The north equatorial countercurrent in the West Atlantic during the summer of 1988

Experimental data provided by a hydrophysical profiling probe are invoked to examine the vertical and horizontal structures of the north equatorial countercurrent in the Atlantic Ocean. The kinematics of waters and the hydrological element distribution are compared. The countercurrent's major parameters have been identified and volume transport has been calculated.Translated by V.Puchkin.     

Seasonal Variability of the Thermohaline Characteristics and Volumetric Statistical Parameters of Water Masses in the Drake Passage

On the basis of the many-year monthly average thermohaline data of the oceanographic array, we study some regularities of the seasonal cycle in the fields of temperature, salinity, and the characteristics of water masses in the Drake Passage. We obtain and analyze the amplitude and phase parameters of seasonal oscillations of the investigated quantities. By using the volumetric statistical T, S-analysis, we deduce quantitative estimates of the annual variations of the volumes of main water masses in the Drake Passage. Possible mechanisms responsible for the phenomena observed in this region are discussed.__________Translated from Morskoi Gidrofizicheskii Zhurnal, No. 6, pp. 62–73, November–December, 2004.     

Characteristics of the density field inhomogeneities in the north-western tropical Atlantic

Horizontal inhomogeneities of the density field have been identified at ten depth levels for four seasons. Spatio-temporal variabilities of the maximal gradient zones have been established in the meridional and zonal directions and in the direction of the largest growth of the density gradient. The characteristics of the density field inhomogeneities have been determined (climatic horizontal area), which are used to model dynamic processes in the ocean. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Vertical distribution of the sound speed in the Gulf Stream system

Using archived historical data on the temperature/salinity distribution, this paper describes the structure of the mean seasonal and the actual field of the computed speed of sound in the Gulf Stream region. The formation of acoustic channels of large, medium, and small size is considered, depending on the vertical thermohaline structure of waters. The paper provides statistical characteristics of the sound speed field and acoustic channels of waters interacting in the Gulf Stream system. Translated by Vladimir A. Puchkin.     

Staircase and inversion structures of thermocline in the north-west Tropical Atlantic

The peculiarities of the vertical fine thermohaline structure of waters in the north-west Tropical Atlantic are considered on the data of STD surveys recorded in winter-spring 1984. The variability of the characteristics of staircase and inversion elements of stratification with depth is analysed over the horizontal as well as related to the mesoscale and large-scale dynamics of waters. The coefficients of horizontal turbulent exchange are estimated within the framework of Joyce's hypothesis on quasi-compensation of vertical and turbulent horizontal transport. The effects of double diffusion are considered to dominate in vertical transport.UDK 551.465.15Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

Process of Postglacial Transgression on the Coasts of the East Siberian and Laptev Seas

Oceanology - The width of shelves and continental slopes of the East Siberian and Laptev seas affected the postglacial transgression. This dependence, in turn, is directly determined by the...     

Late Quaternary faulting along the western margin of the Poronaysk Lowland in central Sakhalin, Russia

Sakhalin Island straddles an active plate boundary between the Okhotsk and Eurasian plates. South of Sakhalin, this plate boundary is illuminated by a series of M_w 7–8 earthquakes along the eastern margin of the Sea of Japan. Although this plate boundary is considered to extend onshore along the length of Sakhalin, the location and convergence rate of the plate boundary had been poorly constrained. We mapped north-trending active faults along the western margin of the Poronaysk Lowland in central Sakhalin based on aerial photograph interpretation and field observations. The active faults are located east of and parallel to the Tym–Poronaysk fault, a terrane boundary between Upper Cretaceous and Neogene strata; the active faults appear to have reactivated the terrane boundary at depth in Quaternary time. The total length of the active fault zone on land is about 140 km. Tectonic geomorphic features such as east-facing monoclinal and fault scarps, back-tilted fluvial terraces, and numerous secondary faults suggest that the faults are west-dipping reverse faults. Assuming the most widely developed geomorphic surface in the study area formed during the last glacial maximum at about 20 ka based on similarities of geomorphic features with those in Hokkaido Island, we obtain a vertical component of slip rate of 0.9–1.4 mm/year. Using the fault dip of 30–60°W observed at an outcrop and trench walls, a net slip rate of 1.0–2.8 mm/year is obtained. The upper bound of the estimate is close to a convergence rate across the Tym–Poronaysk fault based on GPS measurements. A trenching study across the fault zone dated the most recent faulting event at 3500–4000 years ago. The net slip associated with this event is estimated at about 4.5 m. Since the last faulting event, a minimum of 3.5 m of strain, close to the strain released during the last event, has accumulated along the central portion of the active strand of the Tym–Poronaysk fault.     

Efficient solution of 3-D geomechanical problems by indirect BEM using iterative methods

The research herein primarily addresses to geomechanical problems of underground constructions in Mining and Civil Engineering. The problems are solved using the Indirect Boundary Element Method (IBEM). Although the geometry of the constructions themselves is usually very complicated, it will become much more complicated if we were to draw the existing joints. The computational problem therefore is how to deal with huge amount of equations and find out efficient methods of their formation and solution keeping in mind restraints of the computer memory and calculation time. Several approaches are used to enhance the performance of the Indirect Boundary Element Method. One of them deals with application of efficient equation solvers. It is shown that Krylov-type methods like CGS and GMRES with simple Jacoby preconditioning appear to be efficient and robust. In addition, adaptive integration on the boundary elements, together with diagonal dominance of equationsmake it possible to accelerate convergence of the iterative procedure. Some of the problems discussed allow a substantial reduction of matrix entries that leads to a very cheap iterative solution keeping reasonable accuracy of the results. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Method of ecological standardization of the impact on water bodies that cannot be standardized by bioassay: Case study of water bodies in Don basin

The work is focused on studying the possibility to ecologically standardize the characteristics that are not concentrations of chemical substances, i.e., water abundance; water temperature; and pH, which does not belong to standardized characteristics. The initial data include the data of biological (water quality classes by characteristics of plankton, periphyton, and zoobenthos) and physicochemical monitoring in 1975–1991 in water bodies of the Lower Don, as well as data on fish catches and yield in the Lower Don. The values of ecologically tolerable levels are obtained for three factors, such that going above these levels causes the environmental ill-being of the appropriate biological indicator. Nonchemical impacts, represented by water abundance and temperature have almost no effect on the deterioration of ichthyological estimates of the state (the only exception is the correlation between water abundance and sabrefish catches). At the same time, planktonic and benthic estimates appear to be more sensitive indicators of water quality decline in all three factors under consideration. The pH exponent affects all ecological groupings of Don ecosystems. The strictest upper boundaries of ecologically tolerable levels of water abundance were recorded for the sabrefish catches. On the other hand, insufficient water abundance during spring and summer deteriorates the state of planktonic and benthic organisms.