Temporal dynamics of subtidal Zostera marina and intertidal Zostera japonica on the southern coast of Korea

The temporal dynamics of two seagrass species, Zostera marina and Z. japonica, were monitored monthly in Dadae Bay, Geoje Island, on the southern coast of Korea. Plant morphological characteristics, shoot density, biomass, leaf production, reproductive effort, and environmental characteristics were monitored from July 2001 to July 2002. Zostera japonica occurred in the intertidal zone and Z. marina occurred in the subtidal zone from 0.5 to 2.5 m below the mean low water level. Shoots and rhizomes were significantly larger in Z. marina than in Z. japonica, whereas the shoot density was greater in Z. japonica than in Z. marina. Despite differences in morphology and shoot density, biomass did not differ significantly between the species. Reproduction occurred from April to June in Z. marina and from May to July in Z. japonica. The proportion of reproductive shoots was approximately three times higher in Z. marina than in Z. japonica. Seasonal variation in the biomass of Z. japonica was caused by changes in both shoot size and density, whereas that of Z. marina was mainly caused by changes in shoot length. Leaf production in Z. marina and Z. japonica showed clear seasonal variation, and leaf production in Z. marina (2.6 ± 0.2 g DW·m⁻²·day⁻¹) was higher than that in Z. japonica (1.7 ± 0.2 g DW·m⁻²·day⁻¹). The mean plastochrone interval was not significantly different between the two species, whereas the leaf lifetime of Z. marina was longer (69 ± 7.8 days) than that of Z. japonica (59 ± 8.3 days). Our results indicated that seasonal leaf growth patterns in Z. japonica are correlated with irradiance and temperature, whereas those in Z. marina respond most to irradiance. Seasonal changes in irradiance appeared to control the temporal variation in above‐ground biomass in both species.     

Seasonal characteristics of the near-surface circulation in the northern South China Sea obtained from satellite-tracked drifters

The surface circulation of northern South China Sea (hereafter SCS) for the period 1987–2005 was studied using the data of more than 500 satellite-tracked drifters and wind data from QuikSCAT. The mean flow directions in the northern SCS except the Luzon Strait (hereafter LS) during the periods October~March was southwestward, and April~September northeastward. A strong northwestward intrusion of the Kuroshio through the LS appears during the October~March period of northeasterly wind, but the intrusion became weak between April and September. When the strong intrusion occurred, the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) in the LS was 388 cm²/s² which was almost 2 times higher than that during the weak-intrusion season. The volume transport of the Kuroshio in the east of the Philippines shows an inverse relationship to that of the LS. There is a six-month phase shift between the two seasonal phenomena. The volume transport in the east of the Philippines shows its peak sis-month earlier faster than that of the LS. The strong Kuroshio intrusion is found to be also related to the seasonal variation of the wind stress curl generated by the northeasterly wind. The negative wind stress curl in the northern part of LS induces an anticyclonic flow, while the positive wind stress curl in the southern part of LS induces a cyclonic flow. The northwestward Kuroshio intrusion in the northern part of LS happened with larger negative wind stress curl, while the westward intrusion along 20.5°N in the center of the LS occurred with weaker negative wind stress curl.     

青岛市矿产资源保护与可持续利用

青岛市某些矿种的生产已形成规模经济,但主要矿产资源的保证程度低,矿产开采加工过程中资源浪费现象和环境破坏现象严重,矿产资源综合开发利用水平低,缺少名牌拳头产品.青岛市矿产资源开发利用过程中,必须进一步加强矿产资源管理,优化矿种开发结构,提高矿业生产技术含量,强化矿产资源的勘查与评价管理,保护生态环境,树立全球资源观和经济效益观念,以实现矿业的可持续发展.     

