Jellyfish patch formation investigated by aerial photography and drifter experiment

Jellyfish patch formation is investigated by conducting a drifter experiment combined with aerial photography of a sustained patch of the moon jellyfish in Hokezu Bay, Japan. Jellyfish patches are aggregations of individuals that are caused by a combination of swimming (active influence) and advection by currents (passive influence). The drifter experiment involved the injection of 49 drifters around a distinct surface patch of jellyfish within an area of approximately 300 m × 300 m. The drifters’ motion, caused only by the passive influence, was recorded in a series of 38 aerial photographs taken over approximately 1 h. The ambient uniform current field larger than the patch scale was estimated from the movement of the centroid position of drifters, while the distribution of horizontal divergence and relative vorticity around the patch was estimated from the time-derivative in areas of triangles formed by the drifters. The centroid positions of both drifters and patches moved stably toward the bay head at different speeds. The difference vector between the patch and drifter centroids was directed to the sun, and was opposite to the ambient current. The distributions of vorticity and divergence around patches exhibited inhomogeneity within the patch scale, and the drifters in this nonuniform current field aggregated near the convergence area within 1 h. The results suggest that horizontal patch formation is predominantly influenced by passive factors at the surface of Hokezu Bay. Furthermore, the upward swimming against downwelling may make sustained patch in surface layer.     

Baroclinic Buoyancy-Inertia Joint Stability Parameter

At present, the barotropic buoyant stability parameter has been derived from a vertical virtual displacement of a water parcel. The barotropic inertial stability parameter in the eccentrically cyclogeostrophic, basic current field was derived in 2003 from a horizontal cross-stream virtual displacement of a parcel. By expressing acceleration of a parcel due to a virtual displacement, which is arbitrarily sloping within a vertical section across the basic current, in terms of natural coordinates, we derived the vertical component of baroclinic buoyant stability parameter B ₂ ², the horizontal component of baroclinic inertial stability parameter I ₂ ², the baroclinic joint stability parameter J ², its buoyant component B ² and its inertial component I ². B ² is far greater than I ₂ ², and when neglecting relative vorticity except for vertical shear, a downward convex curve of J ² plotted against the slope of a virtual displacement follows a trend of B ² curve. If a parcel displaces along a horizontal surface or an isopycnal surface, however, B ² vanishes, and J ² becomes equal to I ². Actual parcel is apt to displace not only along the bottom slope, but also along the sea surface and an isopycnal interfacial surface, which is approximately equivalent to an isentropic surface, preferred by lateral mixing and exchange of momentum. Such actual displacement makes B ² vanishing, and grants I ² an important role. The present analysis of I ² examining effects due to curvature and horizontal and vertical shear vorticities are useful in deepening our understanding of baroclinic instability in actual oceanic streams.     

Summer distribution and geochemical composition of suspended-particulate matter in the east china sea

The distribution and geochemical composition of suspended-particulate matter (SPM) in the East China Sea (ECS) were investigated during the summer period of high continental runoff to elucidate SPM sources, distribution and cross-shelf transport. The spatial variability of SPM distribution (0.3–6.5 mg l⁻¹) and geochemical composition (POC, Al, Si, Fe, Mn, Ca, Mg and K) in the ECS was pronounced during summer when the continental fluxes of freshwater and terrestrial materials were highest during the year. Under the influences of Changjiang runoff, Kuroshio intrusion, surface production and bottom resuspension, the distribution generally showed strong gradients decreasing seaward for both biogenic and lithogenic materials. Particulate organic carbon was enriched in surface water (mean ∼18%) due to the influence of biological productivity, and was diluted by resuspended and/or laterally-transported materials in bottom water (mean 9.4%). The abundance of lithogenic elements (Al, Si, Fe, Mn) increased toward the bottom, and the distribution correlations were highly significant. Particulate CaCO₃ distribution provided evidence that the SPM of the bottom water in the northern part of the study area was likely mixed with sediments originally derived from Huanghe. A distinct benthic nepheloid layer (BNL) was present in all seaward transects of the ECS shelf. Sediment resuspension may be caused by tidal fluctuation and other forcing and be regarded as the principal agent in the formation of BNL. This BNL was likely responsible for the transport of biogenic and lithogenic particles across or along the ECS shelf. Total inventories of SPM, POC and PN are 46, 2.8 and 0.4 Tg, respectively, measured over the total area of 0.45 × 10⁶ km² of the ECS shelf. Their mean residence times are about 27, 13 and 11 days, respectively. The inventory of SPM in the water column was higher in the northernmost and southernmost transects and lower in the middle transects, reflecting the influences of terrestrial inputs from Changjiang and/or resuspended materials from Huanghe deposits in the north and perhaps from Minjiang and/or Taiwan’s rivers in the south. The distribution and transport patterns of SPM and geochemical elements strongly indicate that continental sources and cross-shelf transport modulate ECS particulate matter in summer.     

