Comparison of oscillatory and stationary flow through porous media

Experiments were conducted in an oscillatory water tunnel to investigate what effects temporal inertia has on the resistance of a granular medium. The flow law governing stationary porous media flow is reasonably well accepted and understood but the effects of unsteady flow have commonly been neglected. The present research was designed to assess the magnitude of the acceleration effects on media of uniformly packed spheres of equal diameter and on one sample of randomly placed stone.Oscillatory flow tests were made in a large oscillatory flume tunnel with periods varying from 3 to 12 seconds. The influence of properties of the medium (grain size and porosity) were tested by using spheres with two different diameters and packing each size sphere in different geometric arrangements. Tests made on a stone sample provided a qualitative assessment of the effects of more random material properties.For the experiments described in this paper, the Forchheimer unsteady-stationary flow law described the oscillatory measurements well when velocities and energy losses were maximum. Empirical coefficients determined from steady-stationary flow were generally found to apply to the unsteady flow, however some evidence of dependency on the period of oscillation was noted.     

North Atlantic fisheries: Trends, status and management issues

Despite the fact that the North Atlantic remains one of the most productive of oceanic regions, its importance has declined both relatively and absolutely. A key factor has been the steady erosion of stocks of some of the major food fish species, including the ubiquitous cod. The paper traces the main trends in catches since 1973 and outlines the development of fisheries management in the region from the formation of ICES in 1902, through the creation of coastal state management in the 1970s to the UN Agreement on high-seas fishing in 1995. Finally, the key issues for fisheries management are identified, and the invited papers are contextualised.     

Effects on zooplankton of a warmer ocean: Recent evidence from the Northeast Pacific

The consequences for pelagic communities of warming trends in mid and high latitude ocean regions could be substantial, but their magnitude and trajectory are not yet known. Environmental changes predicted by climate models (and beginning to be confirmed by observations) include warming and freshening of the upper ocean and reduction in the extent and duration of ice cover. One way to evaluate response scenarios is by comparing how “similar” zooplankton communities have differed among years and/or locations with differing temperature. The subarctic Pacific is a strong candidate for such comparisons, because the same mix of zooplankton species dominates over a wide range of temperature climatologies, and observations have spanned substantial temperature variability at interannual-to-decadal time scales. In this paper, we review and extend copepod abundance and phenology time series from net tow and Continuous Plankton Recorder surveys in the subarctic Northeast Pacific. The two strongest responses we have observed are latitudinal shifts in centers of abundance of many species (poleward under warm conditions), and changes in the life cycle timing of Neocalanus plumchrus in both oceanic and coastal regions (earlier by several weeks in warm years and at warmer locations). These zooplankton data, plus indices of higher trophic level responses such as reproduction, growth and survival of pelagic fish and seabirds, are all moderately-to-strongly intercorrelated (∣r∣ = 0.25-0.8) with indices of local and basin-scale temperature anomalies. A principal components analysis of the normalized anomaly time series from 1979 to 2004 shows that a single “warm-and-low-productivity” vs. “cool-and-high-productivity” component axis accounts for over half of the variance/covariance. Prior to 1990, the scores for this component were negative (“cool” and “productive”) or near zero except positive in the El Niño years 1983 and 1987. The scores were strongly and increasingly positive (“warm” and “low productivity”) from 1992 to 1998; negative from 1999 to 2002; and again increasingly positive from 2003-present. We suggest that, in strongly seasonal environments, anomalously high temperature may provide misleading environmental cues that contribute to timing mismatch between life history events and the more-nearly-fixed seasonality of insolation, stratification, and food supply.     

