Observation of clouds and solar radiation over the Pacific Ocean as relation to global climate

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Quaternary geology of the Amazonian Lowland

The Quaternary history of the Amazon lowlands is characterized by deposition of sediments of Andean provenance and by the influences of changing sea levels. Areas well above the present water tables were not reached by Pleistocene high-water stages. These areas have been intensively weathered since the Tertiary, forming hard lateritic weathering horizons. These weathering horizons are best explained by the relatively constant, humid tropical climate throughout the Quaternary. In the western Amazonian Lowland, flood plains corresponding to the different Pleistocene sea-level heights were formed. During low sea level, erosion in the drainage areas increased and the water levels of the central Amazon River system were lowered. Valleys drowned and lakes formed in the lower reaches of rivers and creeks during high sea-level stages. These lakes (ria lakes) remained in the valleys with rivers having a low sediment load. Seismic profiling (3.5 kHz) in some of these lakes clearly showed deposits of the three last periods of Quaternary high sea-level stages.     

A quantitative analysis on the Egyptian Mediterranean waters

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Interference fringes on GLORIA side-scan sonar images from the Bering Sea and their implications

GLORIA side-scan sonographs from the Bering Sea Basin show a complex pattern of interference fringes sub-parallel to the ship's track. Surveys along the same trackline made in 1986 and 1987 show nearly identical patterns. It is concluded from this that the interference patterns are caused by features in the shallow subsurface rather than in the water column. The fringes are interpreted as a thin-layer interference effect that occurs when some of the sound reaching the seafloor passes through it and is reflected off a subsurface layer. The backscattered sound interferes (constructively or desctructively) with the reflected sound. Constructive/destructive interference occurs when the difference in the length of the two soundpaths is a whole/half multiple of GLORIA's 25 cm wavelength. Thus as range from the ship increases, sound moves in and out of phase causing bands of greater and lesser intensity on the GLORIA sonograph. Fluctuations (or wiggles) of the fringes on the GLORIA sonographs relate to changes in layer thickness. In principle, a simple three dimensional image of the subsurface layer may be obtained using GLORIA and bathymetric data from adjacent (parallel) ship's tracks. These patterns have also been identified in images from two other systems; SeaMARC II (12 kHz) long-range sonar, and TOBI (30 kHz) deep-towed sonar. In these, and other cases world-wide, the fringes do not appear with the same persistence as those seen in the Bering Sea.     

Radioelement distribution in river,beach, and offshore areas and their significance to Chavara placer deposit,Southern Kerala Coast of India

The radioelement and heavy mineral distribution in river, beach and innershelf areas of the southern Kerala coast is related to placer mineral concentration on the beaches at Chavara. Southern Kerala rivers—Neyyar, Karamana and Vamanapuram—transport higher amounts of radioactive elements than the larger Kallada River due to higher radioactive minerals in the hinterland rocks. Coastal configurations and the seasonal longshore current pattern seems to control along-shore distribution of minerals. The proposed model for placer concentration suggests that the energy difference and seasonal current direction along this coast is important.     

Effect of wave-directionality on second-order loads induced by the set-down

At first-order of approximation a sea-state may be considered as an infinite sum of Airy components with angular frequencies ω_i and wave-number vectors k_i. A second-order analysis shows the co-existence of long waves appearing at the difference frequencies ω_i—ω_j with wave-number vectors k_i—k_j. In shallow water they become appreciable in amplitudes and may induce slow-drift motion of moored structures.For small values of ω_i—ω_j,k_i—k_j may take all kinds of directions for an angular-spread wave system. Then it may be questioned how the in-line and transverse second-order accelerations compare to those obtained for a mono-directional wave-system.This analysis is carried out here by relating the spectra of the second-order horizontal accelerations to the directional wave-spectrum. Numerical applications are first performed for deep water. They show that at low frequencies, even for very narrowly spread wave systems, the transverse component is larger than the in-line component. In shallow water both components are dratically reduced as compared to the mono-directional case. As a consequence one may question the validity of model-testings or numerical models which take no account of the directionality of the wave-system.     

Imagery of the inhomogeneities of currents on the ocean surface state

The influence of inhomogeneities of surface currents on the intensity of breaking wind waves is considered and a model for the relation between whitecap contrasts and the tensor of current gradients is developed. The imagery of typical patterns of ocean currents is discussed. The results of field observations supporting this model are given.Translated by Mikhail M. Trufanov.     

The Bengal Fan: Some preliminary results from ODP drilling

Three deep holes, with a maximum penetration of 960 m below sea floor, were drilled into the distal Bengal Fan just south of the equator during ODP Leg 116. The entire section recovered is dominated by sandy silt and mud turbidites derived from the Ganges Delta and from the continental margin of the western Bay of Bengal, interbedded with thin pelagic clays and with biogenic turbidites probably from a local sea mount source. The effects of Hi-Malayan uplift, sea level fluctuations, local tectonics, and fan channel/lobe processes have closely interacted to produce the observed sedimentary record of the past 17 million years since the early Miocene.Coauthors include: James R. Cochran, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory (Co-chief scientist); Dorrik A. V. Stow, Nottingham University, England (Co-chief scientist); Christian A. Auroux, Texas A & M University, USA (ODP staff scientist); Kazou Amano, Ibaraki University, Japan; Peter S. Balson, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Notts, England; Jacques Boulegue, Pierre & Marie Curie University, Paris, France; Garrett W. Brass, University of Miami, Florida, USA; Jeffrey Corrigan, University of Texas, Austin, USA; Stefan Gartner, Texas A & M University, USA; Stuart A. Hall, University of Houston, Texas, USA; Silvia Iaccarino, University of Parma, Italy; Toshio Ishizuka, University of Tokyo, Japan; trena Kacmarska, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, Canada; Heidemarie Kassens, Kiel University, West Germany; Gregory Leger, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada; Franca Proto Decima, University of Padova, Italy; C. V. Raman, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India; William W. Sager, Texas A & M University, USA; Kozo Takahashi, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, USA; Thomas Thompson, 580 Euclid Ave, Boulder, Colo, USA; Jean-Jacques Tiercelin, University of Bretagne, Brest, France; Mark Townsend, University of Nottingham, England; Andreas Wetzel, Tubingen University, West Germany; N. P. Wijayananda, National Aquatatic Resource Agency, Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Colin Williams, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory.     

Descriptive Analysis and Classification of Benthic Communities in Some Mediterranean Coastal Lagoons (Central Italy)

Abstract. Benthic samples were taken seasonally at 32 stations in five coastal lagoons of Central Italy (Fogliano, Monaci, Caprolace, Fondi, and Lungo) during a two-year period (1982–1984). Composition and distribution of benthic populations in each lagoon as well as seasonal trends of species richness, density, diversity, and redundancy are presented and discussed.
The faunal differentiation appeared to be mainly due to the different degree of water exchange, both with marine and continental systems.     

Application of double bounded probability density function for analysis of ocean waves

Ocean waves and forces induced by them on offshore structures are random in nature. Experience has shown that short term statistics of wave heights can be described by the Rayleigh distribution for narrow band spectra (Longuet-Higgins, 1952) and that the long term statistics or the evaluation of design wave is based on certain well known extreme value distribution such as mixed Frechet distribution (Thom, 1973a, b).This paper presents a new application of the double bounded probability density function to describe the ocean wave statistics. The prime importance is to estimate the most probable maximum wave height for offshore structural designs.