莱州湾海湾扇贝养殖区海水中悬浮颗粒的动态变化

1997年10月和1998年6月，在莱州湾两个主要海湾扇贝养殖区－芙蓉岛海区和金城海区，各定点进行了24h连续观测和取样，并在实验室内分析了总颗粒物（TPM）、颗粒有机物（POM）和叶绿素α的含量。结果表明，6月份金城海区的颗粒有机物和叶绿素α的含量均高于荚蓉岛海区；在10月份，芙蓉岛海区颗粒有机物的含量高于金城海区，但其叶绿素α的含量却低于金城海区，表明金城海区颗粒有机物的质量高于芙蓉岛海区。     

西太平洋暖池区气象学特征分析

本文根据ＴＯＧＡ－ＣＯＡＲＥ强化观测资料及卫星资料分析讨论了西太平洋暖池区１１－２月间海面气象要素的平均特征。分析发现海面气压平均日变化似乎同中纬度区明显不同。文中还分析讨论了在西太暖池区西风爆发、赤道浅涡、信风逆温及ＩＴＣＥ和南太平洋辐合带ＳＰＣＺ的变化特征。     

Co–rich Mn crusts from the Magellan Seamount cluster: the long journey through time

The Magellan seamounts began forming as large submarine shield volcanoes south of the equator during the Cretaceous. These volcanoes formed as a cluster on the small Pacific plate in a period when tectonic stress was absent. Thermal subsidence of the seafloor led to sinking of these volcanoes and the formation of guyots as the seamounts crossed the equatorial South Pacific (10–0°S) sequentially and ocean surface temperatures became too high for calcareous organisms to survive. Guyot formation was completed between about 59 and 45 Ma and the guyots became phosphatized at about 39–34 and 27–21 Ma. Ferromanganese crusts began formation as proto-crusts on the seamounts and guyots of the Magellan Seamount cluster towards the end of the Cretaceous up to 55 Ma after the formation of the seamounts themselves. The chemical composition of these crusts evolved over time in a series of steps in response to changes in global climate and ocean circulation. The great thickness of these crusts (up to 15–20 cm) reflects their very long period of growth. The high Co contents of the outer parts of the crusts are a consequence of the increasing deep circulation of the ocean and the resulting deepening of the oxygen minimum zone with time. Growth of the Co-rich Mn crusts in the Magellan Seamount cluster can be considered to be the culmination of a long journey through time.     

Estimating the geostrophic velocity obtained by HF radar observations in the upstream area of the Kuroshio

A method to extract geostrophic current in the daily mean HF radar data in the Kuroshio upstream region is established by comparison with geostrophic velocity determined from the along-track altimetry data. The estimated Ekman current in the HF velocity is 1.2% (1.5%) and 48° (38°)-clockwise rotated with respect to the daily mean wind in (outside) the Kuroshio. Furthermore, additional temporal smoothing is found necessary to remove residual ageostrophic currents such as the inertial oscillation. After removal of the ageostrophic components, the HF geostrophic velocity agrees well with that from the altimetry data with rms difference 0.14 (0.12) m/s in (outside) the Kuroshio.     

对我国西南地区河谷深厚覆盖层成因机理的新认识

近年来,在我国水能资源开发过程中,发现各河流现代河床以下普遍堆积厚达数十米甚至上百米的松散堆积物。河谷深厚覆盖层的存在,不仅严重制约了工程坝址的选择,影响相关流域水电资源的开发利用,也给坝工设计带来巨大的困难。由于深厚覆盖层埋藏于现代河床之下,其形成年代一般先于一二级阶地,有悖于河流发育演化的常理,其成因一直令人费解。首次将河谷深切和深厚堆积事件与全球气候变化、海平面升降运动、地壳运动等有机地联系起来,并提出冰期、间冰期全球海平面大幅度升降,是导致河流深切成谷并形成深厚堆积的主要原因的新观点。在此基础上,引入层序地层学原理,从理论上较好地解释了全球气候变化导致海平面和河流侵蚀基准面大幅变化,并产生河谷深切和深厚堆积的原因和过程。最后,进一步将沿河大型古滑坡的孕育和发生与河谷深切事件相联系,提出沿河大型古滑坡是在河谷深切期因前缘临空较好而形成的新观点,从而对沿河古滑坡前缘剪出口高程往往低于现代河床数十米的原因给出了较合理的解释。     

曲靖盆地生物气成藏条件及主控因素分析

曲靖盆地新近系茨营组第三段的晚期生物气藏是新近系沉积之后,喜山运动时期各种成藏条件有效的时空配置的结果.在讨论曲靖盆地构造和沉积演化的基础上,综合分析了生物气源、储集层和盖层、圈闭形成以及天然气输导等成藏条件,阐述了生物气晚期聚集成藏条件的时空匹配关系.指出自第四纪以来,生物气源岩持续高效的产气作用是生物气成藏的物质保障,气藏的形成是生物气连续的补充大于逸散动态平衡的产物;背斜构造、砂岩上倾尖灭和砂岩透镜体圈闭是该区主要的圈闭类型;断裂和不整合面是沟通生物气源岩到圈闭的垂向和侧向输导通道,茨营组的连通砂岩体是生物气近距离运移的输导层.蔡家冲组大套湖相暗色泥岩的生物产气效率、断裂的垂向输导能力和圈闭的保存条件及其在时空上的动态配置是生物气晚期成藏的主控因素.