Side-Scan Sonar Characteristics and Manganese Nodule Abundance in the Clarion—Clipperton Fracture Zones, NE Equatorial Pacific

The deep ocean floor between the Clarion and Clipperton fracture zones (NE equatorial Pacific) has the highest known manganese nodule abundance in the world oceans. A detailed analysis of MR1 (Mapping Researcher 1, 11-12 kHz) sonar images and free-fall grab data in the Korean manganese nodule field areas reveals a close relationship between side-scan sonar characteristics of the seafloor and manganese nodule abundance. Eight sonar facies are identified based on back-scattering intensity and distribution patterns. These sonar facies can be interpreted as (1) volcanic seamounts (facies I-1), (2) bounding faults of abyssal hills (facies I-2 and II-1), (3) lava flows or volcanoclastic mass-flow deposits around the volcanic seamounts (facies I-3 and II-2), (4) crests of abyssal hills (facies II-1), (5) abyssal troughs between abyssal hills (facies III-1), (6) relatively flat areas (facies II-3 and III-2). In the areas where facies II-1 (abyssal hill crests with thin sediment cover) and II-3 (relatively flat areas draped by thin sediments) are dominant, manganese nodules occur abundantly. In contrast, zones comprising facies III-1 (abyssal troughs with thick sediment cover) and III-2 (relatively flat areas covered by thick sediments) are characterized by low abundance of manganese nodules. This relationship between distribution of sonar facies and manganese nodule abundance implies that (1) the qualitative difference in acoustic reflectivity of long-range side-scan sonar with some ground truth data is useful for regional assessment of manganese nodule occurrence over wide areas in a reasonable time, and (2) seafloor topography and sediment thickness are important controlling factors for regional occurrences of manganese nodules.     

Distribution of winter-spring snow over the Tibetan Plateau and its relationship with summer precipitation in Yangtze River

The distribution of winter-spring snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau(TP) and its relationship with summer precipitation in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River Valley(MLYRV) during 2003–2013 have been investigated with the moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer(MODIS) Terra data(MOD10A2) and precipitation observations. Results show that snow cover percentage(SCP) remains approximately 20% in winter and spring then tails off to below 5% with warmer temperature and snow melt in summer. The lower and highest percentages present a declining tendency while the middle SCP exhibits an opposite variation. The maximum value appears from the middle of October to March and the minimum emerges from July to August. The annual and winter-spring SCPs present a decreasing tendency. Snow cover is mainly situated in the periphery of the plateau and mountainous regions, and less snow in the interior of the plateau, basin and valley areas in view of snow cover frequency(SCF) over the TP. Whatever annual or winter-spring snow cover, they all have remarkable declining tendency during 2003–2013, and annual snow cover presents a decreasing trend in the interior of the TP and increasing trend in the periphery of the TP. The multi-year averaged eight-day SCP is negatively related to mean precipitation in the MLYRV. Spring SCP is negatively related to summer precipitation while winter SCP is positively related to summer precipitation in most parts of the MLYRV. Hence, the influence of winter snow cover on precipitation is much more significant than that in spring on the basis of correlation analysis. The oscillation of SCF from southeast to northwest over the TP corresponds well to the beginning, development and cessation of the rain belt in eastern China.     

Hydrogen Dimer Features in the 2-μm Spectra of Saturn and Neptune

We report the detection of the (H₂)₂dimer in the atmospheres of Saturn and Neptune based on spectra of the fundamentalS₁(1) collision-induced band of H₂. The lines of this dimer are potentially useful for probing the (H₂)₂ortho–para ratio and its implications for atmospheric dynamical processes. We also report the detection of the (1–0)S₁(1) quadrupole absorption line of monomeric H₂in these spectra.     

我国入海河流河口地区海陆分界线划分方法研究

目前我圈大多数入海河口地区没有划定明确的海陆分界线，导致相关部门之间权责不清，不利于解决河口海岸存在的污染、湿地退化、海岸侵蚀等环境问题和加强河口海岸地区的综合管理，因此迫切需要划定明确的河口海陆分界线．根据我国主要入海河口的类型及特点，从合理性、实用性、稳定性等多个角度提出分析了关于河口海陆分界线划分的几种观点，总结其优缺点，最后提出可行的方法．     

The topological viewshed: embedding topological pointers into digital terrain models to improve GIS capability for visual landscape analysis

