Upwelling plumes in sagami bay and adjacent water around the Izu Islands,Japan

Water plumes, 20 km long or less, identified by low temperature, high salinity and high nutrient concentrations, were observed on the eastern side of Izu Islands where the Kuroshio Current or its branch flowed eastward. The T-S diagrams and the vertical profiles of oceanographic variables indicated that the water plumes resulted from the upwelling of subsurface water. A newly formed plume, characterized by a sharp temperature front and high nutrient concentrations, contained less chlorophyll than did old plumes. It is suggested that the upwelling plumes are maintained for a period long enough to allow luxuriant growth of phytoplankton.     

Variations of the Kuroshio Axis South of Kyushu in Relation to the Large Meander of the Kuroshio

The characteristics of the Kuroshio axis south of Kyushu, which meanders almost sinusoidally, are clarified in relation to the large meander of the Kuroshio by analyzing water temperature data during 1961–95 and sea level during 1984–95. The shape of the Kuroshio axis south of Kyushu is classified into three categories of small, medium, and large amplitude of meander. The small amplitude category occupies more than a half of the large-meander (LM) period, while the medium amplitude category takes up more than a half of the non-large-meander (NLM) period. Therefore, the amplitude and, in turn, the curvature of the Kuroshio axis is smaller on average during the LM period than the NLM period. The mean Kuroshio axis during the LM period is located farther north at every longitude south of Kyushu than during the NLM period, with a slight difference west of the Tokara Islands and a large difference to the east. A northward shift of the Kuroshio axis in particular east of the Tokara Islands induces small amplitude and curvature of the meandering shape during the LM period. During the NLM period, the meandering shape and position south of Kyushu change little with Kuroshio volume transport. In the LM formation stage, the variation of the Kuroshio axis is small west of the Tokara Islands but large to the east due to a small meander of the Kuroshio. In the LM decay stage, the Kuroshio meanders greatly south of Kyushu and is located stably near the coast southeast of Kyushu. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Sea level variations around the Nansei Islands and the large meander in the Kuroshio south of central Japan

The sea level difference between Naze and Nishinoomote and sea level anomalies (the residuals after removal of seasonal variations) around the Nansei Islands were examined in relation to the large meander in the Kuroshio south of central Japan. They are indices of surface velocity and geostrophic transport of the Kuroshio in the Tokara Strait and in the East China Sea, respectively. All of them were large during the meandering period, and each of them reached a maximum before or after the generation of the large meander in 1975. Thus the surface velocity and the geostrophic transport of the Kuroshio in the Tokara Strait and the East China Sea were large during the meandering period. The sea level difference between Naze and Nishinoomote (or Makurazaki) shows that the surface velocity and geostrophic transport in the Tokara Strait were significantly larger during the extinction stage in 1963 and during the generation stage in 1975 and were correlated with the position of the Kuroshio east of Kyûshû in 1974 and 1975 before the generation of the large meander.The surface velocity of the Kuroshio southeast of Yakushima (E-line) based on dynamic calculation referred to 1,000 db was weak during the meandering period, and was out of phase with the variation of surface velocity in the Tokara Strait monitored by tide gauge data. The analysis of GEK and hydrographic data shows that southwestward flow existed below 600 m in the slope region on the E-line and weakened during the meandering period. Thus, the out-of-phase variation in surface velocity mentioned above seems to be partly explained by the variation in velocity on the reference level at the E-line.     

Coastal trapped waves in a two-layer ocean: Wave properties when the density interface intersects a sloping bottom

Properties of coastal trapped waves when the pycnocline intersects a sloping bottom are studied using a two-layer model which has slopes in both layers. In this system there is an infinite discrete sequence of modes, and four different sorts of waves exist: the barotropic Kelvin wave, the upper shelf wave, the lower shelf wave and the internal Kelvin-type wave. They all propagate with the coast to their right in the Northern Hemisphere. The upper and lower shelf waves are due to the topographic-effect on the upper-layer and lower-layer slopes, respectively. Their motions are dominant in the respective layers being accompanied by significant interface elevations. The properties of the upper (lower) shelf wave are almost unaffected by the existence of a lower-layer (upper-layer) slope. The motion of the internal Kelvin-type wave is confined to the region around the line where the density interface intersects the bottom slope.The modes, except that with the fastest phase speed (the barotropic Kelvin wave), are assigned mode numbers in order of descending frequency. Characteristics of Mode 1 change with wavenumber; the upper shelf wave for small wavenumbers and the internal Kelvin-type wave for large wavenumbers (high frequencies). The higher modes of Mode 2 and above can be classified into the upper and lower shelf waves.     

