Active oceanic spreading in the northern North Fiji Basin: Results of the NOFI cruise of R/V L'Atalante (newstarmer project)

The South Pandora and the Tripartite Ridges are active spreading centers located in the northern part of the North Fiji Basin. These spreading centers were surveyed over a distance of 750 km during the NOFI cruise of R/V L'Atalante (August–September 1994) which was conducted in the frame of the french-japanese Newstarmer cooperation project. SIMRAD EM12-dual full coverage swath bathymetric and imagery data as well as airgun 6-channel seismic, magnetics and gravity profiles were recorded along and offaxis from 170°40 E to 178° E. Dredging and piston coring were also performed along and off-axis. The axial domain of the South Pandora Ridge is divided into 5 first-order segments characterized by contrasted morphologies. The average width of the active domain is 20 km and corresponds either to bathymetric highs or to deep elongated grabens. The bathymetric highs are volcanic constructions, locally faulted and rifted, which can obstruct totally the axial valley. The grabens show the typical morphology of slow spreading axes, with two steep walls flanking a deep axial valley. Elongated lateral ridges may be present on both sides of the grabens. Numerous volcanoes, up to several kilometers in diameter, occur on both flanks of the South Pandora Ridge. The Tripartite Ridge consists of three main segments showing a sigmoid shape. Major changes in the direction of the active zones are observed at the segment discontinuities. These discontinuities show various geometrical patterns which suggest complex transform relay zones. Preliminary analysis of seismic reflection profiles suggest that the Tripartite Ridge is a very young feature which propagates into an older oceanic domain characterized by a significant sedimentary cover. By contrast, a very thin to absent sedimentary cover is observed about 100 km on both flanks of the South Pandora Ridge active axis. The magnetic anomaly profiles give evidence of long and continuous lineations, parallel to the South Pandora Ridge spreading axis. According to our preliminary interpretation, the spreading rate would have been very low (8 km/m.y. half rate) during the last 7 Ma. The South Pandora and Tripartite Ridges exhibit characteristics typical of active oceanic ridges: (1) a segmented pattern, with segments ranging from 80 to 100 km in length; (2) an axial tectonic and volcanic zone, 10 to 20 km wide; (3) well-organized magnetic lineations, parallel to the active axis; (4) clear signature on the free-air gravity anomaly map. However, no typical transform fault is observed; instead, complex relay zones are separating first-order segments.     

A Generation Mechanism for Mesoscale Eddies in the Kuril Basin of the Okhotsk Sea: Baroclinic Instability Caused by Enhanced Tidal Mixing

Mesoscale eddies, particularly anticyclonic ones, are dominant features in the Kuril Basin of the Okhotsk Sea. In 1999, both surface drifter and hydrographic observations caught the same anticyclonic eddy northwest of Bussol’ Strait, which has a diameter of ∼100 km, typical surface velocity of 0.2–0.3 m s⁻¹, and less dense core extending to a depth of ∼1200 m. Based on an idea that the generation of mesoscale eddies is caused by strong tidal mixing in and around Kuril Straits, we have conducted a series of three-dimensional numerical model experiments, in which strong tidal mixing is simply parameterized by increasing coefficients of vertical eddy viscosity and diffusivity along the eastern boundary. Initially, a regular series of disturbances with a wavelength of ∼70 km starts to develop. The disturbances can be clearly explained by a linear instability theory and regarded as the baroclinic instability associated with the near-surface front formed in the region between the enhanced mixing and offshore regions. In the mature phase, the disturbances grow large enough that some eddies pinch off and advect offshore (westward), with the scale of disturbances increasing gradually. Typical eddy scale and its westward propagation speed are ∼100 km and ∼0.6 km day⁻¹, respectively, which are consistent with the observations by satellites. The westward propagation can be explained partly due to nonlinear effect of self-offshore advection and partly due to the β-effect. With the inclusion of the upper ocean restoring, the dominance of anticyclonic eddy, extending from surface to a depth of ∼1200 m, can be reproduced.     

