Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a unique source in the North Pacific

A unique whale call with 50–52 Hz emphasis from a single source has been tracked over 12 years in the central and eastern North Pacific. These calls, referred to as 52-Hz calls, were monitored and analyzed from acoustic data recorded by hydrophones of the US Navy Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) and other arrays. The calls were noticed first in 1989, and have been detected and tracked since 1992. No other calls with similar characteristics have been identified in the acoustic data from any hydrophone system in the North Pacific basin. Only one series of these 52-Hz calls has been recorded at a time, with no call overlap, suggesting that a single whale produced the calls. The calls were recorded from August to February with most in December and January. The species producing these calls is unknown. The tracks of the 52-Hz whale were different each year, and varied in length from 708 to 11,062 km with travel speeds ranging from 0.7 to 3.8 km/h. Tracks included (A) meandering over short ranges, (B) predominantly west-to-east movement, and (C) mostly north-to-south travel. These tracks consistently appeared to be unrelated to the presence or movement of other whale species (blue, fin and humpback) monitored year-round with the same hydrophones.     

Meadow fragmentation and reproductive output of the SE Asian seagrass Enhalus acoroides

Flower and fruit production of the abundant, tall, long-lived, dioecious, surface-pollinating seagrass species Enhalus acoroides (L.) Royle were estimated at seven sites in the reef flats off Bolinao (NW Luzon, The Philippines) featuring different fragmentation of the seagrass meadows. Fragmentation of the seagrass meadow was quantified as cover of E. acoroides and all seagrass species present in 20×20 m plots. E. acoroides and overall seagrass cover were correlated positively. The proportion of female flowers of E. acoroides that developed a fruit increased sharply as overall seagrass cover was around 50%. Apparent sex ratio bore no relationship with overall seagrass cover. This threshold-type of relationship suggests that fragmentation of seagrass meadows can have a major effect on the reproductive output of this species. A possible mechanism underlying these results would be a non-linear increase of the efficiency of trapping the surface-dispersed pollen with increasing seagrass canopy density. This provides the first evidence based on real data that fragmentation can affect the population dynamics of seagrass species.     

Determination of characteristics of atmospheric motions from satellite multiwave remote sensing data

A method of determination of atmospheric dynamic characteristics from the data of remote sensing from a geostationary satellite is described. The method is based on the use of inhomogeneities in the concentration field of a conservative additive as tracers and on the application of correlation-extreme algorithms. Unlike the common methods used abroad, this method is able to determine not only the vector field of wind velocity but also the coefficient of turbulent diffusion and vorticity. Results of computations of the fields of the horizontal component of wind velocity and the effective coefficient of horizontal mesoscale turbulent diffusion from the Meteosat-8 SEVIRI water-vapor channel data are presented. It is shown that the average values of the effective coefficient of mesoscale horizontal turbulent diffusion in the areas with a predominantly turbulized air-mass motion are 1.5 times greater than in the areas where a laminar motion dominates. Specific features of the calculated values of the upper-troposphere dynamic characteristics in different stages of the North Atlantic TC Helene (September 2006) are analyzed.     

Pacific decadal oscillation and European climatic anomalies

By using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data sets for 1951–2001, we study the characteristics of Pacific cyclones. It is shown that the northeast-southwest direction is predominant in the displacements of cyclones in the North Pacific. We study the variability of the field of surface atmospheric pressure in different phases of the Pacific decadal oscillation characterizing the temperature anomalies on the surface of the ocean in the region bounded by 20 and 60°N. It is shown that the decadal variations of the North Atlantic Oscillation supported by the large-scale anomalies of the Pacific decadal oscillation is the most important cause of natural decadal oscillations in the European region. We study and evaluate the regional response to the Pacific decadal oscillation by using, as an example, the analysis of variations of the discharge of European rivers. __________ Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 4, pp. 13–23, July–August, 2007.     

Statistical analysis of a global photochemical model of the atmosphere

This is a study of the sensitivity of model results (atmospheric content of main gas constituents and radiative characteristics of the atmosphere) to errors in emissions of a number of atmospheric gaseous pollutants. Groups of the model variables most dependent on these errors are selected. Two variants of emissions are considered: one without their evolution and the other with their variation according to the IPCC scenario. The estimates are made on the basis of standard statistical methods for the results obtained with the detailed onedimensional radiative—photochemical model of the Main Geophysical Observatory (MGO). Some approaches to such estimations with models of higher complexity and to the solution of the inverse problem (i.e., the estimation of the necessary accuracy of external model parameters for obtaining the given accuracy of model results) are outlined.     

