INTEGRATION OF THE MODELS OF ANNAGNPS AND REMM TO ASSESS RIPARIAN BUFFER SYSTEM FOR SEDIMENT REDUCTION

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Annualized Agricultural Non-Point Source Pollution model (AnnAGNPS) is used to help evaluate a watershed response to agricultural management practices to control water quality. However, AnnAGNPS version 3.5 does not contain features to estimate the effect of a riparian buffer (RB) system on water quality. The Riparian Ecosystem Management Model (REMM) is used to simulate the impact of riparian buffer systems on water quality. However, frequently the lack of measured upland loadings that are required by REMM simulation limits the application of REMM. To address this data gap, a study was conducted to integrate AnnAGNPS with REMM for RB system simulation. AnnAGNPS was used to simulate water and sediment loadings from an upland field into a three-zone RB system at the Gibbs Farm located in the Georgia coastal plain. These AnnAGNPS outputs were used as the inputs to REMM. REMM was used to simulate water and sediment movement along the riparian buffers. The AnnAGNPS simulated amount of annual runoff at the edge of the field was close to observed amounts (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.92). It is believed that a substantial portion of sand was removed from the runoff one meter into the grass buffer where the samplers were located; therefore, sand was excluded from the AnnAGNPS simulation for comparison with observed sediment. Excluding sand, the AnnAGNPS predicted amount of annual sediment matches the observed amount fairly well (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.46). In addition, based on evaluating the percent reduction of sediment at each zonal interface, the AnnAGNPS/REMM model well simulated the function of the RB system to reduce sediment.     

Radiocarbon deficiencies of US Gulf Coast lakes compromise paleo-hurricane records

Radiocarbon assays of sediments from Lake Shelby, US Gulf Coast, exhibit substantial ¹⁴C deficiencies of 9.3% and 4.7% for the limnic sapropel and associated fresh-water clams Rangia cuneata, respectively. Measured radiocarbon dates from the sapropel and clams require corrections of 785 ± 80 and 365 ± 90 ¹⁴C yr (1σ), respectively, in order to achieve consistency with the radiocarbon time scale. Lake sediments of the US Gulf Coast serve as unique repositories of pre-historic hurricane strikes. Previously unrecognized radiocarbon deficiencies likely render compromised chronologies of the paleo-hurricane records, and erroneous estimates of return period and landfall probability that are derived from the storm chronologies. The recalculated severe hurricane chronologies suggest that the annual landfall probabilities of the last millennium on the US Gulf Coast are equal to, or higher than, the preceding three millennia.     

Transition of Tidal Waves from the East to South China Seas over the Taiwan Strait: Influence of the Abrupt Step in the Topography

Observations of tidal waves between the East and South China Seas (ECS and SCS) over the Taiwan Strait (TS) suggest that the diurnal tides simply appear as one southward-propagating wave from the ECS to the SCS through the TS. The semidiurnal tides, however, behave differently in that they appear as a southward-propagating Kelvin wave in the western TS and a nearly standing wave in the eastern TS, and then diminish rapidly over the shallow shoal in the southern TS. A smaller-domain model, with sea-level boundary conditions derived from a larger-domain tidal model, was first used to simulate tides in the TS to an overall percentage of accuracy of about 90%. Subsequent numerical experiments and theoretical analysis revealed that the southward-propagating semidiurnal tides to be impeded and then reflected as they arrive at an abrupt, deepened step in the topography of the southern TS. This reflection enhances the amplitudes of the incident semidiurnal tides and contributes to the formation of a nearly standing wave in the eastern TS. The southward-propagating diurnal tides in the TS are connected by the diurnal tides in the northern SCS when the amplitudes of the two tide systems are comparable and their phases nearly equal at the step. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Numerical Study of the Upper-Layer Circulation in the South China Sea

Upper-layer circulation in the South China Sea has been investigated using a three-dimensional primitive equation eddy-resolving model. The model domain covers the region from 99° to 122°E and from 3° to 23°N. The model is forced by the monthly averaged European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model winds and the climatological monthly sea surface temperature data from National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC). Inflow and outflow through the Taiwan Strait and the Sunda shelf are prescribed monthly from the Wyrtki estimates. Inflow of the Kuroshio branch current in the Luzon Strait is assumed to have a constant volume transport of 12 Sv (1 Sv = 10⁶ m³/s), and the outflow from the open boundary to the east of Taiwan is adjusted to ensure the net volume transport through all open boundaries is zero at any instant. The model reveals that a cyclonic circulation exists all year round in the northern South China Sea. During the winter time this cyclonic eddy is located off the northwest of Luzon, coinciding with the region of positive wind stress curl in this season. This cyclonic eddy moves northward in spring due to the weakening of the northeast winds. The cyclonic circulation becomes weak and stays in the continental slope region in the northern South China Sea in the summer period. The southwest wind can raise the water level along the west coast of Luzon, but there is no anticyclonic circulation in the northern South China Sea. After the onset of the northeast monsoon winds in fall, the cyclonic eddy moves back to the region off the west coast of Luzon. In the southern South China Sea and off the Vietnam coast, the model predicts a similar flow structure as in the previous related studies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Wind relaxation as possible cause of the South China Sea Warm Current

