Experimental estimate of a relation between sea wave energies and the Earth’s crust microdeformations

The experimental data in the microseismic frequency range obtained using the seismo-acoustic-hydrophysical measurement complex are analyzed. The emphasis is put on estimating the ratio between the energy of surface sea wind waves in the area of the Japan Sea where the complex was located and the Earth’s crust microdeformations in this frequency range. The experimental evaluate obtained allow us to estimate the energy re-distribution at the hydrosphere-lithosphere boundary.     

Snowmelt and the hydrological interaction of forest–grassland ecosystems in Central Yakutia,eastern Siberia

In the last two decades the major focus of study in forest water and carbon balances in eastern Siberia has been on the effect of rain during the growing season. Little attention has been paid to the contribution of snowmelt water. The results of the present study indicate that weather conditions during the snowmelt period as well as the soil moisture conditions carried from the previous year's growing season strongly determined the water availability for the forest ecosystem at the beginning of the next growing season. In the forest–grassland intermingled ecosystem of lowland Central Yakutia, gradual snowmelt water flow from the forest into the adjacent grassland depressions increased when soil moisture was high and air temperature was low, whereas low soil moisture and high air temperatures accelerated soil thawing and consequently snowmelt water infiltration into the forest soil. We found that snow depth did not determine the volume of snowmelt water moving to the grassland depression since the thermokarst lake water level in the adjacent grassland was about 25 cm lower in 2005 than in May 2006, even though maximum snow depth reached 57 cm and 43 cm in the winter of 2004–05 and 2005–06, respectively. The contribution of snowmelt water to forest growth as well as the flow of water from the forest to the grasslands showed a strong annual variability. We conclude that warmer springs and high variability in precipitation regimes as a result of climate change will result in more snowmelt water infiltration into the forest soil when the previous year's precipitation is low while more snowmelt water will flow into the thermokarst lake when the previous year's precipitation is high. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

How well do coupled models replicate ocean energetics relevant to ENSO?

Accurate replication of the processes associated with the energetics of the tropical ocean is necessary if coupled GCMs are to simulate the physics of ENSO correctly, including the transfer of energy from the winds to the ocean thermocline and energy dissipation during the ENSO cycle. Here, we analyze ocean energetics in coupled GCMs in terms of two integral parameters describing net energy loss in the system using the approach recently proposed by Brown and Fedorov (J Clim 23:1563?C1580, 2010a) and Fedorov (J Clim 20:1108?C1117, 2007). These parameters are (1) the efficiency ?? of the conversion of wind power into the buoyancy power that controls the rate of change of the available potential energy (APE) in the ocean and (2) the e-folding rate ?? that characterizes the damping of APE by turbulent diffusion and other processes. Estimating these two parameters for coupled models reveals potential deficiencies (and large differences) in how state-of-the-art coupled GCMs reproduce the ocean energetics as compared to ocean-only models and data assimilating models. The majority of the coupled models we analyzed show a lower efficiency (values of ?? in the range of 10?C50% versus 50?C60% for ocean-only simulations or reanalysis) and a relatively strong energy damping (values of ??^?1 in the range 0.4?C1?years versus 0.9?C1.2?years). These differences in the model energetics appear to reflect differences in the simulated thermal structure of the tropical ocean, the structure of ocean equatorial currents, and deficiencies in the way coupled models simulate ENSO.     

Deep electromagnetic sounding of the lithosphere in the eastern Baltic (fennoscandian) shield with high-power controlled sources and industrial power transmission lines (FENICS experiment)

The paper addresses the technique and the first results of a unique experiment on the deep tensor frequency electromagnetic sounding, the Fennoscandian Electrical conductivity from results of sounding with Natural and Controlled Sources (FENICS). In the experiment, Energy-1 and Energy-2 generators with power of up to 200 kW and two mutually orthogonal industrial 109- and 120-km-long power transmission lines were used. The sounding frequency range was 0.1–200 Hz. The signals were measured in the Kola-Karelian region, in Finland, on Svalbard, and in Ukraine at distances up to 2150 km from the source. The parameters of electric conductivity in the lithosphere are studied down to depths on the order of 50–70 km. A strong lateral homogeneity (the one-dimensionality) of a geoelectric section of the Earth’s crust is revealed below depths of 10–15 km. At the same time, a region with reduced transverse crustal resistivity spread over about 80 000 square kilometers is identified within the depth interval from 20 to 40 km. On the southeast the contour of the anomaly borders the zone of deepening of the Moho boundary down to 60 km in Central Finland. The results are compared with the AMT-MT sounding data and a geodynamic interpretation of the obtained information is carried out.     