Association of picophytoplankton distribution with ENSO events in the equatorial Pacific between 145°E and 160°W

Climatological variability of picophytoplankton populations that consisted of >64% of total chlorophyll a concentrations was investigated in the equatorial Pacific. Flow cytometric analysis was conducted along the equator between 145°E and 160°W during three cruises in November–December 1999, January 2001, and January–February 2002. Those cruises were covering the La Niña (1999, 2001) and the pre-El Niño (2002) periods. According to the sea surface temperature (SST) and nitrate concentrations in the surface water, three regions were distinguished spatially, viz., the warm-water region with >28 °C SST and nitrate depletion (<0.1 μmol kg⁻¹), the upwelling region with <28 °C SST and high nitrate (>4 μmol kg⁻¹) water, and the in-between frontal zone with low nitrate (0.1–4 μmol kg⁻¹). Picophytoplankton identified as the groups of Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus and picoeukaryotes showed a distinct spatial heterogeneity in abundance corresponding to the watermass distribution. Prochlorococcus was most abundant in the warm-water region, especially in the nitrate-depleted water with >150×10³ cells ml⁻¹, Synechococcus in the frontal zone with >15×10³ cells ml⁻¹, and picoeukaryotes in the upwelling region with >8×10³ cells ml⁻¹. The warm-water region extended eastward with eastward shift of the frontal zone and the upwelling region during the pre-El Niño period. On the contrary, these regions distributed westward during the La Niña period. These climatological fluctuations of the watermass significantly influenced the distribution of picophytoplankton populations. The most abundant area of Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus extended eastward and picoeukaryotes developed westward during the pre-El Niño period. The spatial heterogeneity of each picophytoplankton group is discussed here in association with spatial variations in nitrate supply, ambient ammonium concentration, and light field.     

Long-term monitoring of the sedimentary processes in the central part of Sagami Bay, Japan: rationale, logistics and overview of results

Deep-sea benthic ecosystems are mainly sustained by sinking organic materials that are produced in the euphotic zone. “Benthic-pelagic coupling” is the key to understanding both material cycles and benthic ecology in deep-sea environments, in particular in topographically flat open oceanic settings. However, it remains unclear whether “benthic-pelagic coupling” exists in eutrophic deep-sea environments at the ocean margins where areas of undulating and steep bottom topography are partly closely surrounded by land. Land-locked deep-sea settings may be characterized by different particle behaviors both in the water column and in relation to submarine topography. Mechanisms of particle accumulation may be different from those found in open ocean sedimentary systems. An interdisciplinary programme, “Project Sagami”, was carried out to understand seasonal carbon cycling in a eutrophic deep-sea environment (Sagami Bay) with steep bottom topography along the western margin of the Pacific, off central Japan. We collected data from ocean color photographs obtained using a sea observation satellite, surface water samples, hydrographic casts with turbidity sensor, sediment trap moorings and multiple core samplings at a permanent station in the central part of Sagami Bay between 1997 and 1998. Bottom nepheloid layers were also observed in video images recorded at a real-time, sea-floor observatory off Hatsushima in Sagami Bay. Distinct spring blooms were observed during mid-February through May in 1997. Mass flux deposited in sediment traps did not show a distinct spring bloom signal because of the influence of resuspended materials. However, dense clouds of suspended particles were observed only in the spring in the benthic nepheloid layer. This phenomenon corresponds well to the increased deposition of phytodetritus after the spring bloom. A phytodetrital layer started to form on the sediment surface about two weeks after the start of the spring bloom. Chlorophyll-a was detected in the top 2 cm of the sediment only when a phytodetritus layer was present. Protozoan and metazoan meiobenthos increased in density after phytodetritus deposition. Thus, “benthic-pelagic coupling” was certainly observed even in a marginal ocean environment with undulated bottom topography. Seasonal changes in features of the sediment-water interface were also documented.     

