The processes of semi-enclosed basin–ocean water exchange across a tidal mixing zone

To assess each of the two possible mechanisms responsible for the fortnightly modulation of semi-enclosed basin–ocean water exchange (‘density tides’), a set of numerical experiments is carried out using a vertically two-dimensional numerical model with realistic situations in Puget Sound in mind. It is found that, although the localized vertical viscosity (or the localized vertical diffusivity) enhanced in the entrance sill region primarily controls the bottom-water transport (or the bottom-water density) during spring tides, it does not lead to any appreciable variations of bottom-water density (or bottom-water transport). This indicates that the fortnightly modulation of vertical viscosity and that of vertical diffusivity both play important roles in creating density tides. In the real ocean, the vertical viscosity and diffusivity are enhanced simultaneously during spring tides, so that it is difficult to discriminate between both effects on density tides. This causes the widespread misunderstanding that density tides are mainly caused by the decreased advection of dense bottom-water from outside due to the enhanced vertical viscosity during spring tides.     

CFD simulations of the effects of fouling and antifouling

Biofouling is a global problem in the marine industry though its effects on lift and drag are rarely discussed. This paper seeks to employ Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) method to quantify the effects of this problem based on the obtained flow field information. The simulation is carried out on a NACA 4424 airfoil and Defence Research Establishment Atlantic (DREA) Submarine Hull. Different levels of fouling are studied with quantified fouling height and density. As an extension, the effects of two common antifouling methods, i.e. tin-free Self-Polishing Copolymer (SPC) and Foul Release on the drag of NACA 4424 foil and the submarine hull is investigated. For NACA 4424 airfoil, fouling reduces lift-drag ratio (C_L/C_D) by up to 80% in maximum and therefore result in the significant increase in fuel consumption. Predicted flow data shows this is related to the increased flow separation region caused by the fouling. It is found that pressure gradient gradually increases from the smallest fouling height to the largest but does not vary that much for fouling of varying densities. The general trend of C_L/C_D varies with angle of attack agrees well with others experimental data. Computed results also show good agreement with experimental data for the DREA bare hull. As to antifouling, Foul Release, despite being 30% more expensive than SPC, exhibits 10-40% higher C_L/C_D as compared to SPC for NACA foil and submarine hull.     

Butyltin concentrations along the Japanese coast from 1997 to 1999 monitored by Caprella spp. (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

The concentrations of butyltins along the Japanese coastline were investigated from 1997 to 1999, 7 to 9 years after implementation of legislation limiting the use of tributyltin (TBT) in Japan. Seawater was sampled at 0.5 m depth, and Caprella spp. were collected from Sargassum spp. and aquaculture facilities from 18 areas within four broad areas along the coastline of Japan, i.e., the Pacific coast of northern Japan, the coast along the Sea of Japan, Tokyo Bay and adjacent areas, and western Japan. Butyltins (MBT, DBT and TBT) were detected in 32 of the 63 seawater samples with average concentrations of 4.6 ng MBT/l, 4.5 ng DBT/l and 6.8 ng TBT/l, respectively. Butyltin concentrations in seawater from western Japan indicate "hot spots" even in unpopulated areas. Butyltins (MBT, DBT and TBT) were detected in all samples of Caprella spp., varying from 2.3 ng BTs /g wet wt in C. penantis R-type from Tobishima Island in the Sea of Japan to 464 ng BTs /g wet wt in C. decipiens Mayer from Amakusa, western Kyushu. The BT concentrations in Caprella spp. form western Japan were significantly higher than those from other areas, including Tokyo Bay and adjacent areas, where large scale industry and international ports are located. These results indicate that butyltin contamination still remains even in unpopulated areas after the regulation on TBT usage, and that the regulation governing TBT usage since 1990 has not been effective enough to concede recovery of shallow water ecosystems around Japan.     

Sloped multi‐roller isolation devices for seismic protection of equipment and facilities

The rolling motion of mutually orthogonal rollers respectively sandwiched between two bearing plates in which one or both have V‐shaped sloping surfaces makes the sloped rolling‐type isolation device have an excellent in‐plane seismic isolation performance. In this study, the sloped rolling type isolation device in which a single roller moves between two V‐shaped sloping surfaces along each principle horizontal direction is refined by incorporating multi‐roller, built‐in damping, and pounding prevention mechanisms. The associated dynamic behavior is further clarified, and a simplified twin‐flag hysteretic model, which can be easily applied in most commercial computational tools is then proposed. Seismic simulation tests on the refined isolation devices (i.e. the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices) with different design parameters such as sloping angles of bearing plates and built‐in damping capabilities, together with a raised floor system by employing the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices, were conducted. Not only is the efficiency of the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices in seismically protecting the important objects, but also the practicability and accuracy of the proposed simplified numerical model in predicting the seismic responses of the sloped multi‐roller isolation devices is experimentally verified. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A model of hot loops associated with solar flares

