Automatic Registration of TOBI Side-Scan Sonar and Multi-Beam Bathymetry Images for Improved Data Fusion

Deep towed side-scan sonar vehicles such as TOBI acquire high quality imagery of the seafloor with very high spatial resolution but poor locational accuracy. Fusion of the side-scan sonar data with bathymetry data from an independent source is often desirable to reduce ambiguity in geological interpretations, to aid in slant-range correction and to enhance seafloor representation. The main obstacle to fusion is accurate registration of the two datasets.The application of hierarchical chamfer matching to the registration of TOBI side-scan sonar images and multi-beam swath bathymetry is described. This matches low level features such as edges in the TOBI image, with corresponding features in a synthetic TOBI image created by simulating the flight of the TOBI vehicle through the bathymetry. The method is completely automatic, relatively fast and robust, and much easier than manual registration. It allows accurate positioning of the TOBI vehicle, enhancing its usefulness as a research tool. The method is illustrated by automatic registration of TOBI and multi-beam bathymetry data from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.     

闽江口水动力和污染扩散数值模拟

本文建立了闽江口二维水动力、污染扩散数值模型，模型采用ＡＤＩ双向隐式求解。在水动力模拟中，对岸界的丁坝有用线性边界进行拟合，并考虑到河口区侧向摩擦作用；在污染扩散模拟中，用动态拟合的方法对浓度水边界进行了较为合理的改进。计算结果表明，本模型是成功的。     

Analyses of the tidal data of 19 years

In this paper, tidal data of 19 years were analysed to obtain the harmonic constants of 472 constituents; yearly variations of the harmonic constants of some constituents for 19 years were also examined.We have also derived the formulae of response analysis by using another approach, and calculated 161 response weights of astronomical tides, solar radiational tides and nonlinear tides for 10 stations. Some significant results were obtained.     

A fuzzy approach to the lectotype optimization of offshore platforms

Lectotype optimization of offshore platforms is of particular importance in the concept design process. Lectotype optimization involves multiple objectives with uncertainty and so is a problem of multiple attribute decision making. To date, there have been few published works on this topic in the context of offshore engineering. This paper develops a framework and methodology for evaluation of offshore platform alternatives, where a fuzzy optimum model is proposed to integrate the influence of each objective in the criteria set, and a new weight-assessing method is developed to mimic the decision maker’s experience and preference based on complementary pairwise comparisons. A case study shows that the new framework and methodology is scientific, reasonable and easy to use in practice.     

浅述多元数据处理的一种简化拟合形式及算法剖析

在实际工程试验与研究中 ,多元数据处理经常遇到 ,根据 Weierstrass定理 ,采用多项式拟合是一种常见的数据处理方法。对于多元多项式的系数求解问题 ,可以归结为超定方程组的求解问题。该文以超定方程组的 SVD求解算法为核心 ,阐述了在工程实际中关于多元数据处理的一种应用方法 ,并尝试给出多元多项式拟合的一种简化方法     

Data assimilation for a coastal area morphodynamic model: Morecambe Bay

This paper investigates the use of data assimilation in coastal area morphodynamic modelling using Morecambe Bay as a study site. A simple model of the bay has been enhanced with a data assimilation scheme to better predict large-scale changes in bathymetry observed in the bay over a 3-year period. The 2DH decoupled morphodynamic model developed for the work is described, as is the optimal interpolation scheme used to assimilate waterline observations into the model run. Each waterline was acquired from a SAR satellite image and is essentially a contour of the bathymetry at some level within the inter-tidal zone of the bay. For model parameters calibrated against validation observations, model performance is good, even without data assimilation. However the use of data assimilation successfully compensates for a particular failing of the model, and helps to keep the model bathymetry on track. It also improves the ability of the model to predict future bathymetry. Although the benefits of data assimilation are demonstrated using waterline observations, any observations of morphology could potentially be used. These results suggest that data assimilation should be considered for use in future coastal area morphodynamic models.     