Tsunami Measurements in Bays of Shikotan Island

Bottom pressure gauges deployed in bays of Shikotan Island (South Kuril Islands) recently recorded two tsunamis: the Simushir (Kuril Islands) tsunami of January 13, 2007 generated by a local earthquake with magnitude M _w = 8.1 and the Peruvian tsunami of August 15, 2007 generated by a distant earthquake, M _w = 8.0. The records enabled us to investigate the properties of these two tsunamis and to estimate the effect of the regional and nearshore topography on arriving tsunami waves. Eigen periods and spatial structure of resonant oscillations in particular bays were examined based on results of numerical modeling. Significant amplification of the fundamental (Helmholtz) resonant modes in Malokurilskaya Bay (19 min) and in Krabovaya Inlet (29 min) and some secondary modes was caused by the Simushir tsunami. The considerably different geometry and bottom topography of these bays, located on the inner coast of the island, determine the differences in their eigen periods; the only mutual peak, which was found in both basins, had a period of 5 min and was probably related to the source features. The Peruvian tsunami was clearly recorded by the bottom pressure gauge in Tserkovnaya Bay on the outer (oceanic) coast of the island. Three dominant periods in the tsunami spectrum at this bay were 60, 30 and 19 min; the latter period was found to be related to the fundamental mode of the bay, while the other two periods appear to be associated with the shelf resonant amplification of tsunami waves arriving in the region of the South Kuril Islands. The prevalence of low-frequency components in the observed tsunami spectrum is probably associated with the large extension of the initial source area and faster decay of short period waves during the long trans-oceanic tsunami propagation.     

Western Kamchatka-Koryak continental-margin volcanogenic belt: Age,composition, and sources

The isotope-geochemical study of the Eocene-Oligocene magmatic rocks from the Western Kamchatka-Koryak volcanogenic belt revealed a lateral heterogeneity of mantle magma sources in its segments: Western Kamchatka, Central Koryak, and Northern Koryak ones. In the Western Kamchatka segment, magmatic melts were generated from isotopically heterogeneous (depleted and/or insignificantly enriched) mantle sources significantly contaminated by quartz-feldspathic sialic sediments; higher ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr (0.70429–0.70564) and lower ¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd(ɛ_Nd(T) = 0.06–2.9) ratios in the volcanic rocks from the Central Koryak segment presumably reflect the contribution of enriched mantle source; the high positive ɛ_Nd(T) and low ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios in the magmatic rocks from the Northern Koryak segment area indicate their derivation from isotopically depleted mantle source without significant contamination by sialic or mantle material enriched in radiogenic Sr and Nd. Significantly different contamination histories of the Eocene-Oligocene mantle magmas in Kamchatka and Koryakia are related to their different thermal regimes: the higher heat flow beneath Kamchatka led to the crustal melting and contamination of mantle suprasubduction magmas by crustal melts. The cessation of suprasubduction volcanism in the Western Kamchatka segment of the continentalmargin belt was possibly related to the accretion of the Achaivayam-Valagin terrane 40 Ma ago, whereas suprasubduction activity in the Koryak segment stopped due to the closure of the Ukelayat basin in the Oligocene time.     

Currents in the Western Drake Passage according to the observations in January of 2010

The Western Drake Passage current system is investigated using the CTD, LADCP, and SADCP data of the cross Drake section carried out in January 2010. A complicated current structure consisting of the six Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) jets as well as the system of slope and abyssal currents was revealed. The most interesting result is the identification of the abyssal quasi-geostrophic spurts in the northern part that probably are generated by abyssal eddy fragments, which are an imperative part of the meandering ACC.