Human-induced changes in recent sedimentation rates in Bohai Bay,China: Implications for coastal development

In many countries, coastal planners strive to balance the demands between civil, commercial strategy and environmental conversation interests for future development, particularly given the sea level rise in the 21 st century. Achieving a sustainable balance is often a dilemma, especially in low-lying coastal areas where dams in inland river basin are trapping significant amounts of fluvial sediments. We recently investigated the shore of Bohai Bay in northern China where there has been a severe increase in sea level following a program of large-scale coastal reclamation and infrastructure development over the last five decades. To investigate this trend, we obtained sediment cores from near-shore in Bohai Bay, which were dated by ~(137)Cs and ~(210)Pb radionuclides to determine the sedimentation rates for the last 50 years. The average sedimentation rates of Bohai Bay exceeded 10 mm yr~(-1) before 1963, which was much higher than the rate of local sea-level rise. However, our results showed an overall decreasing sedimentation rate after 1963, which was not able to compensate for the increasing relative sea-level rise in that period. In addition, our results revealed that erosion occurred after the 1980 s in the shallow sea area of Bohai Bay. We suggest that this situation places the Bohai Bay coast at a greater risk of inundation and erosion within the next few decades than previously thought, especially in the large new reclamation area. This study may be a case study for many other shallow sea areas of the muddy coast if the sea level continues to rise rapidly and the sediment delivered by rivers continues to decrease.     

Building and Testing an <Emphasis Type="Italic">a priori</Emphasis> Geophysical Model for Western Eurasia and North Africa

We construct and evaluate a new three-dimensional model of crust and upper mantle structure in Western Eurasia and North Africa (WENA) extending to 700 km depth and having 1° parameterization. The model is compiled in an a priori fashion entirely from existing geophysical literature, specifically, combining two regionalized crustal models with a high-resolution global sediment model and a global upper mantle model. The resulting WENA1.0 model consists of 24 layers: water, three sediment layers, upper, middle, and lower crust, uppermost mantle, and 16 additional upper mantle layers. Each of the layers is specified by its depth, compressional and shear velocity, density, and attenuation (quality factors, Q _P and Q _S ). The model is tested by comparing the model predictions with geophysical observations including: crustal thickness, surface wave group and phase velocities, upper mantle _n velocities, receiver functions, P-wave travel times, waveform characteristics, regional 1-D velocities, and Bouguer gravity. We find generally good agreement between WENA1.0 model predictions and empirical observations for a wide variety of independent data sets. We believe this model is representative of our current knowledge of crust and upper mantle structure in the WENA region and can successfully be used to model the propagation characteristics of regional seismic waveform data. The WENA1.0 model will continue to evolve as new data are incorporated into future validations and any new deficiencies in the model are identified. Eventually this a priori model will serve as the initial starting model for a multiple data set tomographic inversion for structure of the Eurasian continent.     

Dynamics of a fringe mangrove forest detected by Landsat images in the Mekong River Delta,Vietnam

Mangrove forests dominate many tropical coastlines and are one of the most bio‐diverse and productive environments on Earth. However, little is known of the large‐scale dynamics of mangrove canopies and how they colonize intertidal areas. Here we focus on a fringe mangrove forest located in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam; a fast prograding shoreline where mangroves are encroaching tidal flats. The spatial and temporal evolution of the mangrove canopy is studied using a time series of Landsat images spanning two decades as well as Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) elevation data. Our results show that fast mangrove expansion is followed by an increase in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the newly established canopy. We observe three different dynamics of the mangrove fringe: in the southwest part of the fringe, near a deltaic distributary where the fringe boundary is linear, the canopy expands uniformly on the tidal flats with a high colonization rate and high NDVI values. In the northeast part of the fringe, near another distributary, the canopy expands at a much lower rate with low NDVI values. In the fringe center, far from the river mouths, the fringe boundary is highly irregular and mangroves expansion in characterized by sparse vegetated patches displaying low NDVI values. We ascribe these different dynamics to wave action and southwest longshore transport triggered by energetic northeasterly monsoons during winter. We further link the large‐scale dynamics of the fringe to small‐scale physical disturbances (waves, erosion and deposition) that might prevent the establishment of mangrove seedlings. Based on these results, we include mangrove encroachment in an already published conceptual model of progradation of the Mekong River Delta. We conclude that high NDVI values and a constantly linear vegetation–water interface are indicative of stable mangrove canopies undergoing fast expansion, probably triggered by sediment availability at the shore. Our results can be applied more generally to mangrove forests growing in minerogenic and high tidal range environments with high sediment inputs. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sensitivity of a global ocean model to increased run-off from Greenland

We study the reaction of a global ocean–sea ice model to an increase of fresh water input into the northern North Atlantic under different surface boundary conditions, ranging from simple restoring of surface salinity to the use of an energy balance model (EBM) for the atmosphere. The anomalous fresh water flux is distributed around Greenland, reflecting increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet and increasing fresh water export from the Arctic Ocean. Depending on the type of surface boundary condition, the large circulation reacts with a slow-down of overturning and gyre circulations. Restoring of the total or mean surface salinity prevents a large scale redistribution of the salinity field that is apparent under mixed boundary conditions and with the EBM. The control run under mixed boundary conditions exhibits large and unrealistic oscillations of the meridional overturning. Although the reaction to the fresh water flux anomaly is similar to the response with the EBM, mixed boundary conditions must thus be considered unreliable. With the EBM, the waters in the deep western boundary current initially become saltier and a new fresh water mass forms in the north-eastern North Atlantic in response to the fresh water flux anomaly around Greenland. After an accumulation period of several decades duration, this new North East Atlantic Intermediate Water spreads towards the western boundary and opens a new southward pathway at intermediate depths along the western boundary for the fresh waters of high northern latitudes.     

Altered feeding habits and strategies of a benthic forage fish (Fundulus heteroclitus) in chronically polluted tidal salt marshes

Responses in feeding ecology of a benthic forage fish, mummichogs (Fundulus heteroclitus), to altered prey resources were investigated in chronically polluted salt marshes (the Arthur Kill-AK, New York, USA). The diet niche breadth of the AK populations of mummichogs was significantly lower than that of the reference population, reflecting reduced benthic macroinfaunal species diversity. Most of the AK populations also had 2-3 times less food in their gut than the reference population. This disparity in gut fullness among the populations appeared to be partly due to ingested prey size shifts; some of the AK populations ingested fewer large prey than the reference population. Furthermore, benthic assemblages were strongly associated with sediment-associated mercury; gut fullness of the AK populations also significantly decreased with increasing mercury body burdens. These results indicate that chronic pollution may have directly (chemical bioaccumulation) and indirectly (reduced prey availability) altered the feeding ecology of mummichogs.