Winter appearance of a northeastward warm current off the southern coast of China against gale force winds is well documented but lacks a plausible explanation. Relaxation of northeasterly winds is envisaged here as a possible cause of the South China Sea Warm Current in winter. A three-dimensional circulation model for the South China Sea is first driven to equilibrium by climatological forcings. Thereafter, wind forcing is relaxed from the 15th day of each month for 9 days. In winterlike months from December to April, the wind relaxation invariably triggers a northeastward current of which the location and alongshore span are comparable to that of the observed warm current. This current is driven by the pressure gradient along the northwestern boundary of the South China Sea, sea level being high to the southwest and low to the northeast. The sea level gradient is built up by the monsoon-driven southwestward coastal current along the northwestern boundary and, after wind relaxes, triggers a return current and a sea level drop that expand southwestward from the southern coast of China to the east coast of Vietnam. The current is initially barotropic, becoming increasingly baroclinic in time as warm waters from the south are advected northeastward. The model also suggests that the sea level gradient is present in most of the months of the year, but is not as dramatic as in winter to trigger fundamental changes in the circulation of the South China Sea.     

Marine ecosystem management: Fish abundance and size under exploitation

This study is targeted on policy makers and environmental scientists to illustrate the typical historical scale of depletion of our fish stocks, and what current and emerging legislation might mean for fisheries management and the metrics of fish stocks. The population demography of the Bristol Channel sole is described since 1820. Their decline in abundance, and change in length compositions, are modelled. By 2000, the mature stock had been depleted to less than 5% of its original size, and larger sole were rarely caught. The implications of maximum sustainable yield targets, and of good environmental status, are examined.     

Sedimentary geology of the Columbia River Estuary

A multiyear study of the sedimentary geology of the Columbia River Estuary has provided valuable data regarding sediment distribution, bedform distribution, and suspended sediment distribution on spatial and temporal scales that permit delineation of sedimentary environments and insight into the sedimentary processes that have shaped the estuary. In comparison to other more-intensively studied estuaries in North America, the Columbia River estuary has relatively larger tidal range (maximum semidiurnal range of 3.6m) and large riverflow (6,700m³s⁻¹). Variations in riverflow, sediment supply, and tidal flow occur over a range of time scales, making the study of modern processes, as they relate to long-term effects, particularly challenging.Analyses of more than 2000 bottom-sediment grab samples indicate that the bed material of the estuary varies in a relatively narrow range between 0 and 8 phi (1.0 and 0.0039mm) with an overall mean size of 2.5 phi (0.177mm). Sediment size decreases generally in the downstream direction. Sediments from the upriver channels are coarse (1.5–2.0phi; 0.25–0.35mm) and moderately sorted; sediments in the central estuary show wider range and variation in grain size and sorting (1.75–6.0phi; 0.016–0.3mm). Sediment from the entrance region has a mean size of 2.75phi (0.149mm) and is well sorted. Seasonal changes in sediment size distributions occur and are best delineated by those samples containing more than 10% mud (silt plus clay). Sediments containing a significant fine fraction generally occur only in the peripheral bays and in channels isolated from strong currents. Thin deposits of fine sediments are occasionally found in main channels, and the ephemeral nature of these sediments suggest that they may erode and produce the silty rip-up clasts that appear intermittently in the same regions.The distribution of bedforms of various size and shape has been mapped with side-scan sonar during three seasons and at various tidal stages. The presence of bedforms with wavelengths of 6–8m and alternating slip faces about 40cm high indicates that the deeper portion of the entrance region is dominated by tidally reversing lower flow regime sediment transport. Bedforms in the upper reaches of the estuary are much larger, with heights of up to 3m and wavelengths of up to 100m. These bedforms, and the smaller, superimposed bedforms, imply downstream transport under fluvial conditions. In the central estuary, bedforms in the deep portion of the main channels are oriented upriver while those on the shallow flanks of the channels are oriented seaward. The landward limit of upriver bedform transport varies seasonally in response to riverflow fluctuations.A complex array of sedimentary environments exists in the Columbia River estuary. Each environment is influenced by the relative importance of waves, fluvial currents, and tidal currents, as modified by the presence or absence of estuarine circulation, vegetation, or human activity. The importance of these enviroments to the ecosystem of the estuary is discussed in subsequent papers in this volume.     

Electron-Temperature Maps of the Low Solar Corona: ISCORE Results from the Total Solar Eclipse of 29 March 2006 in Libya

We conducted an experiment in conjunction with the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 in Libya that measured the coronal intensity through two filters centered at 3850 Å and 4100 Å with bandwidths of ≈?40 Å. The purpose of these measurements was to obtain the intensity ratio through these two filters to determine the electron temperature. The instrument, Imaging Spectrograph of Coronal Electrons (ISCORE), consisted of an eight inch, f/10 Schmidt Cassegrain telescope with a thermoelectrically-cooled CCD camera at the focal plane. Results show electron temperatures of 10⁵ K close to the limb to 3×10⁶ K at 1.3R _⊙. We describe this novel technique, and we compare our results to other relevant measurements. This technique could be easily implemented on a space-based platform using a coronagraph to produce global maps of the electron temperature of the solar corona.