Education for sustainable development for Tokyo Bay: Developing a practice framework of university-based coastal ESD

This paper reviews the initial phase of a coastal education for sustainable development program for Edomae, the innermost reaches of Tokyo Bay. The program has been steered by a working group of Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology faculty members from different academic backgrounds. Although the process began with conventional educational ideas, the ESD practice framework evolved to include more interactive activities. The overall goal is to pursue discussions of a plan for the sustainable use of Tokyo Bay in the coastal communities through a university–community partnership by developing Edomae ESD leaders in the coastal community.     

Comparison of Kuroshio surface velocities derived from satellite altimeter and drifting buoy data

Sea-surface geostrophic velocities for the Kuroshio region calculated from TOPEX/POSEIDON altimetry data together within situ oceanographic data are compared with surface velocities derived from drifting buoy trajectories. The geostrophic velocities agree well with the observed velocities, suggesting that the Kuroshio surface layer is essentially in geostrophic balance, within measurement error. The comparison is improved a little when the centrifugal acceleration is taken into account. The observed velocities are divided into the temporal mean and fluctuation components, and the partitioning of velocities between these two components is examined. For the Kuroshio region, most of the fluctuation components of the velocities derived from drifting buoys are found to be positive. This result suggests that Eulerian mean velocities for the Kuroshio region estimated from drifting buoy data tend to be larger than actual means, due to the buoy’s tendency to sample preferentially in the high-velocity Kuroshio.     

Observation of the abyssal current in the West Mariana Basin

In order to investigate long-term variations of deep sea currents and temperature in the western North Pacific, a direct current measurement was made at 12.5°N, 137°E from July 1985 to July 1986. The current meter was moored at a depth of about 4,000 m (bottom depth 4,604 m) in the West Mariana Basin, very close to the deep water passage to the North Pacific Basin. Throughout the observed period, the current flows southward with an average speed of 0.8 cm sec^–1. There are significant variations of both currents and temperature within the period of 60 days. For the shorter time scales, in addition to the tidal oscillations with one day and half day periods, there is a notable spectral peak of the current with a clockwise rotation at a period of 2.2 days, which is slightly shorter than the local inertial period of 2.3 days.The observed southward current seems to indicate that the deep sea water in the West Mariana Basin flows out through the sill which is deeper than 4,000 m and is located about 200 km southeast of the mooring point. A simple analysis of the linear plane wave indicates that the medium time-scale variation with a period of 60 days is associated with the barotropic Rossby wave whose wavelength is 390 km and whose trough direction is 30° clockwise from the north.     

Distribution of the subsurface chlorophyll maximum and its nutrient-light environment in and around the Euroshio off Japan

Continuous distribution of the subsurface chlorophyll maximum (SCM) was confirmed in the Kuroshio and neighbouring areas in observations at 15 to 40 km intervals. Chlorophyll amounts occurring in and immediately around the SCM constituted 60 to 80% of the total chlorophyll in the water column above the 1% light level. The SCM zone received 1 to 10% of the surface irradiance at its center and contained sufficient macronutrients to support approximately one doubling of the existing phytoplankton biomass at most stations. There were several stations where there were higher nutrient concentrations that would support more than one doubling of the existing biomass around the SCM zone, and this was interpreted as resulting from uplift of the SCM zone due to upwelling.     

Response of Eucalanus bungii to oceanographic conditions in the western subarctic Pacific Ocean: Retrospective analysis of the Odate Collections

To evaluate their response to oceanographic conditions, interannual variations in seasonal abundance of Eucalanus bungii were investigated in zooplankton samples collected from the Oyashio Current system from 1960 to 2002. Large decadal changes were observed in seasonal timing and population age-structure. During the early 1970s and 1990s, E. bungii were abundant until mid-summer, but during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the season of maximum abundance was limited to spring and early summer. From the late 1970s to early 1980s, spring–summer abundance of newly recruited young copepodites (C1–C2) declined significantly, and an even more pronounced decline was observed for the abundance of the late copepodite stages (C3–C5). Monthly population structure showed that young of the year stopped development at C3 during the late 1970s to early 1980s, but molted into late copepodite stages in the other decades. Seasonal weakening of the Aleutian Low Pressure System estimated from North Pacific Index (NPI) was rapid during the late 1970s to early 1980s, and the NPI was positively correlated with phosphate concentrations at sea surface, spring–summer abundance of the young copepodites stages, and the extended duration of the season of high abundance. These results suggest that the decadal decline of copepod abundance originated at the early life stages, and was associated with a shift of atmospheric and oceanographic conditions. As possible biological mechanisms, we propose reduced egg production, lower survival for the portion of the annual cohort with late birth date, and overwintering of the survivors at younger stages.     

Symplectic integrators and their application to dynamical astronomy

Symplectic integrators have many merits compared with traditional integrators:     

A numerical study of polar ionospheric currents

Numerical calculations for the electric current in the polar ionosphere have been made by assuming some realistic distributions of the electric field and conductivity. Two dynamo actions are taken into account; one of which is induced by ionospheric winds and the other by the solar wind. For the solar wind dynamo action, it is found that the secondary polarization field caused by non-uniform distribution of ionospheric conductivity is much larger than the primary field induced by the solar wind, suggesting its important effect on charged particles in the magnetosphere, and that the irrotational current having a source and sink is of the same order of magnitude as the solenoidal current closing its circuit in the ionosphere. It is also found that the solar wind is, in general, more effective than the ionospheric winds in producing polar current systems such as DP 1 and 2, but in some cases the ionospheric winds have a significant effect on the current distribution.     

Impact-induced chondrule flattening in the Allende CV3 carbonaceous chondrite: Shock experiments

Abstract— We have carried out shock-recovery experiments on the Allende CV3 carbonaceous chondrite using a single-stage propellant gun and succeeded in reproducing oriented, flattened chondrules like those observed in some natural CV3 chondrites. The Allende samples were shocked at equilibrium pressures of 11 and 21 GPa, which are close to the highest values in shock stages S2 and S3, respectively (Stöffler et al., 1991). Chondrules are flattened nearly perpendicular to the compaction axis with mean aspect ratios of 1.34 and 1.62 at pressures of 11 and 21 GPa, respectively; thus, the degree of chondrule flattening is proportional to the shock intensity. The chondrule flattening and foliation are mainly due to collapse of pores in the matrix under shock pressure. High matrix abundance of CV3 chondrites could result in much apparent chondrule flattening relative to ordinary chondrites. Optical and electron microscope observations show that textural and mineralogical characteristics of chondrules and matrix in the shock-loaded samples are very similar to those observed in naturally shocked CV3 chondrites. Our results provide strong support for the interpretation that the chondrule flattening and foliation in CV3 chondrites were caused by shock-induced pressure due to hypervelocity impacts on the meteorite parent bodies.     

Local time asymmetries of the SSC-associated hydromagnetic variations at the geosynchronous altitude

167 SSC events have been studied by using the data observed at the multiple-satellites at the geosynchronous altitude. The strong local time asymmetry of the SSC amplitude which was found by Kokubun (1983) has been confirmed. The pronounced local time asymmetry has also been found with the direction of the initial movement of Psc magnetic pulsations. Those local time effects are interpreted by the intensification of the magnetopause surface current during a SSC event, and by the distance between the geosynchronous satellite and the surface current. It has also been clarified that the SSC signal propagates with a speed of 400–700 km s^?1 across the field lines in the magnetosphere as suggested by Wilken et al. (1982).