Principal features of the World Ocean climate change in the Cenozoic and their possible causes

The objective of this study was to present details of the evolution of the thermal field of the ocean during the last Cenozoic glacial megacycle. The main causes of the phenomena observed are discussed based on the generalization of original data accumulated during many years and numerous publications. It is shown that, in the Eocene and Early Oligocene, the climatic conditions in the World Ocean were uniform and featured no evident zonal differences, the meridional temperature gradients were low, and the mean global temperature was close to the present-day value. Starting from the Late Oligocene and throughout the entire Neogene, the meridional contrasts in the temperature and hydrological conditions have increased, and, in the Late Pliocene, the climatic pattern resembled the present-day situation. The general tendency in the climate changes since the Eocene until the Pliocene consisted of its latitudinal differentiation and growing contrasts rather than of general climate cooling. In the Pleistocene, with the onset of the glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere, the character of the temperature field changed and variations in the mean global temperature values began to dominate. The factors that result from the climate changes observed are discussed and the causes are shown that lead to the differences between the author’s data and the existing concepts.     

The Huelva (Spain) Tsunami-Ready Station and Its Interaction with Storm Emma (March 2018)

Abstract

The sea level station operating since 1996 at Mazagón (Huelva, Spain) has been progressively upgraded to fit tsunami warning requirements, due to its location in one of the main regions at risk. Its radar water level sensor was complemented in 2017, with the addition of a pressure sensor. The performance of both sea level sensors and their response to sea level oscillations, at different frequencies, is assessed. Particular emphasis is put on the effect of extreme events, such as Storm Emma, when alternative methods to obtain 1-min data are tested, in contrast to the one based on arithmetic means. The overall differences are small, for the whole period of study (centered-root-mean-square-error below 1?cm, for 5-min, and hourly data; similar tidal parameters and sea level oscillations with periods between 30?s and 5?min). However, during Storm Emma, the pressure sensor presents sensibly lower readings than the radar, with the centered-root-mean-square-error rising to 80?mm on the March 2^nd 2018. A new method to compute 1-min data, based on medians, reduced this value to 10?mm for the same day.     

A low level supplementary heating system for free divers

A simple and effective method of heating divers in extreme cold water has been developed. The local heating concept utilizes a uniformly distributed granular mixture of magnesium and iron particles packed in small sachets. Upon activation by sea water, the two metal mixture behaves as a multitude of short-circuited electrolytic cells, producing thermal energy rather than electrical energy. The 45 mm-square sachets may be placed where heating is required on the diver's body, thus giving rise to the term “local heating”, obviously, the heating system requires no pumping device, or distribution network. Heating rate and duration of output of the sachets are controlled by particle size, and mixture ratio of the constituent Mg and Fe particles.This paper described the development, testing and performance of the heating sachets. Results of live tests in different dive situations are also presented and discussed.     

A Classification of Hypersaline Waters, Based on Trophic Criteria

Abstract. A classification of hypersaline waters is proposed on the basis of the food chain structure of their biota. Four steps of increasing salinity and respective shortening of the food-chains are recognized, respectively named: alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-hypersaline waters.
Some general aspects, dealing with cosmopolitism of the biota, production, competition and benthic ecology in hypersaline waters are discussed.
The relevance of ecological studies in hypersaline waters to theoretical ecology and to the new technological uses of saline waters is briefly mentioned.     

Robust and adaptive path following for underactuated autonomous underwater vehicles

This paper proposes a nonlinear robust adaptive control strategy to force a six degrees of freedom underactuated underwater vehicle with only four actuators to follow a predefined path at a desired speed despite of the presence of environmental disturbances and vehicle’s unknown physical parameters. The proposed controller is designed using Lyapunov’s direct method, the popular backstepping and parameter projection techniques. The closed loop path following errors can be made arbitrarily small. Interestingly, it is shown that our developed control strategy is easily extendible to situations of practical importance such as parking and point-to-point navigation. Numerical simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

Application of a two-dimensional depth-averaged hydrodynamic tidal model

A two-dimensional hydrodynamic model application to the San Francisco Bay was performed using the Boundary-Fitted HYDROdynamic model (BFHYDRO). The model forcing functions consist of tidal elevations along the open boundary and fresh water flows from the Delta Outflow. The model-predicted surface elevations compare well with the observed surface elevations at five stations in San Francisco Bay. Mean error in the model predicted surface elevations and currents are less than 7 and 9%, respectively. Correlation coefficients for surface elevations and currents are higher than 0.94 and 0.95, respectively. The amplitudes and phases of the principal tidal constituents at 24 tidal stations in San Francisco Bay, obtained from a harmonic analysis of a 90-day simulation compare well with the observed data. The predicted amplitude and phase of the M₂ tidal constituent at these stations are respectively within 8 cm and 8° of the observed data. Maximum errors in the K₁ harmonic amplitudes and phases are less than 3 cm and 7° respectively. The asymmetric diurnal and semi-diurnal tidal ranges and spring and neap tidal cycles of the surface elevations and currents are well reproduced in the model at all stations.     

Effects of water-borne copper on metallothionein and lipid peroxidation in the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta

The aim of the current work was to determine over 10 days the effects of water-borne exposure of the marine amphipod Gammarus locusta to 4 microgCu l(-1) on the metallothionein (MT; measured by differential pulse polarography) protection system and lipid peroxidation (LP: thiobarbituric acid-reactive malondialdehyde equivalents) as a measure of oxidative damage. MT levels in exposed animals increased significantly at day 2 (36% > control; P < 0.001) and remained high at days 6 and 10 (55 and 38%, respectively, P < 0.001). The maximum level of MT at day 6 coincided with the highest Cu body-burden. LP increased within I day of exposure, indicative of Cu as an oxidative stressor. However, in contrast to MT, the highest LP level was seen at day 4 (68% > control, P < 0.001) before returning to control values by day 6, indicating a protective role of MT against the pro-oxidant effects of Cu.