Tidal influence on high frequency harbor oscillations in a narrow entrance bay

High frequency sea level oscillations at Wells Harbor (Maine, Northeastern US), with periods in the range of several tens of minutes, display a tidally modulated response. During low tides, these sea level oscillations reach amplitudes of 10–20 cm, while during high tides they are significantly smaller. Wells Harbor is located in a low lying area with a tidal range of about 2 m and is connected to the open ocean through a narrow channel. Thus, the extent and depth of the bay significantly vary over a tidal cycle. This changing geometry determines both the resonant periods and the amplification factor of the bay. Numerical results confirm the link between observed variability and these specific topographic features. Results imply that when exceptionally energetic long waves reach the Wells Harbor entrance (as in the case of a tsunami or meteotsunami) the expected response will be significantly stronger during low tide than during high tide. Although mean sea level would be lower in the former case, the currents inside the bay would be stronger and potentially more dangerous. This tidally modulated response could be extrapolated to other sites with similar topographic characteristics.     

Gravitational signature of rotationally distorted Jupiter caused by deep zonal winds

Both deep zonal winds, if they exist, and the basic rotational distortion of Jupiter contribute to its zonal gravity coefficients J_n for n ? 2. In order to capture the gravitational signature of Jupiter that is caused solely by its deep zonal winds, one must take into account the full effect of rotational distortion by computing the coefficients J_n in non-spherical geometry. This represents a difficult and challenging problem because the widely-used spherical-harmonic-expansion method becomes no longer suitable. Based on the model of a polytropic Jupiter with index unity, we compute Jupiter’s gravity coefficients J₂, J₄, J₆, … , J₁₂ taking into account the full effect of rotational distortion of the gaseous planet using a finite element method. For the model of deep zonal winds on cylinders parallel to the rotation axis, we also compute the variation of the gravity coefficients ΔJ₂, ΔJ₄, ΔJ₆, … , ΔJ₁₂ caused solely by the effect of the winds in non-spherical geometry. It is found that the effect of the zonal winds on lower-order coefficients is weak, ∣ΔJ_n/J_n∣ < 1%, for n = 2, 4, 6, but it is substantial for the high-degree coefficients with n ? 8.     

Strength Behavior of Naturally Cemented Marine Clay Due to Change in Ground Water Level

The change in strength and deformation behavior of a typical marine clay deposit formed under shallow water is presented and discussed for the conditions of changing water table. This is a costal marine clay deposit with moderate carbonates along the east coast of India. The soil samples were taken from tidal flats where the sea had receded some time back, and the behavior of this deposit had been studied for the conditions of 1976, with high water table, and for the conditions of 2001, with depleted water table. Undisturbed soil samples were taken from sheeted open test pits. Standard consolidation and triaxial shear tests were conducted. Consolidation tests conducted on the samples taken for 1976 conditions with high water contents indicate that cementation effect are erased out under moderate stresses. Beyond this stress range, it behaves like soft, normally consolidated clay. In contrast, the results obtained from samples taken during 2001, with depleted water table, clearly indicate that the soil behaves like an over-consolidated one, and the improvement in the system is due to the chemical bonding and desiccation.     

Dislocation recovery in fine-grained polycrystalline olivine

The rate of static dislocation recovery in Fo₉₀ olivine has been studied under conditions of high temperature and controlled atmosphere in compressively deformed polycrystals hot-pressed from synthetic (sol–gel) and natural (San Carlos) precursor powders. The sol–gel olivine, containing a small fraction of orthopyroxene, was deformed to a final strain of 19% with a maximum differential stress of 266 MPa whereas the San Carlos specimen was deformed to 15% strain and 260 MPa differential stress. Small samples cut from these deformed materials were annealed under high-temperature, controlled atmosphere conditions, for different durations to allow partial recovery of the dislocation sub-structures. Oxidative-decoration of the microstructural features, followed by backscattered electron imaging at 5 kV and image analysis, was used to determine dislocation density. The variation of dislocation density ρ with time t at absolute temperature T was fitted to a second-order rate equation, in integral form, 1/ρ(t) − 1/ρ(0) = kt with k = k ₀ exp(−E _a/RT). The activation energy E _a of the recovery process is 240 ± 43 and 355 ± 81 kJ mol⁻¹ for sol–gel and San Carlos olivine polycrystals, respectively. The measured rates are one to two orders of magnitude lower than those reported in previous studies on natural single crystal olivine. The difference may be explained by several factors such as high dislocation densities measurable from large areas at high magnification for the SEM and the technique used to estimate dislocation densities. Comparison between fine-grained sol–gel olivine and the coarser-grained San Carlos olivine aggregate did not indicate that grain boundaries play an important role in dislocation recovery, but the absence of grain boundaries might also have contributed to the high dislocation recovery rates previously measured for single crystals.     

