An Ecosystem Model Coupled with Nitrogen-Silicon-Carbon Cycles Applied to Station A7 in the Northwestern Pacific

A model based on that of Kishi et al. (2001) has been extended to 15 compartments including silicon and carbon cycles. This model was applied to Station A7 off Hokkaido, Japan, in the Northwestern Pacific. The model successfully simulated the observations of: 1. a spring bloom of diatoms; 2. large seasonal variations of nitrate and silicate concentrations in the surface water; and 3. large inter-annual variations in chlorophyll-a. It also reproduced the observed features of the seasonal variations of carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO₂)—a peak in pCO₂ in winter resulting from deep winter convection, a rapid decrease in pCO₂ as a result of the spring bloom, and an almost constant pCO₂ from summer through fall (when the effect of increasing temperature cancels the effect of biological production). A comparison of cases with and without silicate limitation shows that including silicate limitation in the model results in: 1. decreased production by diatoms during summer; and 2. a transition in the dominant phytoplankton species, from diatoms to other species that do not take up silicate. Both of these phenomena are observed at Station A7, and our results support the hypothesis that they are caused by silicate limitation of diatom growth. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Voids in a ΛCDM universe

We study the formation and evolution of voids in the dark matter distribution using various simulations of the popular Λ cold dark matter cosmogony. We identify voids by requiring them to be regions of space with a mean overdensity of −0.8 or less – roughly the equivalent of using a spherical overdensity group finder for haloes. Each of the simulations contains thousands of voids. The distribution of void sizes in the different simulations shows good agreement when differences in particle and grid resolution are accounted for. Voids very clearly correspond to minima in the smoothed initial density field. Apart from a very weak dependence on the mass resolution, the rescaled mass profiles of voids in the different simulations agree remarkably well. We find a universal void mass profile of the form  ρ(< r )/ρ( r _eff) ∝ exp[( r / r _eff)^α]  , where r _eff is the effective radius of a void and  α∼ 2  . The mass function of haloes in voids is steeper than that of haloes that populate denser regions. In addition, the abundances of void haloes seem to evolve somewhat more strongly between redshifts ∼1 and 0 than the global abundances of haloes.     

Long-term precipitation and stream discharge records at seven forested experimental watersheds along a latitudinal transect in Japan: Jozankei,Kamabuchi, Takaragawa,Tsukuba, Tatsunokuchi-yama,Kahoku and Sarukawa

This data note introduces a database of long-term daily total precipitation and stream discharge data for seven forested watersheds in Japan that have been continuously monitored by the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. Three of the watersheds started data collection in the 1930s. Forest cover across the sites ranges from cool to warm temperate regions with the latitude spanning from 31 to 44° N and annual precipitation ranging from 1200 to 3000 mm yr⁻¹. The effects of vegetation change via clearcutting, thinning and forest fire (among other stressors) on stream discharge can be analysed from the long-term observation sites. Moreover, this multi-site dataset allows for inter- and intra-site comparisons of annual water loss (difference of annual precipitation and stream discharge). These long-term datasets can provide comprehensive insights into the effects of climate change and other stressors on forested ecosystems, not only in Japan but across a spectrum of forest types, if combined with other long-term records from other forested watersheds across the world.     

西南日本地区地壳P、S波速度结构与地震活动的关系

选用密集的高精度地震台网Hi-net 2002～2004年记录的836个地震事件的23,895条P波和21,969条S波的到时资料,计算得到了日本西南地区水平分辨率约33 km,垂直分辨率4～15 km的三维地壳P波和S波速度结构,并进一步获得泊松比分布.研究表明,在大山火山下存在显著的低速异常,表明该火山可能是一个潜在的活火山.速度异常图像清楚地显示了菲律宾板块俯冲至西南日本地区下,其上方存在的低速高泊松异常表明可能有流体的存在,分析得出可能来自板块俯冲过程中的脱水作用.并进一步探讨了流体在地震孕育及触发的过程中可能起的重要作用.     

