Sub-inertial oscillations in the Black Sea generated by the semidiurnal tidal potential

The Black Sea shelf is a region of intense manifestation of various dynamical processes. Under the influence of different natural forces, eddy-wave phenomena develop here, which influence the general circulation of sea waters, biological productivity, and the condition of the engineering structures. Modern numerical models allow us to simulate and analyze the processes of the joint dynamics of marine circulation and large-scale waves. In this work, we study the spatiotemporal spectral characteristics of the sea level and velocity fluctuations formed due to atmospheric forcing and tidal potential. The hydrophysical fields are calculated using the Institute of Numerical Mathematics, Russian Academy of Sciences (INM RAS), σ model based on primitive equations. We use the CORE data as atmospheric forcing at the sea surface; the tidal potential is described by the semidiurnal lunar constituent M₂. Analyzing the simulation results makes it possible to emphasize that accounting for the semidiurnal tidal potential not only improves the accuracy of the sea-level calculation at coastal stations, but also generates subinertial baroclinic oscillations previously found in the Black Sea from the data of in situ observations.     

Holocene Faunal Trends in West Siberia and Their Causes

Based on an analysis of the transformation of vertebrate and invertebrate fauna of West Siberia in the Holocene, the classification and periodization of the main faunal trends are presented. Against the background of changing environmental conditions, the key regularities of the faunal dynamics, and the ways some species penetrate into the territory of the region and others disappear from the beginning of the Holocene to the present time have been indicated. Three global and four fluctuating trends are identified. The anthropogenic trend is ascertained separately. A conclusion is made about the prevailing causes of these changes, associated primarily with periodic climatic processes of different levels, determined by planetary geological and cosmic cycles. It is emphasized that, in the historical period, anthropogenic factors play a significant role in the regional faunal dynamics.     

Key challenges for maritime governance in West Africa: Fishery-based lessons from Guinea and Mauritania

Maritime governance stakes are important in West Africa, if only due to the dominant role of fisheries, which coastal populations mainly depend on. In this context, with reference to the fishery sector mostly studied in two countries (Guinea and Mauritania), this paper aims to identify and synthesize the challenges to be met towards developing the governance of marine spaces. To this end, the analysis is based on field knowledge, which provides input into a grid set according to the various integration levels of the concept of ICZM. This paper thus reports the major methodological obstacles to be overcome, commensurate to the stakes insofar as marine policies can and must contribute to the economic and social development of this region.     

Measured and modeled wave overtopping on a natural beach

The rate of wave overtopping of a barrier beach is measured and modeled. Unique rate of wave overtopping field data are obtained from the measure of the Carmel River, California, lagoon filling during a time when the lagoon is closed-off with no river inflow. Volume changes are based on measured lagoon height changes applied to a measured hypsometric curve. Wave heights and periods are obtained from directional wave spectra data in 15 m fronting the beach. Beach morphology was measured by GPS walking surveys. Three empirical overtopping models by Van der Meer and Janssen (1995), Hedges and Reis (1998) and Pullen et al. (2007) with differing parameterizations on wave height, period and beach slope and calibrated using extensive laboratory data obtained over plane, impermeable beaches are applied in a quasi-2D manner and compared with the field observations. Three overtopping events are considered when morphology data were available less than 2 weeks prior to the event. The models are tuned to fit the data using a reduction factor to account for beach permeability, berm characteristics, non-normal wave incidence and surface roughness influence. In addition, the run-up model by Stockdon et al. (2006) based on field data is examined and found to underestimate run-up as the calculated values were too small to predict any of the observed overtopping. The three overtopping models performed similarly well with values of 0.72–0.87 for the two narrow-banded wave cases, with an average reduction factor of 0.78. The European model (Pullen et. al., 2007) performed best overall and in particular for the case of the broad-banded, double peaked wave spectrum.     

Modelling tidal current turbine wakes using a coupled RANS-BEMT approach as a tool for analysing power capture of arrays of turbines

An improved method is developed to couple an inner domain solution of the blade element momentum theory with an outer domain solution of the Reynolds averaged Navier Stokes equations for evaluating performance of tidal current turbines. A mesh sensitivity study shows that a mesh of at least 6 M cells with at least 40% of these within the turbine wake is required to ensure satisfactory convergence of the velocity deficit. In addition to the usually applied axial momentum source terms, angular momentum and turbulence intensity source terms are shown to be required to model the near wake evolution. Three different lateral turbine spacing of 2, 4 and 6 turbine diameters are used to demonstrate the influence of the effective channel blockage on the velocity distribution in the turbine bypass region, the rate of spread of the wake and the recovery of velocity distribution. A final study shows that for a fixed number of turbines minimising the lateral spacing within each row, with a small number of staggered rows spaced as longitudinally as far apart as practical, is the most effective strategy for energy capture.     