Air-sea fluxes: 25 years of progress

During the past quarter century the study of air-sea interaction has evolved from a small branch of marine climatology to play a key role in the modelling of the coupled system of ocean and atmosphere. Knowledge of air- sea fluxes has grown, based on Monin-Obukhov similarity theory for surface boundary layers and on direct and indirect techniques of measuring the fluxes. This has been the basis for providing boundary conditions needed to couple atmospheric and oceanic circulation models that are used to forecast weather and climate. An overview of current understanding is followed by a discussion of parameterisation schemes and a chronicle of some of the experimental work that has tested theories and quantified their conclusions.     

A comparison of a GCM response to historical anthropogenic land cover change and model sensitivity to uncertainty in present-day land cover representations

This study assesses the sensitivity of the fully coupled NCAR-DOE PCM to three different representations of present-day land cover, based on IPCC SRES land cover information. We conclude that there is significant model sensitivity to current land cover characterization, with an observed average global temperature range of 0.21 K between the simulations. Much larger contrasts (up to 5 K) are found on the regional scale; however, these changes are largely offsetting on the global scale. These results show that significant biases can be introduced when outside data sources are used to conduct anthropogenic land cover change experiments in GCMs that have been calibrated to their own representation of present-day land cover. We conclude that hybrid systems that combine the natural vegetation from the native GCM datasets combined with human land cover information from other sources are best for simulating such impacts. We also performed a prehuman simulation, which had a 0.39 K ~higher average global temperature and, perhaps of greater importance, temperature changes regionally of about 2 K. In this study, the larger regional changes coincide with large-scale agricultural areas. The initial cooling from energy balance changes appear to create feedbacks that intensify mid-latitude circulation features and weaken the summer monsoon circulation over Asia, leading to further cooling. From these results, we conclude that land cover change plays a significant role in anthropogenically forced climate change. Because these changes coincide with regions of the highest human population this climate impact could have a disproportionate impact on human systems. Therefore, it is important that land cover change be included in past and future climate change simulations.     

OH-bearing planar defects in olivine produced by the breakdown of Ti-rich humite minerals from Dabie Shan (China)

The partial breakdown of Ti-chondrodite and Ti-clinohumite during exhumation from ultra-high pressure to amphibolite facies conditions in garnet-pyroxenites from Dabie Shan (China) produces coronas of olivine coexisting with ilmenite blebs. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of this newly formed olivine exhibit absorption bands in the hydroxyl-stretching region. Two intense peaks were observed at 3,564 and 3,394 cm⁻¹, identical in energy to peaks in Ti-clinohumite. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the same olivine domains revealed the presence of a complex (001) planar intergrowth. These interlayers have a 1.35 nm repeat distance, which is characteristic of clinohumite. Such interlayers are also enriched in Ti with respect to the adjacent olivine as shown by energy dispersive spectrometry. The combined evidence from FTIR spectroscopy and TEM indicates that OH is incorporated along Ti-clinohumite planar defects. This study provides evidence that the nominally anhydrous phase olivine may contain OH as a humite-type defect beyond the breakdown of the hydrous humite minerals and confirms earlier suggestions that Ti plays a key role in OH incorporation in mantle olivine. We suggest that olivine containing Ti-clinohumite defects is an important phase for water transport in subduction zones and for the storage of water in cold subcontinental mantle. However, these defects are unlikely to be stable in hotter parts of the oceanic mantle such as where basaltic magmas are generated.     

Barium partitioning in coccoliths of Emiliania huxleyi

The coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi was grown in seawater under different Ba concentrations. The relationship of coccolith Ba/Ca ratio and seawater Ba/Ca ratio was found to be linear. The linear regression yields the apparent Ba exchange coefficient of 0.10. Our data support a recently proposed generic model (Langer G., Gussone N., Nehrke G., Riebesell U., Eisenhauer A., Kuhnert H., Rost B., Trimborn S., and Thoms S. (2006) Coccolith strontium to calcium ratios in Emiliania huxleyi: the dependence on seawater strontium and calcium concentrations. Limnol. Oceanogr.51, 310-320.) developed for explaining apparent exchange coefficients of metabolically inert divalent trace metals, such as Sr, in E. huxleyi. This model represents the first approach combining cell physiological processes and data from inorganic precipitation experiments, which quantitatively explains coccolith apparent Sr and Ba exchange coefficients.     

Reference Values Following ISO Guidelines for Frequently Requested Rock Reference Materials

We present new reference values for nineteen USGS, GSJ and GIT‐IWG rock reference materials that belong to the most accessed samples of the GeoReM database. The determination of the reference values and their uncertainties at the 95% confidence level follows as closely as possible ISO guidelines and the Certification Protocol of the International Association of Geoanalysts. We used analytical data obtained by the state‐of‐the‐art techniques published mainly in the last 20 years and available in GeoReM. The data are grouped into four categories of different levels of metrological confidence, starting with isotope dilution mass spectrometry as a primary method. Data quality was checked by careful investigation of analytical procedures and by the application of the Horwitz function. As a result, we assign a new and more reliable set of reference values and respective uncertainties for major, minor and a large group of trace elements of the nineteen investigated rock reference materials.