport of biogenic and lithogenic particles across or along the ECS shelf. Total inventories of SPM, POC and PN are 46, 2.8 and 0.4 Tg, respectively, measured over the total area of 0.45 × 10⁶ km² of the ECS shelf. Their mean residence times are about 27, 13 and 11 days, respectively. The inventory of SPM in the water column was higher in the northernmost and southernmost transects and lower in the middle transects, reflecting the influences of terrestrial inputs from Changjiang and/or resuspended materials from Huanghe deposits in the north and perhaps from Minjiang and/or Taiwan’s rivers in the south. The distribution and transport patterns of SPM and geochemical elements strongly indicate that continental sources and cross-shelf transport modulate ECS particulate matter in summer.     

Comparison of TOPEX/POSEIDON Altimeter Derived Wind Speed and Wave Parameters with Ocean Buoy Data in the North Indian Ocean

Results of comparison exercises carried out between the state-of-the-art TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter-derived ocean surface wind speed and ocean wave parameters (significant wave height and wave period) and those measured by a set of ocean data buoys in the North Indian Ocean are presented in this article. Altimeter-derived significant wave height values exhibited rms deviation as small as ±0.3 m, and surface wind speed of ±1.6 m/s. These results are found consistent with those found for the Pacific Ocean. For estimation of ocean wave period, the spectral moments-based semiempirical approach, earlier applied on GEOSAT data, was extended to TOPEX/POSEIDON. For this purpose, distributions of first four years of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data and climatology over the North Indian Ocean were analyzed and a new set of coefficients generated for estimation of wave period. It is shown that wave periods thus estimated from TOPEX/POSEIDON data (for the subsequent two years), when compared with independent data set of ocean data buoys deployed in the North Indian Ocean, exhibit improved accuracy (rms ~ ±1.4 nos) over those determined earlier with GEOSAT data.     

Co–rich Mn crusts from the Magellan Seamount cluster: the long journey through time

The Magellan seamounts began forming as large submarine shield volcanoes south of the equator during the Cretaceous. These volcanoes formed as a cluster on the small Pacific plate in a period when tectonic stress was absent. Thermal subsidence of the seafloor led to sinking of these volcanoes and the formation of guyots as the seamounts crossed the equatorial South Pacific (10–0°S) sequentially and ocean surface temperatures became too high for calcareous organisms to survive. Guyot formation was completed between about 59 and 45 Ma and the guyots became phosphatized at about 39–34 and 27–21 Ma. Ferromanganese crusts began formation as proto-crusts on the seamounts and guyots of the Magellan Seamount cluster towards the end of the Cretaceous up to 55 Ma after the formation of the seamounts themselves. The chemical composition of these crusts evolved over time in a series of steps in response to changes in global climate and ocean circulation. The great thickness of these crusts (up to 15–20 cm) reflects their very long period of growth. The high Co contents of the outer parts of the crusts are a consequence of the increasing deep circulation of the ocean and the resulting deepening of the oxygen minimum zone with time. Growth of the Co-rich Mn crusts in the Magellan Seamount cluster can be considered to be the culmination of a long journey through time.     

Estimating the geostrophic velocity obtained by HF radar observations in the upstream area of the Kuroshio

A method to extract geostrophic current in the daily mean HF radar data in the Kuroshio upstream region is established by comparison with geostrophic velocity determined from the along-track altimetry data. The estimated Ekman current in the HF velocity is 1.2% (1.5%) and 48° (38°)-clockwise rotated with respect to the daily mean wind in (outside) the Kuroshio. Furthermore, additional temporal smoothing is found necessary to remove residual ageostrophic currents such as the inertial oscillation. After removal of the ageostrophic components, the HF geostrophic velocity agrees well with that from the altimetry data with rms difference 0.14 (0.12) m/s in (outside) the Kuroshio.