KISAP: A new In situ seafloor velocity measurement tool

The KISAP (Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources Seafloor Acoustic Probe) was developed to obtain in situ compressional wave velocity and attenuation profiles for seafloor sediments. The instrument comprises recording channel receivers, and an acoustic source, and can be attached to a corer or a probe. Here, we report experiments comparing KISAP in situ velocity to laboratory velocity of colocated piston cores. KISAP data matched laboratory data (corrected for temperature and pressure) reasonably. KISAP can be used to collect in situ acoustic data and can be effectively used to calibrate previous laboratory data to in situ data.     

Impact test simulations of stiffened plates using the micromechanical porous plasticity model

This paper first reviews the physical meanings and the expressions of two representative strain rate models: CSM (Cowper–Symonds model) and JCM (Johnson–Cook model). Since it is known that the CSM and JCM are suitable for low-intermediate and intermediate-high rate ranges, many studies regarding marine accidents such as ship-to-ship collisions, ship-to-rock groundings, and explosions in FPSO have employed the former in particular. A formula to predict the material constant of the CSM is introduced from a literature survey. The validity of the formula is proved by comparing with strain rate test results of high strength marine structural steels of DH-36. Numerical simulations with two different material constitutive equations, the classical metal plasticity model based on the von Mises yield function and the micromechanical porous plasticity model based on the Gurson yield function, have been carried out for stiffened plates under impact loading. It is concluded that the porous plasticity model with the porosity fracture criterion can quantitatively predict plastic deformation process and final fracture under impact loading if the material constants are properly chosen.     

Oxygen-Containing Compounds Identified in Groundwater from Fuel Release Sites Using GCxGC-TOF-MS

This research continues a 7-year study of oxygen-containing organic compounds present in groundwater at gasoline and diesel fuel release sites that are quantified as diesel-range “total petroleum hydrocarbons” when measured by methods utilizing solvent extraction and gas chromatography. Two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used to tentatively identify 1162 compounds (TICs) in 113 groundwater samples from 22 sites. Samples were collected from wells either upgradient of the release, within the source zone, or downgradient of the source but still within the plume of dissolved organics associated with release. The names and formulas of all TICs found in samples from each well type are presented and the results from upgradient and downgradient locations are compared in detail. About 60% of the most frequently detected TICs in downgradient wells were also detected in upgradient wells. A majority of these were saturated straight chain alkyl acids, commonly called fatty acids, or fatty acid esters. Of TICs frequently detected in downgradient wells but not upgradient wells, over half were branched alkyl alcohols. Hierarchical cluster analysis results suggest about 80% of the chemical composition of downgradient samples is more similar to upgradient samples than to source area samples. This similarity is due to the presence of the same types of fatty acids and esters. Principal component analysis indicates a continuum of biodegradation between the source area and downgradient samples with the latter becoming more consistent with upgradient samples. Results suggest some TICs may not be petroleum degradation intermediates but compounds synthesized by microorganisms through secondary production and carbon cycling.     

Cambrian integrative stratigraphy and timescale of China

The Cambrian Period is the first period of the Phanerozoic Eon and witnessed the explosive appearance of the metazoans, representing the beginning of the modern earth-life system characterized by animals in contrary to the Precambrian earth-life system dominated by microbial life. However, understanding Cambrian earth-life system evolution is hampered by regional and global stratigraphic correlations due to an incomplete chronostratigraphy and consequent absence of a highresolution timescale. Here we briefly review the historical narrative of the present international chronostratigraphic framework of the Cambrian System and summarize recent advances and problems of the undefined Cambrian stage GSSPs, in particular we challenge the global correlation of the GSSP for the Cambrian base, in addition to Cambrian chemostratigraphy and geochronology. Based on the recent advances of the international Cambrian chronostratigraphy, revisions to the Cambrian chronostratigraphy of China, which are largely based on the stratigraphic record of South China, are suggested, and the Xiaotanian Stage is newly proposed for the Cambrian Stage 2 of China. We further summarize the integrative stratigraphy of South China, North China and Tarim platforms respectively with an emphasis on the facies variations of the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary successions and problems for identification of the Cambrian base in the different facies and areas of China. Moreover, we discuss stratigraphic complications that are introduced by poorly fossiliferous dolomite successions in the upper Cambrian System which are widespread in South China, North China and Tarim platforms.     

A Review on the Macromolecular Compositions of Phytoplankton and the Implications for Aquatic Biogeochemistry

Ocean Science Journal - Biochemical composition of phytoplankton is a key indicator of the physiological and nutritional status of phytoplankton. A balanced biochemical pattern represents a healthy...     