Analysis of medaka cytochrome P450 3A homotropic and heterotropic cooperativity

We have previously demonstrated that medaka CYP3A is associated with metabolism of several endobiotics including steroids and bile acids. In this study, we demonstrate that medaka CYP3A catalysis exhibits unusual kinetic behaviors consistent with allosteric interaction which cannot be described by hyperbolic kinetic models. Using 7-benzyloxy-4-(trifluoromethyl)-coumarin (BFC) and nonylphenol as CYP3A substrates, we describe both homotropic and heterotropic cooperative interactions. Given the role of CYP3A in maintaining the homeostatic balance for numerous endobiotics, enzymatic activation/inhibition by endocrine disruptors (EDCs) represents a putative (non-genomic) mechanism for endocrine disruption.     

Imaging of Buried Archaeological Materials: The Reflection Properties of Archaeological Wood

Effective marine archaeological site management demands detailed information on not only the spatial distribution of artefacts but also the degradation state of the materials present. Although sonar methods have frequently been used in an attempt to detect buried wooden shipwrecks they are currently unable to indicate their degradation state. To assess the sensitivity of acoustic measurements to changes in the degradation state of such material, and hence the potential for sonars to quantify degradation, laboratory measurements of compressional wave velocity, as well as bulk density for oak and pine samples, in varying states of decay, were undertaken. These data enabled the calculation of theoretical reflection coefficients for such materials buried in various marine sediments. As wood degrades, the reflection coefficients become more negative, resulting in the hypothesis that the more degraded wood becomes, the easier it should be to detect. Typical reflection coefficients of the order of −0.43 and −0.52 for the most degraded oak and pine samples in sand are predicted. Conversely, for wood exposed to seawater the predicted reflection coefficients are large and positive for undegraded material (0.35 for oak, 0.18 for pine) and decrease to zero or slightly below for the most degraded samples. This indicates that exposed timbers, when heavily degraded, can be acoustically transparent and so undetectable by acoustic methods. Corroboration of these experimental results was provided through comparison with high resolution seismic reflection data that has been acquired over two shipwrecks.     

Multi-decadal synthesis of benthic–pelagic coupling in the western arctic: Role of cross-shelf advective processes

Using geographic information systems (GIS) software and geostatistical techniques, we utilized three decades of water-column chlorophyll a data to examine the relative importance of autochthonous versus allochthonous sources of reduced carbon to benthic communities that occur from the northern Bering to the eastern Beaufort Sea shelf. Spatial trend analyses revealed areas of high benthic biomass (>300 g m⁻²) and chlorophyll (>150 mg m⁻²) on both the southern and northern Chukchi shelf; both areas are known as depositional centers for reduced organic matter that originates on the Bering Sea shelf and is advected northward in Anadyr and Bering shelf water masses. We found a significant correlation between biomass and chlorophyll a in the Chukchi Sea, reflective of the strong benthic–pelagic coupling in a system that is utilized heavily by benthic-feeding marine mammals. In contrast, there was no significant correlation between biomass and chlorophyll in the Beaufort Sea, which by comparison, is considerably less productive (biomass and chlorophyll, <75 g m⁻² and <50 mg m⁻², respectively). One notable exception is an area of relatively high biomass (50–100 g m⁻²) and chlorophyll (80 mg m⁻²) near Barter Island in the eastern Beaufort Sea. Compared to other adjacent areas in the Beaufort Sea, the chlorophyll values in the vicinity of Barter Island were considerably higher and likely reflect a long-hypothesized upwelling in that area and close coupling between the benthos and autochthonous production. In the Bering Sea, a drop in benthic biomass in 1994 compared with previous measurements (1974–1993) may support earlier observations that document a decline in biomass that began between the 1980s and 1990s in the Chirikov Basin and south of St. Lawrence Island. The results of this study indicate that the benthos is an excellent long-term indicator of both local and physical advective processes. In addition, this work provides further evidence that secondary production on arctic shelves can be significantly augmented by reduced carbon advected from highly productive adjacent shelves.     

