Detection of the water-soluble fraction of crude oil by the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus

The ability of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, to detect petroleum hydrocarbons was measured with behavioural techniques. When presented with a water-soluble fraction of Prudhoe Bay crude oil, blue crabs abruptly changed antennular orientation, began rhythmic beating of the maxillipedal flagellae, and increased antennular flicking rate. The threshold concentration at which 50% of the crabs detected the water-soluble fraction was 2 × 10^?6 mg/litre. The blue crab apparently can readily detect petroleum hydrocarbons at concentrations found in chronically polluted areas as well as oil spill situations.     

ENSO variability and the eastern tropical Pacific: A review

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) encompasses variability in both the eastern and western tropical Pacific. During the warm phase of ENSO, the eastern tropical Pacific is characterized by equatorial positive sea surface temperature (SST) and negative sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies, while the western tropical Pacific is marked by off-equatorial negative SST and positive SLP anomalies. Corresponding to this distribution are equatorial westerly wind anomalies in the central Pacific and equatorial easterly wind anomalies in the far western Pacific. Occurrence of ENSO has been explained as either a self-sustained, naturally oscillatory mode of the coupled ocean–atmosphere system or a stable mode triggered by stochastic forcing. Whatever the case, ENSO involves the positive ocean–atmosphere feedback hypothesized by Bjerknes. After an El Niño reaches its mature phase, negative feedbacks are required to terminate growth of the mature El Niño anomalies in the central and eastern Pacific. Four requisite negative feedbacks have been proposed: reflected Kelvin waves at the ocean western boundary, a discharge process due to Sverdrup transport, western Pacific wind-forced Kelvin waves, and anomalous zonal advections. These negative feedbacks may work together for terminating El Niño, with their relative importance being time-dependent.ENSO variability is most pronounced along the equator and the coast of Ecuador and Peru. However, the eastern tropical Pacific also includes a warm pool north of the equator where important variability occurs. Seasonally, ocean advection seems to play an important role for SST variations of the eastern Pacific warm pool. Interannual variability in the eastern Pacific warm pool may be largely due to a direct oceanic connection with the ENSO variability at the equator. Variations in temperature, stratification, insolation, and productivity associated with ENSO have implications for phytoplankton productivity and for fish, birds, and other organisms in the region. Long-term changes in ENSO variability may be occurring and are briefly discussed. This paper is part of a comprehensive review of the oceanography of the eastern tropical Pacific.     

Distributions of dissolved and particulate biogenic thiols in the subartic Pacific Ocean

Dissolved and particulate concentrations of the biogenic thiols cysteine (Cys), arginine–cysteine (Arg–Cys), glutamine–cysteine (Gln–Cys), γ-glutamate–cysteine (γ-Glu–Cys) and glutathione (GSH) were measured in the subartic Pacific Ocean in the summer of 2003 using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with precolumn derivatization as reported in previous work. In this study, a preconcentration protocol for the derivatized thiols was utilized to extend detection limits of dissolved thiols to picomolar levels. The measured concentrations of particulate and dissolved thiols were uncoupled, with distinctive depth profiles and large differences in the particulate to dissolved ratios between individual compounds. Glutathione was the most abundant particulate thiol whereas the most abundant dissolved thiol was γ-Glu–Cys, with concentrations as high as 15 nM. Given the relatively small pool of intracellular γ-Glu–Cys and the very low dissolved concentrations of GSH, we hypothesize that glutathione released from cells is rapidly converted to the potentially degradation resistant γ-Glu–Cys outside the cell. The relatively high concentrations of other dissolved thiols compared to particulate concentrations implies both biological exudation and slow degradation rates. Some thiols appear to vary with changes in nutrient availability but this effect is difficult to decouple from changes in community structure inferred from pigment analyses. Dissolved thiol concentrations also exceed typical metal concentrations in the subartic Pacific, supporting previous arguments that they may be important in metal speciation.     

Study of Adsorption Isotherm Curves of Amino Acids on the Kaolinite

This paper studies the adsorption isotherm curves of four amino acids (glyucine,aspartic acid,glutamic acid and lysine)and the effects of existences of different concentrations of Cu(Ⅱ) on them.Both the adsorption isotherm of the amino acids on the kaolinite and that when the copper ion Cu(Ⅱ） exists belong to the Langmuir type.The slopes of these adsorption isotherm increase with the increasing concentrations of Cu(Ⅱ） added.It can be explained in terms of formation of the type(Ⅰ） ternary surface complexes in these systems.The regular pattern of the effects of copper ion Cu(Ⅱ) on the adsorption isotherm of amino acids on the kaolinite is identical with that of its effects on the exchange and adsorption percentage E(%)-pH on the kaolinite in the same system.     

New sets of wavelet-forming functions

One of the most efficient tools of studying meteorological and climatic time series is wavelet analysis, which allows local properties of a nonstationary time series to be examined. New sets of continuous and discrete wavelet-forming functions are proposed. All proposed wavelets are finite (have a bounded carrier), even, and well localized in the spectral space.     

