The diets of common and Brünnich's guillemots Uria aalge and U. lomvia in the Barents Sea region

Guillemots Uria spp. account for ca. 70% of the total harvest of prey taken by seabirds breeding in the Barents Sea region. This paper presents guillemot chick diet data collected recently at four localities (Finnmark, Murman, Bjørnøya and Spitsbergen) and collates all the data found by the authors in the literature and in the archives of Tromsø Museum, the Norwegian Polar Institute and Kandalaksha State Nature Reserve. Guillemots consume a wide variety of prey and, in comparison to the harvest by predatory fish and marine mammals, their impact on the Barents Sea ecosystem is considered to be minimal. We point out the need for more systematic collection of data from different regions and at different times of the year before a final impact assessment can be made.     

Numerical models of mantle convection with secular cooling

A 2-D time-dependent finite-difference numerical model is used to investigate the thermal character and evolution of a convecting layer which is cooling as it convects. Two basic cooling modes are considered: in the first, both upper and lower boundaries are cooled at the same rate, while maintaining the same temperature difference across the layer; in the second, the lower boundary temperature decreases with time while the upper boundary temperature is fixed at 0°C. The first cooling mode simulates the effects of internal heating while the second simulates planetary cooling as mantle convection extracts heat from, and thereby cools, the Earth's core. The mathematical analogue between the effects of cooling and internal heating is verified for finite-amplitude convection. It is found that after an initial transient period the central core of a steady but vigorous convection cell cools at a constant rate which is governed by the rate of cooling of the boundaries and the viscosity structure of the layer. For upper-mantle models the transient stage lasts for about 30 per cent of the age of the Earth, while for the whole mantle it lasts for longer than the age of the Earth. Consequently, in our models the bulk cooling of the mantle lags behind the cooling of the core-mantle boundary. Models with temperature-dependent viscosity are found to cool in the same manner as models with depth-dependent viscosity; the rate of cooling is controlled primarily by the horizontally averaged variation of viscosity with depth. If the Earth's mantle cools in a similar fashion, secular cooling of the planet may be insensitive to lateral variations of viscosity.     

Comment on: 'Can horizontal P waves be trapped and resonate in a shallow sedimentary basin?' by F. J. Sácnhez-Sesma and F. LuzÓ

We show that most of the arguments in the above paper are either incorrect or irrelevant to the point the authors are trying to make. We show that their results have no bearing on the model proposed by our group, as they claim. They discuss the seismic response of a valley with a 2-D trapezoidal cross-section in a vertical plane, whereas we dealt with a closed basin with a 2-D cross-section but of arbitrary geometry and in the horizontal plane. Even more significantly, the width of the valley they use is much smaller than the wavelength of the horizontal P waves that can resonate, thereby precluding any possibility of them being trapped. Therefore, their arguments do not clarify the issue posed in the title of their article.     

A general correspondence principle for time-domain electromagnetic wave and diffusion fields

A general correspondence principle is presented that relates any time-domain electromagnetic diffusion field to an electromagnetic wavefield in a 'corresponding' configuration. The principle applies to arbitrarily inhomogeneous and anisotropic media and arbitrary transmitters and receivers. For the correspondence between the two types of electromagnetic fields to hold, the electric conductivity in the diffusive case and the permittivity in the wavefield case should have the same spatial variation, while the permeability distributions in space in the two cases are to be identical. Essential steps in the derivation of the correspondence principle are the use of the time Laplace transformation of causal signals, taken at real, positive values of the transform parameter, the Schouten-Van der Pol theorem in the theory of the Laplace transformation, and the reliance upon Lerch's theorem of the uniqueness of the interrelation between causal field quantities and their time-Laplace-transform representations at real, positive values of the transform parameter. Correspondence is then established between the tensorial Green's functions in the two cases, where the Green's functions are the point-receiver responses (either electric or magnetic field) to point-transmitter excitations (either electric- or magnetic-current source).
Through the correspondence principle, all transient electromagnetic wavefields (where losses are neglected) have as a counterpart a transient diffusive electromagnetic field (where the electric displacement current is neglected). The interrelation yields the tool to compare quantitatively the potentialities of the two types of fields in transient electromagnetic geophysical prospecting.
Finally, a general medium-parameter scaling law for time-domain electromagnetic wavefields is presented.     

Egg laying, chick growth and food of kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla at Hopen, Svalbard

In 1984, kittiwakes at Hopen laid eggs ca. 14 days later than previously found in North Norway and on the Kola Peninsula. The mean clutch size, egg volume, and hatching success were otherwise very similar to those documented on the mainland. Although feeding trips were very long, a rapid chick growth and high rate of chick survival suggested that food availability was not a limiting factor in 1984. In contrast to other sites at Svalbard where polar cod Boreogadus saida and crustaceans dominate kittiwake diets, the diets of chicks at Hopen consisted mainly of capelin Mallotus villosus which the adults probably collected at or beyond the polar front southeast of the island.     

Fluvial process and the establishment of bottomland trees

The effects of river regulation on bottomland tree communities in western North America have generated substantial concern because of the important habitat and aesthetic values of these communities. Consideration of such effects in water management decisions has been hampered by the apparent variability of responses of bottomland tree communities to flow alteration. When the relation between streamflow and tree establishment is placed in a geomorphic context, however, much of that variability is explained, and prediction of changes in the tree community is improved.The relation between streamflow and establishment of bottomland trees is conditioned by the dominant fluvial process or processes acting along a stream. For successful establishment, cottonwoods, poplars, and willows require bare, moist surfaces protected from disturbance. Channel narrowing, channel meandering, and flood deposition promote different spatial and temporal patterns of establishment. During channel narrowing, the site requirements are met on portions of the bed abandoned by the stream, and establishment is associated with a period of low flow lasting one to several years. During channel meandering, the requirements are met on point bars following moderate or higher peak flows. Following flood deposition, the requirements are met on flood deposits ;high above the channel bed. Flood deposition can occur along most streams, but where a channel is constrained by a narrow valley, this process may be the only mechanism that can produce a bare, moist surface high enough to be safe from future disturbance. Because of differences in local bedrock, tributary influence, or geologic history, two nearby reaches of the same stream may be dominated by different fluvial processes and have different spatial and temporal patterns of trees. We illustrate this phenomenon with examples from forests of plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides ssp. monilifera) along meandering and constrained reaches of the Missouri River in Montana.