Sea level variations along the south coast of Japan and the large meander in the Kuroshio

Sea level variations from 1974 through 1976 at 9 stations on the south coast of Japan (from west to east, Aburatsu, Tosa-shimizu, Muroto-misaki, Kushimoto, Uragami, Owase, Toba, Maisaka and Omaezaki) were analysed in relation to the large meander in the Kuroshio. From May to July in 1975, a small maximum in sea level variation was observed at every station west of Cape Shionomisaki from Aburatsu to Kushimoto. It propagated eastward along with the eastward propagation of a small meander in the Kuroshio until it reached Kushimoto, when the sea levels at Uragami and Owase started to rise sharply. This remarkable rise appeared at all stations in August when a large meander in the Kuroshio was established. The mean sea level at the stations east of Cape Shionomisaki from Uragami to Omaezaki rose by about 10 cm. The difference in sea level variations between the regions east and west of Cape Shionomisaki, which had been present before the rise, disappeared. A similar characteristic of sea level variation was also found in the generation stage of the large meander in 1959. The sea level variations along the south coast of Japan indicate that, prior to the generation of the large meander, the small meander in the Kuroshio was generated southeast of Kyushu and propagated eastward and that, just when this meander reached off Cape Shionomisaki, a large scale oceanic event covering over the whole region of the south coast of Japan occurred. This large scale event seems to be one of the necessary conditions for the generation of the large meander in the Kuroshio off Enshû-nada.     

山东莒南地质公园发现小型兽脚类恐龙 足迹化石Minisauripus

在山东省莒南地质公园内发现6个小型恐龙足迹化石,被归入足迹属Minisauripus。化石产于下白垩统大盛群田家楼组．时代为早白垩世巴列姆（Barremian）-阿普特期（Apdan）。5个较大,长约6cm,产于下部“主”层面上,其中4个组成2节行迹：1个较小,长约3cm,位于“主”层面30cm之上的上部层面上。山东Minisauripus的特征是：足迹个体小（长3．1～5．6cm,宽2．0～3．7cm）,三趾型,略不对称;足迹纵长,各趾近平行,趾垫较清晰;趾末端较钝,但爪迹较尖。Ⅲ趾比Ⅳ趾略长,而Ⅳ趾比Ⅱ趾略长且窄。此外,步幅较长,足长与步长之比约为10：1。与四川、韩国Minisau却淞不同之处是：足迹个体较大,长约是它们的2倍。继中国四川和韩国之后,山东是Minisau而淞在全球的第三个发现点。     

Estimation of the annual primary production of the lichen Cetrariella delisei in a glacier foreland in the High Arctic, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard

The fruticose lichen Cetrariella delisei is among the dominant lichen species in the deglaciated High Arctic areas of Svalbard. As part of a study of carbon cycling in the High Arctic, we aimed to estimate the primary production of lichen in a deglaciated area in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (79° N), by examining the effects of abiotic factors on the net photosynthesis ( Pn ) and dark respiration ( R ) rates of C. delisei . Experiments were conducted in the snow-free season of 2000 using an open-flow gas exchange system with an infrared gas analyser. Positive photosynthetic activities were observed on rainy days or soon after rainfall when the thallus water content was high, whereas photosynthetic activities dropped below the detectable limit on clear days because of the low thallus water content. Under a sufficiently high thallus water content and close to light saturation, Pn was nearly constant over a wide temperature range of 4–20 °C, while R increased with increasing temperature. We constructed a model for estimating the net primary production ( NPP ) of lichen based on the relationships between abiotic factors and the CO₂ exchange rate. The mean, minimum and maximum NPP values in the snow-free season, estimated using meteorological data obtained from 1995–2003, were 5.1, 1.0 and 8.4 g dry wt. m⁻² snow-free season⁻¹, respectively. These results suggest that NPP is highly variable and the contribution of lichen to carbon input is small compared with that of vascular plants and mosses in the study site.     

Seafloor spreading, obduction and triple junction tectonics of the Mineoka Ophiolite, Central Japan

The Tertiary Mineoka ophiolite occurs in a fault zone at the intersection of the Honshu and Izu forearcs in central Japan and displays structural evidence for three major phases of deformation: normal and oblique-slip faults and hydrothermal veins formed during the seafloor spreading evolution of the ophiolite at a ridge-transform fault intersection. These structures may represent repeated changes in differential stress and pore-fluid pressures during their formation. The second series of deformation is characterized by oblique thrust faults with Riedel shears and no significant mineral veining, and is interpreted to have resulted from transpressional dextral faulting during the obduction of the ophiolite through oblique convergence and tectonic accretion. This deformation occurred at the NW corner of a TTT-type (trench–trench–trench) triple junction in the NW Pacific rim before the middle Miocene. The third series of deformation of the ophiolite is marked by contractional and oblique shear zones, Riedel shears, and thrust faults that crosscut and offset earlier structures, and that give the Mineoka fault zone its lenticular (phacoidal) fabric at all scales. This deformation phase was associated with the establishment and the southward migration of the TTT Boso triple junction and with the kinematics of oblique subduction and forearc sliver fault development. The composite Mineoka ophiolite hence displays rocks and structures that evolved during its complex geodynamic history involving seafloor spreading, tectonic accretion, and triple junction evolution in the NW Pacific Rim.