The Dynamics of Covering Behaviour in Dominant Echinoid Populations from American and European West Coasts

Abstract.  The so-called 'covering behaviour' of echinoids is known to vary with habitat according to the types of covering items available, but the full extent of the role played by habitat characteristics in this behaviour is not known. Moreover, whether or not different species inhabiting similar environmental conditions and habitats also show similar patterns of this particular behaviour has yet to be investigated. In this study, two prominent west coast echinoid species, Paracentrotus lividus and Strongylocentrotus purpuratus , were examined with respect to covering behaviour and spatial organisation. Populations of both species are found in exposed intertidal zones, occupying boreholes within tidepools. Important similarities were found in the spatial organisation of both species' populations, with lowest densities in upper shore pools. However, the size distributions of the two populations differed significantly; P. lividus within upper shore pools were significantly larger than those in mid or lower shore pools, whereas S. purpuratus on the lower shore were significantly larger than those at other shore heights. We found significant between-species variability in covering item use, although the number of covering items available at both sites was not significantly different. For example, greater densities of covering items were used by P. lividus than by S. purpuratus . We also found that the percent of echinoid surface area covered varied significantly in space for both species. These data emphasise the complex and multifaceted nature of covering behaviour, but most importantly, they also strongly suggest that habitat characteristics can only partly explain the extent of this behavioural variability amongst echinoid species.     

Mussels document loss of bioavailable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the return to baseline conditions for oiled shorelines in Prince William Sound, Alaska

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were measured in mussels (Mytilus trossulus) collected between 1990 and 2002 from 11 sites on the shores of Prince William Sound (PWS), Alaska, that were heavily oiled by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS). This study, utilizing the methods of the NOAA Status and Trends Mussel Watch Program, found that concentrations of PAH released from spill remnants have decreased dramatically with time and by 2002 were at or near the range of total PAH (TPAH) of 3-355 ng/g dry weight obtained for mussels from unoiled reference sites in PWS. Time-series TPAH data indicate a mean TPAH half-life in mussel tissues of 2.4 years with a range from 1.4 to 5.3, yielding an annual mean loss of bioaccumulated TPAH of 25%. The petroleum-derived TPAH fraction in mussel tissues has decreased with time, reflecting the decreasing release of EVOS residues in shoreline sediments. These results show that PAH from EVOS residues that remain buried in shoreline sediments after the early 1990s are in a form and at locations that have a low accessibility to mussels living in the intertidal zone.     

A permanent seismic station beneath the Ocean Bottom

The Hawaii Institute of Geophysics began development of the Ocean Subbottom Seisometer (OSS) system in 1978, and OSS systems were installed in four locations between 1979 and 1982. The OSS system is a permanent, deep ocean borehole seismic recording system composed of a borehole sensor package (tool), an electromechanical cable, recorder package, and recovery system. Installed near the bottom of a borehole (drilled by the D/V Glomar Challenger), the tool contains three orthogonal, 4.5-Hz geophones, two orthogonal tilt meters; and a temperature sensor. Signals from these sensors are multiplexed, digitized (with a floating point technique), and telemetered through approximately 10 km of electromechanical cable to a recorder package located near the ocean bottom. Electrical power for the tool is supplied from the recorder package. The digital seismic signals are demultiplexed, converted back to analog form, processed through an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit, and recorded along with a time code on magnetic tape cassettes in the recorder package. Data may be recorded continuously for up to two months in the self-contained recorder package. Data may also be recorded in real time (digital formal) during the installation and subsequent recorder package servicing. The recorder package is connected to a submerged recovery buoy by a length of bouyant polypropylene rope. The anchor on the recovery buoy is released by activating either of the acoustical command releases. The polypropylene rope may also be seized with a grappling hook to effect recovery. The recorder package may be repeatedly serviced as long as the tool remains functionalA wide range of data has been recovered from the OSS system. Recovered analog records include signals from natural seismic sources such as earthquakes (teleseismic and local), man-made seismic sources such as refraction seismic shooting (explosives and air cannons), and nuclear tests. Lengthy continuous recording has permitted analysis of wideband noise levels, and the slowly varying parameters, temperature and tilt.Hawaii Institute of Geophysics Contribution 1909.