Effect of magnetic field on a shock-induced thermal instability

The effect of a magnetic field on a thermal instability has been studied in a radiatively cooling region behind an interstellar shock of moderate propagation velocity ( 10 km s^–1). It is shown that the presence of a magnetic field of a few microgauss is very effective in preventing the thermal instability from building-up density concentrations. In the absence of the magnetic field, the shock-induced thermal instability will amplify a pre-shock density inhomogeneity by more than an order of magnitude. However, in the field's presence, the amplified density contrast is shown to be only a factor 2. Implications for the trace of a sweeping broom in the Pleiades nebula are discussed.Paper presented at the IAU Third Asian-Pacific Regional Meeting, held in Kyoto, Japan, between 30 September–6 October, 1984.     

Added mass and damping of horizontal circular cylinder sections

This note brings together and extends previously known results for the added masses and dampings of surface-piercing or completely submerged horizontal circular cylinders. For vertical (heave) motions, but not horizontal (sway) motions, a striking qualitative change occurs in these hydrodynamic coefficients when the cylinder breaks the surface. This is simply explained in terms of low-frequency asymptotics and the equivalent wavemaker method.     

A numerical experiment of the M2 tide in the Yellow sea

Semi-diurnal tides in the Yellow Sea are calculated by integrating the shallow water wave equations with frictional and inertial terms.It is found that the results depend on the bottom friction. In the frictionless case the tidal range is unstably amplified because of the occurrence of resonance of the semi-diurnal tidal component in Inchon Bay. When the bottom friction is in the form of the square of velocity, the results agree fairly well with the observations.The following results are obtained. First, the tidal range is larger at the coast of the Korean Peninsula than at the China Coast. Second, resonance of the semi-diurnal tide occurs in Inchon Bay. Third, bottom friction is very important in the shallow ocean,i.e., when the bottom friction become large, the phase lag is retarded and the tidal range decreases.The amplitude and the phase lag calculated in this study agree well with the observations in the case of _b =_b ² V¦V¦, _b ²=0.0026, especially in the coast of the Korean Peninsula.     

Three-dimensional hydrodynamic-eutrophication model (HEM-3D): application to Kwang-Yang Bay, Korea

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to describe the water quality model of Three-Dimensional Hydrodynamic-Eutrophication Model (HEM-3D) and to present an application of HEM-3D to a coastal system in Korea. HEM-3D, listed as a tool for the development of Total Maximum Daily Load by US Environmental Protection Agency, is a general-purpose modeling package for simulation of the flow field, transport, and eutrophication processes throughout the water column and of diagenetic processes in the benthic sediment. This paper describes the water quality model of HEM-3D with emphasis on its unique features. Excessive loadings of organic wastes have significantly deteriorated water quality conditions of Korean coastal waters. This paper presents an application of HEM-3D to Kwang-Yang Bay, a coastal system in Korea, which is one of the first water quality modeling efforts for Korean coastal waters accompanied by a relatively comprehensive field program. The current status of data availability for water quality modeling in Korea is discussed.     

Spatial and temporal aspects of phytoplankton blooms in complex ecosystems off the korean coast from satellite ocean color observations

Complex physical, chemical and biological interactions off the Korean coast created several striking patterns in the phytoplankton blooms, which became conspicuous during the measurements of ocean color from space. This study concentrated on analyzing the spatial and temporal aspects of phytoplankton chlorophyll variability in these areas using an integrated dataset from a Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), Advanced Very High Resolution (AVHRR) sensor, and Conductivity Temperature Depth (CTD) sensor. The results showed that chlorophyll concentrations were elevated in coastal and open ocean regions, with strong summer and fall blooms, which appeared to spread out in most of the enclosed bays and neighboring waters due to certain oceanographic processes. The chlorophyll concentration was observed to range between 3 and 54 mg m^-3 inside Jin-hae Bay and adjacent coastal bays and 0.5 and 8 mg m^-3 in the southeast sea offshore waters, this gradual decrease towards oceanic waters suggested physical transports of phytoplankton blooms from the shallow shelves to slope waters through the influence of the Tsushima Warm Current (TWC) along the Tsushima Strait. Horizontal distribution of potential temperature (θ) and salinity (S) of water off the southeastern coast exhibited cold and low saline surface water (θ<19°C; S<32.4) and warm and high saline subsurface water (θ>12°C; S>34.4) at 75dBar, corroborating TWC intrusion along the Tsushima Strait. An eastward branch of this current was called the East Korean Warm Current (EKWC), tracked with the help of CTD data and satellite-derived sea surface temperature, which often influenced the dynamics of mesoscale anticyclonic eddy fields off the Korean east coast during the summer season. The process of such mesoscale anticyclonic eddy features might have produced interior upwelling that could have shoaled and steepened the nutricline, enhancing phytoplankton population by advection or diffusion of nutrients in the vicinity of Ulleungdo in the East Sea.