Biological community and sediment fatty acids associated with the deep-sea whale skeleton at the Torishima Seamount

A whale skeleton was discovered on the flat-topped summit of the Torishima Seamount, 4037 m deep, northwest Pacific Ocean, during a dive by the submersibleShinkai 6500 in 1992. The skeleton was encrusted with mytilid mussels and harbored benthic animals such as galatheid crabs, echinoderms, sea anemones, and unidentifiable tube worms. The whale skeleton was revisited in 1993. Sediment samples were collected to outline the chemical-microbial distribution in the sediment associated with the skeleton. In the sediment, there was a gradient of sulfide concentration with the peak of 20 n moles per gram sediment just beneath a bone. Corresponding gradients were observed in thiosulfate-oxidizing enzyme activity, bacterial colony counts and fatty acid amounts. Direct analysis of the sediment fatty acid composition suggested the occurrence of methane-oxidizing bacteria and sulfur-reducing bacteria in close association with the whale skeleton. These observations imply that the methane and sulfides were formed during the saprogenic process and utilized for the chemosynthetic bacterial production to feed the whale skeleton-animal community.     

Importance of feeding on regenerable parts of prey for juvenile stone flounder Platichthys bicoloratus in estuarine habitats

Prey availability is one of the most important factors affecting the quality of nursery grounds. Estuaries play an important role as nursery grounds for juvenile stone flounder, but the mechanism behind the consistently high availability of prey has never been examined. This study investigates which prey is mainly selected by juvenile stone flounder (15–55 mm standard length) in the estuary of the Natori River, northern Japan. In a cage experiment, juveniles showed positive selection for the palps of the spionid polychaete Pseudopolydora kempi in March, and for the siphons of the bivalve Nuttallia olivacea in April, May and June in both sandy and muddy-sand habitats. This selective predation showed that sublethal predation on regenerable parts of invertebrates is important for stone flounder. Nuttallia olivacea, the dominant bivalve in the estuary, was more abundant and in better somatic condition in the sandy area in spite of the stronger siphon-cropping pressure by juvenile stone flounder. These results confirm that sublethal predation on highly abundant benthos plays an important role in forming estuarine habitats into areas of high prey availability for juvenile stone flounder, which leads to their high growth rate.     

Vertical distribution of bacterial abundance in the northwest pacific ocean

Mixed populations of free-living marine bacteria were collected at depths from the surface to the bottom (1,960m in Suruga Bay and 1,585 m in the Japan Sea) in the northwest Pacific during deep-sea diving by the submersible,Shinkai 2000. Their abundance in total cell counts and in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) concentration was found to decrease with increasing depth, and the decreasing profiles were shown to be linear on logarithmic scales. The total cell counts and the LPS concentration showed a linear relationship on arithmetic scales, and the LPS content per cell was found to be 1.02×10^–14 g.     

Assessing the ambition of post-2020 climate targets: a comprehensive framework

One of the most fundamental questions surrounding the new Paris Agreement is whether countries’ proposals to reduce GHG emissions after 2020 are equally ambitious, considering differences in circumstances between countries. We review a variety of approaches to assess the ambition of the GHG emission reduction proposals by countries. The approaches are applied illustratively to the mitigation part of the post-2020 climate proposals (nationally determined contributions, or NDCs) by China, the EU, and the US. The analysis reveals several clear trends, even though the results differ per individual assessment approach. We recommend that such a comprehensive ambition assessment framework, employing a large variety of approaches, is used in the future to capture a wide spectrum of perspectives on ambition.

POLICY RELEVANCE

Assessing the ambition of the national climate proposals is particularly important as the Paris Agreement asks for regular reviews of national contributions, keeping in mind that countries raise their ambition over time. Such an assessment will be an important part of the regular global stocktake that will take place every five years, starting with a ‘light’ version in 2018. However, comprehensive methods to assess the proposals are lacking. This article provides such a comprehensive assessment framework.