A dynamical model is proposed for the formation of soft X-ray emitting hot loops in solar flares. It is examined by numerical simulations how a solar model atmosphere in a magnetic loop changes its state and forms a hot loop when the flare energy is released in the form of heat liberation either at the top part or around the transition region in the loop.When the heat liberation takes place at the top part of the loop which arches in the corona, the plasma temperature around the loop apex rises rapidly and, as the result, the downward thermal conductive flux is increased along the magnetic tube of force. Soon after the thermal conduction front rushes into the upper chromosphere, a local peak of pressure is produced near the conduction front and the chromospheric material begins to expand into the corona to form a high-temperature (10⁷ K-3 × 10⁷ K at the loop apex) and high-density (10¹⁰ cm^–3-10¹¹ cm^–3 at the loop apex) loop. The velocity of the expanding material can reach a few hundred kilometres per second in the coronal part. The thermal conduction front also plays a role of piston pushing the chromospheric material downward and gives birth to a shock wave which propagates through the minimum temperature region into the photosphere. If, on the other hand, the heat source is placed around the transition region in the loop, the expansion of the material into the corona occurs from the beginning of the flare and the formation process of the hot loop differs somewhat from the case with the heat source at the top part of the loop.Thermal components of radiations emitted from flare regions, ranging from soft X-rays to radio wavelengths, are interpreted in a unified way by using physical quantities obtained as functions of time and position in our flare loop model as will be discussed in detail in a following paper.     

The Effect of the CCD Gate Structure in the Determination of the Undersampled Point Spread Function

Using numerical simulations, we evaluated the gate structure effect of the front-illuminated (FI) charge-coupled device (CCD) on determining the point spread function (PSF) from the analysis of undersampled experimental data. The PSF of the Soft X-ray Telescope onboard Yohkoh was studied as a model case. Its full-width at half-maximum is about one pixel size, and the FI CCD was equipped in the telescope as a detector. Of the three emission lines used during the pre-launch experiment, the data from the lowest-energy line (carbon K-line, 0.28 keV) were significantly influenced by the gate structure. The results from previous studies regarding the analysis of pre-launch data were examined and compared with the results from our simulation, and the expected error ranges of the gate structure effect are discussed. We found that the error caused by the effect of the gate structure is significant; at an energy of 0.28 keV, the error may lead to a too sharp PSF by about a few tens of percent.     

Differences in the acute toxicities of tributyltin between the Caprellidea and the Gammaridea (Crustacea: Amphipoda)

Tests for the acute toxicity of tributyltin (TBT) were conducted on amphipod crustaceans collected from Otsuchi Bay, Japan. Five species of caprellids and three species of gammarids, which belong to a closely related ecological niche, were used for the exposure experiments at seven test concentrations (0, 0.001, 0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 microg TBTCl/l) for 48 h at 20 degrees C. The 48-h LC50 values of the caprellids were 1.2-6.6 microg TBTCl/l, and these were significantly lower than those of the gammarids (17.8-23.1 microg TBTCl/l). This suggests that caprellids are more sensitive to TBT than gammarids. Furthermore, the proportions of TBT and its derivatives, dibutyltin (DBT) and monobutyltin (MBT), were measured in the amphipods collected from Otsuchi Bay. In the caprellids, TBT was the predominant compound, accounting for 72% of the total butyltin which reflected the butyltin ratio in seawater, while in the gammarids, TBT's breakdown products (DBT and MBT) predominated, accounting for 75% of the total butyltin. This difference suggests that caprellids may have lower metabolic capacity to degrade TBT than gammarids. Therefore, the difference in sensitivity to TBT among the amphipods is thought to be related to the species-specific capacity to metabolize TBT.     

Effect of parental hypoxic exposure on embryonic development of the offspring of two serpulid polychaetes: Implication for transgenerational epigenetic effect

Sperm production and motility, fecundity, and egg size, complexity and viability of serpulid polychaetes Hydroides elegans and Hydroides diramphus after 2-week treatment to hypoxia (2 mg O₂ l⁻¹) was compared with those under normoxia (6 mg O₂ l⁻¹). Despite reduced fecundity, the effect of parental hypoxic exposure on gamete quality was not discernible for both species. However, regardless of their subsequent dissolved oxygen environment, eggs spawned by H. elegans after hypoxic exposure were found to have lower fertilization success, slower embryonic development and a significantly higher yield of malformed embryos than those with a parental normoxic treatment. In contrast, neither fertilization success nor rate of embryonic development was affected for H. diramphus. The results implied that hypoxia was a potential stress reducing the recruitment of H. elegans through non-adaptive epigenetic effect, whereas H. diramphus was a more tolerant species to survive hypoxic events.     

Respiration rate and swimming activity of larvae of two sub-tidal nassariid gastropods under reduced oxygen levels: implications for their distributions in Hong Kong waters

The effects of hypoxia on the larvae of two sub-tidal nassariid gastropods, Nassarius siquijorensis and N. conoidalis were compared so as to understand how the species-specific tolerance to hypoxia might have resulted in changes in the abundance and distribution of these two species in the hypoxic Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong, since the 1980s. Respiration rates of N. siquijorensis and N. conoidalis larvae were reduced at 4.5 mg O2 l(-1), or below, as compared with the normoxic control. Significant reduction in swimming velocity was also observed for 10-day old larvae which were exposed to <2.0 mg O2 l(-1) for N. siquijorensis and <1.0 mg O2 l(-1) for N. conoidalis. The 48 h LC50 values of N. siquijorensis and N. conoidalis larvae were 0.7 and 1.7 mg O2 l(-1), respectively. The results suggested that N. siquijorensis are more tolerant to hypoxia than N. conoidalis.