Change of multifractal thermal characteristics in the western Philippine sea upper layer during internal wave-soliton propagation

The upper layer (above 140 m depth) temperature in the western Philippine Sea near Taiwan was sampled using a coastal monitoring buoy (CMB) with 15 attached thermistors during July 28–August 7, 2005. The data were collected every 10 min at 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 m using the CMB sensors, and every 15 sec at 15 different depths between 25 m and 140 m. Internal waves and solitons were identified from the time-depth plot of the temperature field. Without the internal waves and solitons, the power spectra, structure functions, and singular measures (representing the intermittency) of temperature field satisfy the power law with multi-scale characteristics at all depths. The internal waves do not change the basic characteristics of the multifractal structure. However, the internal solitons change the power exponent of the power spectra drastically, especially in the low wave number domain; they also break down the power law of the structure function and increase the intermittency parameter. The physical mechanisms causing these different effects need to be explored further.     

Carbon balance in a salt marsh: Interactions of diffusive export, tidal deposition and rainfall-caused erosion

Studies of the concentrations of particulate and dissolved organic carbon in the Duplin River, of the tidal exchange of POC and DOC in the marsh, of the standing stock and movement of Spartina alterniflora wrack in the Duplin, and of the removal of carbon from the surface of the marsh by rain were conducted at Sapelo Island, Georgia in order to test three hypotheses about export of carbon from the Duplin River watershed. We found that the gradients in POC and DOC concentrations are such that carbon is being transported down the Duplin River throughout the year, although in smaller quantities than previously believed. In contrast, almost all tidal exchanges within the marsh result in deposition of carbon. Most of this deposited carbon is subsequently eroded as a result of rain falling on the exposed marsh surface, and is washed back into the tidal creeks. This cycle of deposition and erosion is a possible mechanism keeping POC in the thin aerobic surface layer of the marsh, thus increasing its availability to detritivores and aerobic microbes. The standing stock of wrack is only a fraction of the S. alterniflora produced each year, and its export is a negligible term in the carbon balance equation.     

积极推进海域使用管理两项制度的落实

海域使用管理两项制度的推进,是国家海洋局2000年重点工作任务之一。在局党组的高度关注下,在海域管理司领导和全司同志的共同努力下,在财政部综合司的大力支持下,2000年海域使用管理工作成效显著,管理力度明显加大。 1 稳打稳扎,逐步贯彻落实海域使用管理的两项制度     

Kuroshio extension variability explored through assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON altimeter data into a quasi-geostrophic model

Mesoscale features in the eastward extension of the Kuroshio were investigated using assimilation of TOPEX/POSEIDON (T/P) data into a three-layer quasi-geostrophic model. The T/P data exhibited an elongated state of the southern recirculation gyre in 1993–95 and 1997, between whose two periods the gyre had a contracted state in 1995–96. A few stationary eddies were located in the southern gyre during the contracted state. The baroclinic instability, which was indicated by the phase shift from the uppermost-to the lowest-layer anomalies toward the downstream side, was evident near the Kuroshio Extension (KE) path. Since the instability never appeared in the artificial model without bottom topography, the topographic barrier for the eastward flow in the lowest layer was a necessary condition for the instability. The instability synchronized with the transition in the western region of the KE axis from the elongated to the contracted states. This evolution was interpreted as if the baroclinic instability played some part in the KE states and was a trigger for the transition from the elongated to the contracted states.     

Physiological and behavioral responses of Bathynerita naticoidea (Gastropoda: Neritidae) and Methanoaricia dendrobranchiata (Polychaeta: Orbiniidae) to hypersaline conditions at a brine pool cold seep

Bathynerita naticoidea (Gastropoda: Neritidae) and Methanoaricia dendrobranchiata (Polychaeta: Orbiniidae) are two of the most abundant invertebrates associated with cold‐seep mussel beds in the Gulf of Mexico. At the methane seep known as Brine Pool NR‐1 (27 °43.415 N, 91 °16.756 W; 650 m depth), which is surrounded by a broad band of mussels (Bathymodiolus childressi), these species have distinctly different patterns of abundance, with the gastropod being found mostly at the outer edge of the mussel bed (average density in November 2003: 817 individuals·m⁻² in outer zone, 20·m⁻² in inner zone) and the polychaete being found almost exclusively near the inner edge (average density in November 2003: 3155 individuals·m⁻² in inner zone, 0·m⁻² in outer zone), adjacent to the brine pool itself. The salinity of the brine pool exceeds 120, so we hypothesized that M. dendrobranchiata should be more tolerant of high salinities than B. naticoidea. The opposite proved to be true. The gastropods were capable of withstanding salinities at least as high as 85, whereas the polychaetes died at salinities higher than 75. Both species were osmoconformers over the range of salinities (35–75) tested. Behavioral responses of B. naticoidea to salinities of 50, 60, and 70 were investigated in inverted vertical haloclines. Gastropods generally did not enter water of salinity greater than 60, but tolerated short periods at 60. Behavioral avoidance of brine should limit the vertical distribution of B. naticoidea in the inner zone to the top 2.5–5 cm of the mussel bed. Behavior is also a likely (though unproven) mechanism for controlling horizontal distribution of this species across the mussel bed. Methanoaricia dendrobranchiata can tolerate short excursions into the brine, but probably avoids hypersaline conditions by aggregating on the tops of the mussels.