Characterization of bacterial community structure in vestimentiferan tubeworm Ridgeia piscesae trophosomes

Terminal‐restriction fragment length polymorphisms (T‐RFLPs) were used to address the question whether there are multiple phylotypes of bacteria within the trophosome of the vestimentiferan tubeworm Ridgeia piscesae in addition to the known endosymbiont. Clone libraries were constructed to aid in the identification of the additional bacterial phylotypes. Individual R. piscesae specimens were collected from Juan de Fuca Ridge, Axial Caldera and Explorer Ridge, Magic Mountain. Clone library analyses revealed only one bacterial phylotype (expected R. piscesae endosymbiont) within the Explorer Ridge trophosomes. However, the Axial Caldera clone library revealed five operational taxonomic units (OTUs). Three of the resulting phylotypes detected (designated RAE) were putative thioautotrophic symbionts within the γ‐Proteobacteria which belonged to the anticipated endosymbiont group (RAE OTU 1), the Maorithyas hadalis symbiont II group (RAE OTU 3), and the Halothiobacillus group (RAE OTU 4). The remaining two phylotypes were most likely opportunistically derived. RAE OTU 5 was an α‐Proteobacterium within the Roseobacter group and RAE OTU 2 was within the Cytophaga–Flavobacterium–Bacteroidetes. T‐RFLP analyses revealed that all 15 trophosomes evaluated contained at least RAE OTUs 1 and 4. Five of the 15 trophosomes contained at least RAE OTUs 1, 3, and 4 and two of the trophosomes contained at least five RAE OTUs. Cluster analysis of the T‐RFLP data revealed three distinct clusters. The number of taxa within the trophosome may be an indication of the general health of the tubeworm. This study strongly suggests that we have discovered and identified more than one bacterial phylotype within the trophosome of vestimentiferan R. piscesae.     

The Aleutian Low, storm tracks, and winter climate variability in the Bering Sea

Previous studies have found inconsistent results regarding how wintertime conditions in the Bering Sea relate to variations in the North Pacific climate system. This problem is addressed through analysis of data from the NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis for the period 1950–2003. Composite patterns of sea-level pressure, 500 hPa geopotential heights, storm tracks and surface air temperature are presented for four situations: periods of strong Aleutian Low, weak Aleutian Low, warm Bering Sea air temperatures, and cold Bering Sea air temperatures. Winter temperatures in the Bering Sea are only marginally related to the strength of the Aleutian Low, and are much more sensitive to the position of the Aleutian Low and to variations in storm tracks. In particular, relatively warm temperatures are associated with either an enhanced storm track off the coast of Siberia, and hence anomalous southerly low-level flow, or an enhanced storm track entering the eastern Bering Sea from the southeast. These latter storms do not systematically affect the mean meridional winds, but rather serve to transport mild air of maritime origin over the Bering Sea. The leading indices for the North Pacific, such as the NP and PNA, are more representative of the patterns of tropospheric circulation and storm track anomalies associated with the strength of the Aleutian Low than patterns associated with warm and cold wintertime conditions in the Bering Sea.     

Seasonal variations in river discharge and nutrient export to a Northeastern Pacific estuary

Seasonal variations in dissolved nitrogen and silica loadings were related to seasonal variability in river discharge. Dissolved nutrient concentrations measured weekly at three stations in the Yaquina River, Oregon from 1999 through 2001, and then monthly in 2002 were used as the basis for developing a nutrient loading regression as part of a larger agency program for evaluating nutrient processes. Because realistic models of nutrient transport require dense data sets to capture both long and short term fluctuations in nutrient concentrations, data at one freshwater station also were collected hourly for the same years using an in-stream monitor.The effects of storm events on dissolved nutrient transport were examined during three storms, including one in a high rainfall-discharge year, and two in average years, one of which followed a drought year. During the drought year (WY2001), total dissolved nitrate input was considerably less than in wetter years. Dissolved nitrate concentrations, however, were unusually high in the first winter storm runoff after the drought. The freshwater dissolved nitrate nitrogen loads varied from 40,380 kg day⁻¹ during a high-flow storm event to 0.11 kg day⁻¹ during late summer, low flow conditions. Dissolved silica dynamics differed from those of nitrate because during storm events, silica concentrations in the Yaquina River decreased to near zero at the storm height, probably due to dilution by near surface or overland flow, and later recovered.During the time interval studied, over 94% of the dissolved nitrate and silica were transported from the watershed during the winter months of greater rainfall, indicating that seasonality and river flow are primary factors when considering nutrient loadings from this watershed system.     

A B-spline based higher order panel method for analysis of steady flow around marine propellers

A higher order panel method based on B-spline representation for both the geometry and the solution is developed for the analysis of steady flow around marine propellers. The self-influence functions due to the normal dipole and the source are desingularized through the quadratic transformation, and then shown to be evaluated using conventional numerical quadrature. By selecting a proper order for numerical quadrature, the accuracy of the present method can be increased to the machine limit. The far- and near-field influences are shown to be evaluated based on the same far-field approximation, but the near-field solution requires subdividing the panels into smaller subpanels continuously, which can be effectively implemented due to the B-spline representation of the geometry. A null pressure jump Kutta condition at the trailing edge is found to be effective in stabilizing the solution process and in predicting the correct solution. Numerical experiments indicate that the present method is robust and predicts the pressure distribution on the blade surface, including very close to the tip and trailing edge regions, with far fewer panels than existing low-order panel methods.