Processes Causing the Temporal Changes in Si/N Ratios of Nutrient Consumptions and Export Flux during the Spring Diatom Bloom

Two processes are generally explained as causes of temporal changes in the stoichiometric silicon/nitrogen (Si/N) ratios of sinking particles and of nutrient consumption in the surface water during the spring diatom bloom: (1) physiological changes of diatom under the stress of photosynthesis of diatom and (2) differences of regeneration between silicon and nitrogen. We investigated which process plays an important role in these changes using a one-dimensional ecosystem model that explicitly represents diatom and the other non-silicious phytoplankton. The model was applied to station A7 (41°30′ N, 145°30′ E) in the western North Pacific, where diatom regularly blooms in spring. Model simulations show that the Si/N ratios of the flux exported by the sinking particles at 100 m depth and of nutrient consumptions in the upper 100 m surface water have their maxima at the end of the spring diatom bloom, the values and timings of which are significantly different from each other. Analyses of the model results show that the differences of regeneration between silicon and nitrogen mainly cause the temporal changes of the Si/N ratios. On the other hand, the physiological changes of diatoms under stress can hardly cause these temporal changes, because the effect of the change in the diatom's uptake ratio of silicon to nitrogen is cancelled by that in its sinking rate.     

Synthesis of highly dense and fine-grained aggregates of mantle composites by vacuum sintering of nano-sized mineral powders

Synthesized mineral powders with particle size of <100 nm are vacuum sintered to obtain highly dense and fine-grained polycrystalline mantle composites: single phase aggregates of forsterite (iron-free), olivine (iron containing), enstatite and diopside; two-phase composites of forsterite + spinel and forsterite + periclase; and, three-phase composites of forsterite + enstatite + diopside. Nano-sized powders of colloidal SiO₂ and highly dispersed Mg(OH)₂ with particle size of ≤50 nm are used as chemical sources for MgO and SiO₂, which are common components for all of the aggregates. These powders are mixed with powders of CaCO₃, MgAl₂O_4, and Fe(CO₂CH₃)₂ to introduce mineral phases of diopside, spinel, and olivine to the aggregates, respectively. To synthesize highly dense composites through pressureless sintering, we find that calcined powders should be composed of particles that have: (1) fully or partially reacted to the desired minerals, (2) a size of <100 nm and (3) less propensity to coalesce. Such calcined powders are cold isostatically pressed and then vacuum sintered. The temperature and duration of the sintering process are tuned to achieve a balance between high density and fine grain size. Highly dense (i.e., porosity ≤1 vol%) polycrystalline mantle mineral composites with grain size of 0.3–1.1 μm are successfully synthesized with this method.     

Coastal ecosystem change in Asia: hypoxia,eutrophication, and nutrient conditions

Journal of Oceanography -     

Least-Squares Estimation of Bottom Topography Using Horizontal Velocity Measurements in the Tsushima/Korea Straits

Several bathymetric data sets are compared and assessed with constraints of an ocean current model and velocity observations. The root-mean-square (rms) differences among the data sets reach 20 m in the shallow Tsushima/Korea Straits. The numerical experiments to simulate the Tsushima Warm Current are performed using four different topography data sets. The JTOPO1 data (MIRC, 2003) give the smallest rms difference to long-term horizontal velocity observations. Several least-squares combinations of the topography data sets are then sought to minimize the rms difference between the observed and modeled barotropic velocities. Most of the data sets reveal a large bias of 30–60 m at the Western Channel compared to independent sounding depths     

Temporal Variability of High Vertical Wavenumber Shear over the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge

Recent numerical studies (Hibiya et al., 1996, 1998, 2002) showed that the energy cascade across the internal wave spectrum down to small dissipation scales was under strong control of parametric subharmonic instabilities (PSI) which transfer energy from low vertical mode double-inertial frequency internal waves to high vertical mode near-inertial internal waves. To see whether or not the numerically-predicted energy cascade process is actually dominant in the real deep ocean, we examine the temporal variability of vertical profiles of horizontal velocity observed by deploying a number of expendable current profilers (XCPs) at one location near the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge. By calculating EOFs, we find the observed velocity profiles are dominated by low mode semidiurnal (∼double-inertial frequency) internal tides and high mode near-inertial internal waves. Furthermore, we find that the WKB-stretched vertical scales of the near-inertial current shear are about 250 sm and 100 sm. The observed features are reasonably explained if the energy cascade down to small dissipation scales is dominated by PSI.