Control strategies for the Clam Wave Energy Device

A promising wave energy device being currently investigated is the ‘clam’. The clam extracts energy by pumping air through a specially designed (Wells) turbine. Although operation of the Wells turbine does not require a rectified air flow, some additional control will be necessary to optimize the phase of the clam motion for good efficiencies. An examination of the equation of motion in the time domain suggests the possibility of phase control by mechanical, power take-off, or pneumatic latching. Latching can be shown to increase the efficiency of the device in the longer wavelengths of the wave spectrum, i.e. those of high incident wave power. Equivalently latching could be used to keep the device efficiency high while reducing its size, possibly resulting in cheaper power extraction.     

冲绳海槽北部稀土元素沉积地球化学研究

本文对冲绳海槽北部海底表层沉积物和４个柱将苦芯沉积物样品的稀土元素沉积地球化学特征进行了系统的分析。研究结果表明：调查区表层沉积物ＲＥＥ的分布主要与沉积物的物质组成有关，特别是海洋生物沉积物组份的比例不仅影响ＲＥＥ总量的分布，而且影响标准化ＲＥＥ分布模式的形态。     

Using the Mellor–Yamada mixing scheme in seasonally ice-covered seas—Corrigendum to: Parameterization of vertical mixing in the Weddell Sea [Ocean Modelling 6 (2004) 83–100]

A coding error in the s-Coordinate Primitive Equation Model (SPEM) has led to misleading statements about the behaviour of the Mellor–Yamada level 2 parameterization of vertical mixing. It has been claimed that the scheme removes static instability only very slowly and preserves statically unstable stratifications for an unrealistic long time. This note corrects this statement by demonstrating that the Mellor–Yamada mixing scheme, if implemented correctly, tends to overestimate rather than underestimate vertical mixing in seasonally ice-covered seas. Similar to other mixing schemes with the same behaviour, this leads to spurious open ocean deep convection, an unrealistic homogenization of the water column, and a significant reduction of sea ice volume.     

Cyclone and bioturbation effects on sediments from coral reef lagoons

Despite the severity of tropical cyclone ‘Winifred’, which crossed the Great Barrier Reef on 1 February 1986, there were little long-term effects on lagoon surface sediments from reefs in its path. Short-term effects were apparent only at one particularly exposed area. These were: an increase in proportion of the coarse fraction, the establishment of sand ripples, and the destruction of the mounds produced by callianassid shrimps (normally the dominant topographic feature). Within six weeks this area was indistinguishable from a typical reef lagoon. This is probably the result of sediment reworking by callianassid shrimp, involving selective burial of the coarse fragments and transport to the surface of finer particles. Sediment turnover rates by callianassids are commensurate with change to the sediment within the relatively short period observed. The sediment fauna responded quickly to the changes in sediment type. Immediately after the cyclone the disturbed area supported a fauna typical of the coarse sediments on the shallow reef flat, as the sediment reverted to a more normal type so the fauna changed back to that typical of a reef lagoon.     

On the structural evolution of the Central Trough in the Norwegian and Danish sectors of the North Sea

The Central Trough of the North Sea is not a simple rift graben. It is an elongated area of regional subsidence which was initiated in mid Cretaceous times and continued to subside through to the late Tertiary. Its form is not representative of pre-mid Cretaceous tectonics.In Late Permian times the North Sea was divided into a northern and southern Zechstein basin by the E-W trending Mid North Sea-Ringkøbing-Fyn High. The latter was dissected by a narrow graben trending NNW through the Tail End Graben and the Søgne Basin. The Feda Graben was a minor basin on the northern flank of the Mid North Sea High at this time. This structural configuration persisted until end Middle Jurassic times when a new WNW trend separated the Tail End Graben from the Søgne Basin. Right lateral wrench movement on this new trend caused excessive subsudence in the Tail End and Feda Grabens while the Søgne Basin became inactive.Upper Jurassic subsidence trends continued during the Early Cretaceous causing the deposition of large thicknesses of sediments in local areas along the trend. From mid Cretaceous times the regional subsidence of the Central Trough was dominant but significant structural inversions occurred in those areas of maximum Early Cretaceous and Late Jurassic subsidence.     

The European vision for oceans and seas—Social and political dimensions of the Green Paper on Maritime Policy for the EU

The EU Green Paper on Maritime Policy is the European response to the new generation of ocean strategies based on science, technology and innovation aimed at new objectives, such as the strengthening of security and access to new resources. The European character of the proposal is found in the presence of social, cultural and historical elements, what is called the “European vision”. The viability of a European vision of the oceans and the idea of maritime empire as an extension of the current concept of empire within the general context of emerging ocean strategies are the elements offered up for debate on this European Union initiative.     

Impact of Two "El Niño" Events of Different Intensity on the Hypoxic Soft Bottom Macrobenthos off the Central Peruvian wast

Abstract. Monthly changes in the community structure of hypoxic soft-bottom macrobenthos have been studied at a station at 34 m depth in Ancón Bay (Peru) before and during two El Niño (EN) events. Of these events, 1982-83 is considered the strongest, and 1991–93 one of the most prolonged in the 20th century. On the oceanographic scale, EN 1982–83 ranges as "very strong", whereas EN 1991–93 ranges as "moderate".
The thermal anomalies at the station during EN 1982–83 (+ 7.8 °C) were almost twice those of EN 1991–93 (+ 4.1 °C). However, the community changes were not in all cases proportional to the extent of warming. Species numbers increased in a similar way (up to 24 species from near zero in each of the two events), but maximum faunal density was five times higher, and mean biomass was twice as high in 1982–83 compared with the event a decade later. Species diversity was slightly higher during EN 1982–83, whereas successional and trophic changes occurred on a broader scale during EN 1991–93. On the whole, the impact of the long-lasting event on the small soft-bottom macrofauna was not much weaker than that of the exceptionally strong event.
The authors discuss the mechanisms which may be responsible for the differences and similarities encountered in the benthic community dynamics during these two events. Both in the unusually strong and the unusually long EN, the community revealed a pattern of early biological response several months ahead of the onset of local warming which marks the official begin of EN. The question is addressed to what extent the increase of certain parameters in the benthic community could be used for predictive purposes.