Plastic buckling of ring-stiffened conical shells under external hydrostatic pressure

The paper describes experimental tests carried out on three ring-stiffened cones that were tested to destruction under external hydrostatic pressure. The cones were carefully machined from EN1A Steel. All three cones failed by plastic non-symmetric bifurcation buckling in a mode commonly known as general instability. In this mode the entire ring-shell combination buckles bodily.The paper also provides a design chart using the results obtained from these three vessels, together with the results of six other vessels obtained from other tests. The design chart allows the possibility of obtaining a plastic knock down factor, so that the theoretical buckling pressures, based on elastic theory, can be divided by the plastic knockdown factor, to give the predicted buckling pressure. This method can also be used for the design of full-scale vessels.     

Speed bumps and barricades in the carbon cycle: substrate structural effects on carbon cycling

The observation that a fraction of organic matter produced in marine systems evades the concerted efforts of microbial communities and is buried in sediments suggests that there are ‘speed bumps’ in carbon degradation pathways that impede microbially driven remineralization processes. The initial step in degradation of macromolecules, extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis, is often stated to be ‘the’ rate-limiting step in carbon remineralization. Experimental investigations described here, however, demonstrate that at least in certain cases, microbes produce extracellular enzymes on time scales of hours to tens of hours in response to substrate addition, and hydrolysis is extremely rapid. If enzymatic hydrolysis can be rapid, what factors slow or stop organic matter degradation? A lack of the correct inducer to initiate enzyme production, and/or a lack of the correct organism to produce the required enzyme, may result in a complete lack of hydrolysis in certain environments—a barricade, rather than a speed bump. Preliminary evidence supporting this hypothesis includes a comparison of polysaccharide hydrolysis in seawater and sediments, which demonstrates that the spectrum of enzymes active in seawater and sediments are fundamentally different. Furthermore, a survey of enzyme activities in surface waters from a range of locations suggests that pelagic microbial communities also differ widely in their abilities to express specific extracellular enzymes. Trans-membrane transport through porins is yet another potential location of structure-related selectivity.Our efforts to identify speed bumps and barricades are hampered by our inability to structurally characterize in sufficient detail the macromolecular structures present in marine systems. Furthermore, assessments of organic matter ‘quality’ from a chemical perspective do not necessarily accurately reflect the availability of organic carbon to microbial communities. For these communities, in fact, ‘quality’ may be a variable, which depends on the enzymatic and uptake capabilities of community members. To begin to assess substrate structure and quality from a microbial perspective, we will have to combine specific knowledge of macromolecular structures with detailed investigations of the enzymatic and transport capabilities of heterotrophic marine microbes.     

Paleomonsoon precipitation deduced from a sediment core from the equatorial Indian Ocean

Rapid shifts in past climate recorded in polar ice sheets have elicited various explanations relating to either thermohaline circulation changes by ice-rafting or natural greenhouse gas concentrations modulated by climatic conditions in the tropics. To compare the tropical paleoclimate record with the polar record, one must choose sediment cores from highly productive ocean regions. Necessarily, such regions reflect the wind records in the tropics, because high productivity is associated with upwelling driven by winds. Comparing tropical precipitation records with high-latitude records is, however, a more difficult task because sediments recording paleoprecipitation usually have low sedimentation rates, and offer coarser resolution relative to polar ice cores. Here, we present δ ¹⁸O data of three planktonic species of Foraminifera (a proxy for precipitation) from such a sediment core, spanning the past 35 ka for the equatorial Indian Ocean, which falls under the southwest monsoon (SWM) realm. Results show that minimum SWM precipitation occurred at the Last Glacial Maximum, with a subsequent increase at Termination IA. During the Holocene, SWM precipitation intensified uniformly up to the core top (∼2.2 ka b.p.), as revealed by generally decreasing δ ¹⁸O values. Variations in precipitation are consistent with climate changes recorded in polar ice sheets. Although the different resolutions of the two records preclude a rigorous comparison, abrupt cooling/warming events appear to be accompanied by sudden reduction/enhancement in (SWM) rainfall. Thus, mechanisms with time scales much shorter than a millennium, such as natural greenhouse warming (e.g., CH₄ concentration), controlled by emissions from the tropics, could have played a major role in high-latitude climate change.