The effort to develop a Digital Earth has made dramatic progress in terms of visualisation and visual data integration for use-cases which demand semantically rich analysis. To provide this analysis and ensure legitimate representations of the spatial data from which visualisation are derived, it is necessary to provide more comprehensive analytical capabilities of the view. Questions of aesthetic valuation of landscape require a richer analytical response than simply ‘whether and possibly how much of’ an object or area of land can be seen. It requires interrogation of the scene as it appears and to distinguish between transient visual effects and those locally invariant to view point change. This paper explores a data structure to support scene analytics. As such, it first reviews the existing techniques from the fields of GIS and computer graphics as to their potential and limitations in providing a qualitatively more nuanced visual analysis. It then introduces a new method of encoding visually apparent relationships into terrain models. A prototype implementation is presented based on the Quad-Edge Triangular Irregular Network, though it is believed that raster or vector implementation would be possible. Although developed primarily with landscape analysis in mind, the method could have wider applicability.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In-situ</Emphasis> measured primary productivity of ice algae in Arctic sea ice floes using a new incubation method

Recent changes in climate and environmental conditions have had great negative effects such as decreasing sea ice thickness and the extent of Arctic sea ice floes that support ice-related organisms. However, limited field observations hinder the understanding of the impacts of the current changes in the previously ice-covered regions on sea ice algae and other ice-related ecosystems. Our main objective in this study was to measure recent primary production of ice algae and their relative contribution to total primary production (ice plus pelagic primary production). In-situ primary productivity experiments with a new incubation system for ice algae were conducted in 3 sea ice cores at 2 different ice camps in the northern Chukchi Sea, 2014, using a ¹³C and ¹⁵N isotope tracer technique. A new incubation system was tested for conducting primary productivity experiments on ice algae that has several advantages over previous incubation methods, enabling stable carbon and nitrogen uptake experiments on ice algae under more natural environmental conditions. The vertical C-shaped distributions of the ice algal chl-a, with elevated concentrations at the top and bottom of the sea ice were observed in all cores, which is unusual for Arctic sea ice. The mean chl-a concentration (0.05 ± 0.03 mg chl-a m^?3) and the daily carbon uptake rates (ranging from 0.55 to 2.23 mg C m^?2 d^?1) for the ice algae were much lower in this study than in previous studies in the Arctic Ocean. This is likely because of the late sampling periods and thus the substantial melting occurring. Ice algae contributed 1.5–5.7% of the total particulate organic carbon (POC) contents of the combined euphotic water columns and sea ice floes. In comparison, ice algae contributed 4.8–8.6% to the total primary production which is greater than previously reported in the Arctic Ocean. If all of the ice-associated productions were included, the contributions of the sea ice floes to the total primary production would be greater in the Arctic Ocean and their importance would be greater in the arctic marine ecosystems.     

Flow of a double-diffusive stratified fluid in a differentially-rotating cylinder

Abstract

A study has been made of a basic state of axisymmetric flow, at large rotational Reynolds numbers, in a double-diffusive stratified fluid contained in a vertically-mounted, differentially-rotating cylindrical cavity. The aim is to describe the qualitative characteristics of the flow of a fluid, the density of which is stratified by two diffusive effects, i.e., temperature and salinity gradients. Attention is confined to situations in which the temperature and salinity gradients make opposing contributions to the overall density profile, the undisturbed stratification being gravitationally stable. Finite difference numerical solutions of the governing Navier-Stokes equations have been obtained using the Boussinesq approximation. The results are presented in a way that illustrates the explicit effects of double-diffusivity when the cavity aspect ratio, height/radius, is O(1). The principal non-dimensional parameters characterizing the flow field are identified. In the interior core, the primary dynamic balance is between the horizontal density gradient and the vertical shear of the prevailing azimuthal velocity. The effective stratification is seen to decrease as the double-diffusivity increases, even if the overall stratification parameter, St, is held constant. The solute field contains a very thin boundary layer structure at large Lewis numbers. The effective stratification increases with the Prandtl number. Results have been derived for extreme values of the cavity aspect ratio. For small cavity aspect ratios, the dominant dynamic ingredients are viscous diffusion and rotation. For large aspect ratios, the bulk of the flow field is determined by the rotating sidewall. In this case, the direct influence of the double-diffusivity is minor.