The state‐of‐the‐art in marine navigation

Tide gauges distributed all over the world provide valuable information for monitoring mean sea level changes. The statistical models used in estimating sea level change from the tide gauge data assume implicitly that the random model components are stationary in variance. We show that for a large number of global tide gauge data this is not the case for the seasonal part using a variate-differencing algorithm. This finding is important for assessing the reliability of the present estimates of mean sea level changes because nonstationarity of the data may have marked impact on the sea level rate estimates, especially, for the data from short records.     

Quantification of Spatial and Thematic Uncertainty in the Application of Underwater Video for Benthic Habitat Mapping

This study presents an analysis of the application of underwater video data collected for training and validating benthic habitat distribution models. Specifically, we quantify the two major sources of error pertaining to collection of this type of reference data. A theoretical spatial error budget is developed for a positioning system used to co-register video frames to their corresponding locations at the seafloor. Second, we compare interpretation variability among trained operators assessing the same video frames between times over three hierarchical levels of a benthic classification scheme. Propagated error in the positioning system described was found to be highly correlated with depth of operation and varies from 1.5m near the surface to 5.7m in 100m of water. In order of decreasing classification hierarchy, mean overall observer agreement was found to be 98% (range 6%), 82% (range 12%) and 75% (range 17%) for the 2, 4, and 6 class levels of the scheme, respectively. Patterns in between-observer variation are related to the level of detail imposed by each hierarchical level of the classification scheme, the feature of interest, and to the amount of observer experience.     

Influence of salinity on permeability characteristics of marine sediments

Abstract

Laboratory tests were conducted on compacted marine sediments to study the effect of salt concentration of permeating fluid on its permeability characteristics. Deep sea sediment samples were collected from water depths varying from 3700 to 4500 m off Mauritius coast. Liquid limit and plasticity index varied widely from 45 to 75 and 10 to 35, respectively. Permeability was found at different void ratios with distilled water and 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 N NaCl solutions as permeating fluid. It was found that permeability increases with an increase in salt concentration for a given void ratio. This is explained by diffused double layer theory. Also, the rate of increase in permeability decreases with increase in salt concentration. The effect of salt concentration seemed to be less at higher void ratios.     

Geotechnical characterization of slump scars,eroded slopes,and correlated deposits on continental margins: Gulf of Lions,Western Mediterranean sea

Abstract

Vertical variations of geotechnical properties in the uppermost sediment layers characterize the main sedimentary processes acting on the construction and destruction of progressive‐type continental slopes. In the Gulf of Lions, the original thicknesses and distribution of the uppermost sedimentary layers of the continental slope and rise, which consist of Holocene muds overlying Pleistocene muds, have been greatly modified by erosion and several kinds of slope failure processes. Each process is typified through sets of geotechnical properties measured in the eroded or slumped sections and in the associated sediment accumulations.

In slump scars, the water‐rich Holocene muds lie on fine, overconsolidated, Pleistocene muds with high plasticity and low shear strength. In bottom current‐eroded slopes, where modern sedimentation is extremely reduced, the Pleistocene muds frequently outcrop and may sometimes be overlain by a very thin layer of Holocene muds. The Pleistocene muds of eroded slopes are overconsolidated and more silty and less plastic than the Pleistocene muds from slopes affected by slope failure, their shear strength being 10 times greater.

Deposits at the toe of slumps are very often formed by several superposed three‐layer units (triplets of interstratified Holocene, transitional, and Pleistocene layers) issued from retrogressive slumping occurring in the slump scars above their head area. The main body of each layer is then relatively undisturbed, showing the usual burial geotechnical gradients due to overburden pressure (i.e., decrease of water content and increase of unit weight and shear strength). At the toe of bottom current‐eroded slopes, a thick and homogeneous layer of Holocene muds overlies the Pleistocene muds; this Holocene layer has unappreciable burial depth gradient of its geotechnical parameters because of a high rate of modem and continuous deposition.     

Suction force below plate anchors in soft clay

The results of a number of laboratory model tests for the short‐term ultimate uplift capacity of a circular plate anchor embedded in saturated soft kaolinite and montmorillonite are presented. The tests were conducted with and without venting the bottom of the plate anchor in order to determine the variation of the suction force with embedment ratio. The variation of the suction force is presented in terms of the undrained shear strength of the clay and also the net ultimate uplift capacity.